Vehicle Advertising


No, not buses for sale - during the 1980s it became, shall we say, fashionable to paint an entire double deck vehicle in an advertising livery a concept which has gone on to prove very popular. These days however vehicles tend to have large vinyls stuck on in favour of the intricate sign writing which was the norm back in the 80s. The contract for the advert would be for at least a year - two vehicles ran round with the same adverts for far longer than that. 112 with an estate agents (see the Ailsa section) and Fleetline 308 carried a Derby Trader advert for longer than anyone can remember.


In this rather pathetic age of disclaimers and the like it should be noted that this site does not endorse and is not advertising any of the organisations depicted in this section - all pictures are intended as an historical reference only.


All over advertising appeared in Derby during 1982 including 308 carrying an all over advertisement which it carried for many years. The vehicle is seen in Victoria Street in 1982 on 'spare bus' duty. In the event of a problem it would be called upon at a moment's notice to deputise for a defective vehicle. Said defective vehicle would return to Ascot Drive and replaced with another which then became 'spare bus'.


In the same year 304 emerged in a yellow based scheme for Baskills (remember them??!!)


Here is 273 seen in The Cornmarket on 3rd November 1982. An interesting range of cars were featured to say the least. The scheme was later altered to that seen below at Ascot Drive on 17th March 1985 which made imaginative use of the wheels. At this time 273 was awaiting another repaint into standard fleet livery. One item of interest in the view is the upper deck windows featuring a variety of paper notices about service alterations etc.


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