The model
- The long awaited 'Ocean Park' set was released in Hong Kong on 27th December
2000 and comprises of the previously issued Leyland Olympian (43012), and this Leyland Victory Mk2. Quantities of this set, like the previous
sets issued by Citybus, were made available in the UK.
The bus -
In 1980 Citybus started operating a direct bus service to the newly opened
Ocean Park from Central and from Admiralty MTR station.
The famous Dolphin livery was first introduced
shortly after that on the open top buses that were used on the service
The design of the livery meant that the people riding on the back of the
dolphin were painted next to the bus seats so that the real passengers
head would be part of the advert design.
The advert featured on this Olympian model
was the second version of the dolphin livery, featuring dark blue lower
panels and a lighter blue up to the mid deck panels.
The advert was modified in the early 90's
to include different shades of blue applied on the lower half of the bus
to represent ocean waves. Later on a whale and an eagle version of the
advert were created to show people the other attractions that could be
seen at Ocean Park.
The Leyland Victory model represented in
this set was one of ten bought in 1993 for operation on the franchised
routes taken over in September that year. Although they were bought as
a temporary measure pending the delivery of new vehicles, the opportunity
was taken to paint three of them into Ocean Park livery to promote the
park and to improve the visual outlook of the bus.
The Leyland Victory MK2 was originally new
to Kowloon Motor Bus fleet number G498 in 1982. In 1987 it was acquired
by New Lantao Bus Company and allocated fleet no. LD12. It was acquired
by Citybus in 1999 and allocated fleet no. 40.
With a new image and adverts being launched
by Ocean Park in 2000 these particular Ocean Park adverts are now set to
take their rightful place in history of Hong Kong bus advertising as still
one of the most outstanding yet. |