Modern oddity
About eighteen months ago, the family 'R' spent the best part of five hours waiting as ferry sailing after sailing from Dover to Calais was cancelled due to bad weather. In the quest for something to do in the absence of any ongoing information and after getting well and truly bored of seeing the same pointless electronic adverts and 'safety' announcements on the expensive electronic displays, I decided to go for a walk. This little motor attracted my attention. At first I made the assumption that it was a Marshall bodied Dennis Dart... however, closer inspection revealed it to be on six stud wheels (rather than eight). It is in fact a Marshall 'Midi', an attempt by that bodybuilder to break into the small bus market in it's own right. Rumour has it that the famous Bedford JJL in which they were a partner, provided something of a springboard. This little bus unlike the said Bedford was powered by a 4cyl Cummins B Series diesel. Sadly the type didn't win critical acclaim finding themselves the victims of early withdrawal due to both mechanical and body structure problems. That said, this had to be the best of the type that I've seen in many years, and surely worthy of preservation now? It had been new to London area operator Centrewest.
Modern oddity
About eighteen months ago, the family 'R' spent the best part of five hours waiting as ferry sailing after sailing from Dover to Calais was cancelled due to bad weather. In the quest for something to do in the absence of any ongoing information and after getting well and truly bored of seeing the same pointless electronic adverts and 'safety' announcements on the expensive electronic displays, I decided to go for a walk. This little motor attracted my attention. At first I made the assumption that it was a Marshall bodied Dennis Dart... however, closer inspection revealed it to be on six stud wheels (rather than eight). It is in fact a Marshall 'Midi', an attempt by that bodybuilder to break into the small bus market in it's own right. Rumour has it that the famous Bedford JJL in which they were a partner, provided something of a springboard. This little bus unlike the said Bedford was powered by a 4cyl Cummins B Series diesel. Sadly the type didn't win critical acclaim finding themselves the victims of early withdrawal due to both mechanical and body structure problems. That said, this had to be the best of the type that I've seen in many years, and surely worthy of preservation now? It had been new to London area operator Centrewest.