Refurbished ‘60s library bus has new story to tell
A 1960s library bus which had been left in a garden to rot for almost 40 years has started a new chapter in its history – after being lovingly restored to its former glory.
The Aberdare Public Library bus, which dates back to 1961, had been parked up in the back garden of photographer John Rees’ house in Aberaman since 1981, when its engine was last run.
John bought the property around 10 years ago and the yard was covered in brambles and Japanese knotweed which was almost as tall as the van.
After giving the yard a good clearout, John couldn’t face parting ways with the vintage library van, believing it was an important part of Aberdare’s history that deserved to be restored.
“I have tried to give it away for years, and the week before I was going to take it to the scrap yard I thought I would try one more time,” said 55-year-old John.
John put an advert on Facebook and within days the Austin mobile library van was snapped up by part-time vehicle restorer brothers Kenny and Ray Walsh from Manchester.
They travelled to South Wales to pick up the almost 60-year-old vehicle, which had 40,600 miles on its clock, and spent the next three months refurbishing it.
Kenny Walsh said he and his brother choose vehicles only if they are “nice, bad, unusual and cheap” – and this was exactly that.
The pair have so far restored 50 vintage vehicles, something they do as a hobby.
Although the overall price tag of fixing up the old van has reached £10,000 – which was a lot more than expected – Kenny said it was worth every penny.
“It was a good challenge,” added 65-year-old Kenny.
“The first thing we did when we got it up to Manchester was fire the engine up, and after a couple of minutes it kicked in.
“We didn’t have to do anything to it, no diesel added, nothing, and it got going.”
According to John, the bus was used as a mobile library across Aberdare for 15 years before it was bought by a local builder called Robert Taylor who used it to store his tools in.
It was then sold to a man called Dennis Bishop who converted the back of the bus into a pony box to carry his Welsh Mountain ponies in before it was left to rot on the plot of land for 40 years.
This left the floor of the bus corroded, the driver’s seat was missing and there was even a dried up nest and the skeleton of a woodpecker found nestled in a groove.
Recognisable to people from Aberdare for its distinctive blue and yellow colours, Kenny was not surprised when he took the bus to the NEC in Birmingham for a show on the weekend to have people from the South Wales town comment on it.
“One man from Aberdare came up to me with a ticket in his wallet that was from the time when the bus made its rounds as a library in Aberdare,” he said.
“It is great to see it back to what it once was.”
Kenny and Ray, 68, told John they would restore the bus by May 2020 in order to take the vehicle to the Llandudno Transport Festival.
But the stunning transformation, which included stripping the bus right back to its chassis, replacing and repairing the breaks, wheel cylinders, fuel tank, radiator, batteries and lamps amongst other things, took them just three months in the end.