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1944 Fordson WOT2 ex-BOAC Crew/Passenger Coach by Kiddle Bournemouth

1944 Fordson WOT2 in Orders Are Orders, Movie, 1954

Class: Bus, Single-deck — Model origin:

1944 Fordson WOT2 ex-BOAC Crew/Passenger Coach by Kiddle Bournemouth

Background vehicle

Comments about this vehicle

Author	Message
Sunbar ◊ 2018-10-16 21:38	Grille looks similar to Ford/Fordson Barrel-nose models but not certain, wheels look less Ford-like? Registration possibly ZD ???? -- Last edit: 2018-10-16 21:40:09
johnfromstaffs ◊ 2018-10-16 21:42	Those wheels look like Morris-Commercial PV, but I think the wheelbase is too long. -- Last edit: 2018-10-16 21:43:31
Sunbar ◊ 2018-10-16 21:53	Agreed Morris-Commercial is possible but could be LC or CV ranges converted to forward control or ex-military chassis? -- Last edit: 2018-10-16 21:53:55
dsl ◊ 2018-10-16 22:10	ZD = Dublin Jan 40 to June 47.
jcb ◊ 2018-10-17 08:15	Gut feeling is a ex military conversion , grille has a Commer look about it . Maybe Commer Q15 or Q2 ?
Sunbar ◊ 2018-10-17 13:31	Summary so far. ZD3??? looks like ZD3784 as a possible registration. Single rears - 16-22 seater as a guess for size - grille as Ford/Fordson Barrel-nose models (I'm more certain now -75% by comparing it to Fordson Barrel-nose) but could just be borrowed for the bus body and not a Fordson chassis. Ex-Military chassis possibly, about 130" wheelbase. Wheel shape and stud pattern looks to be six studs.
dsl ◊ 2018-10-19 13:37	Buses On Screen says "ZD 3784 - This oddity appears to have been one of the handful of Fordson 7V chassis bodied by Kiddle during 1945/6 for use as crew and passenger buses by BOAC. This particular vehicle was not previously recorded but the Irish registration quoted suggests it was originally based at Foynes, the flying boat base, or Shannon before coming to Heathrow. BOAC vehicles were fairly frequent film stars of course." Kiddle info from LKCs (Lesser Known Coachbuilders) forum: "An interesting LKC has come to light that takes us back to 'K' for HW Kiddle & Sons Ltd, Bournmouth, who in 1945/6 built some odd looking coachwork seen here on a Fordson 7V chassis as a crew/passenger transport for BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) although it was with a Honiton, Devon firm by the time of our photo. A similar coach turned up in an early Tony Hancock film 'Orders are Orders'. Active 1942-46 as PSV rebuilders as well, Kiddle & Sons continued until 2012 as car body repairers. JT's A-Z suggests that HW Kiddle & Sons may have been successors or related to an earlier Bournemouth coachbuilder (Kiddle Motor Bodies Ltd, The Old Waterworks, Iford Lane, Tuckton, Bournemouth) who became active in the early 1920s having been started up by Frank Kiddle & Sons in 1918 when he bought the former Bournemouth Gas & Waterworks Co. premises from a group of exiled Russians who had rented it from the late 1890s, later buying it to set up a printing works. Kiddle Motor Bodies were credited with building the first motor coach in Bournemouth." ZD 3784 was a 1944 issue, HYV 388 in the linked photo was Jan-Aug 1947, London.
Sunbar ◊ 2018-10-19 16:28	dsl. Just why did I not check Buses on Screen?
Sunbar ◊ 2018-10-19 16:42	CM Archive article "As soon as it came to rest, vehicles were in close attendance. At the extreme left is a Fordson coach awaiting the crew..." Link to "archive.commercialmotor.com" The final window's shape is slightly different but the same body apparently (26 seater Fordson is mentioned)
dsl ◊ 2018-10-19 19:51	I'm intrigued by the dating here in relation to what I guess may have been happening in 1944 wartime conditions. Agree ZD 3784 is best reading of plate ... and Glass's is clear that 1944 Dublin range was ZD 3351 to 4300, so plate date seems solid. Also our example has horrible small twin back windows compared to the single normal size on the 1947 ex-BOAC picture, so was probably older. And Eire was neutral in WW2, so presumably had a good level of continuing a peacetime lifestyle. But would it have wanted new airport buses in 1944?? And there's the question of how a Bournemouth firm could source material and mechanicals to build a civilian thing and ship it safely out to Dublin when everything in UK seems focussed on military production. Interesting account on wiki of how BOAC continued civilian flight activity during WW2 - fascinating how this parallel strand continued successfully while the skies were full of hostile aircraft looking for things to shoot down.
Sunbar ◊ 2018-10-19 22:07	An August 1944 CM article regarding Imperial Airways - "British Overseas Airways Corporation " - notes that the number vehicles in use in a very large fleet of passenger buses, lorries and cars on ground operations had been vastly increased since the war started, so its probable that BOAC had priority in vehicle allocation. Also they were required to use British vehicles where ever possible, although its surprising to me the design is hardly a utility style bus, unless it pre-dates 1939. Link to "archive.commercialmotor.com"
jcb ◊ 2018-10-20 10:08	Thought this might remain a mystery However this example has split rim military front wheels with flotation tyres. Smells like a converted ex WD 15cwt maybe a Fordson WOT2 ? -- Last edit: 2018-10-20 11:25:15
johnfromstaffs ◊ 2018-10-20 13:16	I have to offer my felicitations on a good piece of work here. Kiddle of Bournemouth is a new one on me, I’m pretty sure that if another one turns up, we’ll know what we’re looking at.
Sunbar ◊ 2018-10-20 14:09	Agree completely about the wheels, dsl. The 'Orders Are Orders' example also is closer in appearance and not 7V style; also the single rears appear to be used. The 15cwt WOT2 looks likely to me but I cannot determine yet what the actual wheelbase is. So would BOAC have been allocated, also for use overseas, Fordson's 15cwt WOT2 and they were used in the Republic of Ireland with civilian registrations (1944) the trucks later being re-bodied, say in 1946, and converted to forward control crew buses? -- Last edit: 2018-10-20 14:18:52
johnfromstaffs ◊ 2018-10-20 15:11	The authorities were very strict in wartime, generally allowing only Bedford OWB chassis with Mulliner bodies to be offered as new single deckers. I am not sure if there were any "unfrozen" vehicles like there were with the double deck buses. The idea that these were registered as civilian trucks, and converted to buses following the end of the war seems like a logical explanation.
johnfromstaffs ◊ 2020-01-15 09:30	Go for WOT2 to clear it from unknown. Argument about wheels seems convincing.
Parritch ◊ 2025-01-22 00:20	This bus also appears in the 1954 film The Happiness of Three Women - sometimes titled The Wishing Well. When it appeared about 12 minutes into the film I thought some of the scenes had been shot in Ireland as a tax break. ZD3784.
Parritch ◊ 2025-01-22 17:48	ZD3784 - alternative right hand side door.

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