Francisco Carrion
[dropcap] D [/ dropcap] inside the company ships "Cars1247" Santiago García was waiting for us, ready to take his beautiful Leyland Comet bus from the 50s bodied by the Maiso company. We had been wanting for a long time test an old bus, but as you can imagine this is not an easy task: There are few, many of those that are preserved are not in operation and, if they are, they are difficult to maneuver and not all owners are willing to take them out for a walk like this because if.
However, our host from the beginning offered "without problems" to the task of being a vintage chauffeur for a day, perhaps because this of the classic buses it runs in the family. His father was a bus driver -when these were not yet classics- and Santiago traveled many kilometers aboard those old “travelers”, until he came to learn the handling and maintenance of these dilapidated mechanics.
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A Leyland Comet 90 always in family
For all this, Santiago García is today one of the few people in our country capable of completely restoring or even reproducing complete bodies of old buses from scratch. And this industrial restoration began for him precisely with the Leyland Comet of our photographs ...
This unit was driven by his own father for many years, making the route Chiclana-Ubeda; and, after his retirement, it was in operation for a few more years, until the 70s, when the owner company finally decided to terminate it.
Fortunately this company, which still had other "old glories" like a Buick traveler from the 20s, kept the Leyland Comet in a covered place where it was not in the way, which ensured its conservation for several years. It was there until Santiago acquired it as a memory of his childhood and proceeded to restore it with the help of the whole family… Although this was more than 20 years ago.
Since then this Leyland has been used in rallies, carnivals, cavalcades of the Magi and even in the odd movie. Its robust mechanics only needed a tune-up, and how well it works you can tell yourself in the video that accompanies these lines.
The Leylands earned their fame of robust since the brand began to establish itself on a large scale in Spain during the harsh post-war years. Then it took a very important part of the heavy vehicle market, only at the same level as other brands such as Pegaso or Barreiros ... which it even surpassed in the late 40s or early 50s, when these were only "embryos".
This was because, despite the international restrictions that weighed on the autarkic Francoist government, the English had such a need to export that they signed trade agreements with Spain in a volume of unthinkable magnitude. Especially if we take into account the situation of apparent blockade to which our country was subjected.
The reason for the United Kingdom's export fever was that at the end of World War II, England remained mired in destruction and rationing, so that its intelligent rulers came to the conclusion that to obtain foreign exchange they needed "Export or die."
Most postwar British exports had to do with metal in one way or another, so the motor industry played a key role in the country's economic take-off in those years.
To this was added another factor: In England, given the great war effort that had been carried out, the navy had a huge amount of surpluses of all kinds, among which were very many trucks and cars.
After the war, these were auctioned off to find new uses in private hands, so the local market for new vehicles suddenly found itself with a competitor from within.
However, this difficult scenario did not intimidate the British, who set out to motorize half the world. During the decades from 1940 to 1960, English car brands flooded their "colonies" (with India and Australia at the top, where by the way assembly lines of the brand Leyland), but also the main countries of South America, all of Europe, the USA ... And they even tried it with China!
Leyland and the Pegasus connection
In our country the entry of British products during the postwar period was, at least in the motor world, overwhelming. The Austin, Morris and Standard brands were among the undisputed first in number of car sales during the 40s and 50s, and the same happened with Leyland and AEC-Aclo in the industrial field. And it wasn't just these; At that time, a large number of exotic English trucks from brands such as Thornycroft, Foden, Beardmore and a long etc, with more or less glory.
During that period Leyland settled in Spain, first under the aegis of Compañía Petrolífera de Transportes SA, until, in 1949, the Leyland Ibérica SA firm was established at No. 7 of Madrid's Paseo Marqués de Monistrol, where there was even a direct sale concessionaire the brand under the name of Ateco SA
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The success was overwhelming from the beginning, especially in the area of the Spanish Levant, where Leyland it became almost a monopoly empire for the companies that were dedicated to the transport of citrus and vegetables.
Even in the case of the larger models such as the Leyland Buffalo (200 HP, 16 tons), Super Hippo (150 HP, 14 tons) or Beaver (125 HP, 10 tons), they were imported in version "De morro" and on a bare chassis, so that a whole network of Spanish bodybuilders who made the booths ... even a workshop like the Basques Mintegui SL dared to assemble the mechanics including some curious variation that mixed components from Leyland and Mack.
In short, the Leylands were so well received in our country that even in 1960 "our" ENASA signed a collaboration agreement with the English brand from which the Pegaso Comet was born, thus ending Leyland's stage as an autonomous firm in Spain. ↓ VIDEO ADVERTISING ↓
Whistlers, although more for the English
Leyland was a pioneer in the use of advanced diesel mechanics, a technology that it entered as early as the 1930s. The model we tested, the comet, It was presented in 1947 in two variants of 4 and 7 tons of payload. Three years later, in 1950, the famous version "90" capable for 8 tons. The latter could also be supplied in battles of 3.17, 4.32 and 4.65 meters, the last type being the model chosen for this report.
It mounted a front 6-cylinder in-line engine with 5.760 cc that produced a “quiet” 90 hp of power. These mechanics, of proven reliability, emitted a curious slow sound that between each cycle it seemed that they were going to stop, in addition to producing a kind of "whistle" the engine being at the compression point, which is why in England they were nicknamed as "Whistlers", it decir, "Whistlers."
In our country, however, the slow idling caused a greater impression, the reason for which was in the curious design of the injection pump, whose regulator was usually adjusted to lengthen the idling rate for the longest possible duration. Many times it was at the request of the drivers themselves, as former mechanics who worked with them have told us. leyland. In the video you can see this legendary characteristic of the diesel of this British brand, which was also finished off with a hoarse exhaust sound.
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The gear change was 5 speeds, with an Eaton 16500 reducer coupled to the rear axle and assisted by a vacuum pump, which was actuated by a button on the gear lever. Its handling required expertise -Once again we refer to the video to verify it- while the management lacked any assistance.
The brakes (with a surface area on each wheel of 3.097 cm2) depended on a hydraulic circuit assisted by a brake booster, novel in its time but very ineffective If compared to the later electric brakes, so to slow down the bus inevitably had to go to the gearbox in a real dance between clutch, accelerator and lever.
Fortunately, this complicated process had been explained "roughly" on plates written in Spanish located in front of the driver, as was the case with the large badges located on each side of the hood and which read "The English Leyland Truck". It came from the factory in the models for Spain and South America and it became an advertising slogan in its time.
Classic bodywork by Maiso, SA
Unfortunately, all these signs of identity in Spanish have disappeared from the proven unit, registered in Madrid in November 1957. This is so because at some point in its life –probably in the early 60s- it was recharged with the bus shape it looks now; it lost its metallic "nose" cabin manufactured in England by the Briggs Motor Bodies body company, which shared a design with other products from the Dodge and Ford brands, and with "our" Ebro series B.
The bodywork that we see in the photos is the work of Maiso SA and it was built in the factory that this company had in the Sevillian town of Torreblanca, a subsidiary of the parent company founded in Logroño in the 30s by the family of the same surname and which has been in operation until a few years ago.
The design is classic, proportionate and very simple compared to other buses of its time that were full of chrome and looked front and rear inspired by the American cars of the 50s. However, it shows the charm of simplicity and in the images it can look like a pretty model; but make no mistake, this Leyland Comet it is real and fortunately it is still in perfect condition. Hopefully the example will spread among other Spanish fans, because who doesn't like a vehicle like this?
* Photos by Alejandro Rubio / Illustration by Suzanna Bacj
