Big Swift , little Swift.
... although when photographed from this angle it's difficult to tell which is which. On the left is AML 97H, an AH 505 engined 'mediumweight' Swift and on the right is VLW 444G, built with AH 691 engine but now believed to possess a 12.47 litre AH 760. London Transport latched onto AEC's initial idea of referring to the heavy duty Swift as a Merlin and it stuck (with them and nobody else!). AEC went on to simply distinguish between the two by the terms 'Swift 505' and 'Swift 691'.
AML has bodywork by Park Royal whilst VLW's came from MCW to 'standee' design and only actually seated 25, the remaining throng had to stand.
Today saw hasty and intensive attention to the 'Merlin' so that it could at least move around under it's own power. A rotten and holed air tank was repaired, pipework and the air unloader valve rodded and de-coked and the fuel pump timing sorted out. I can now just listen to it tickiing over for minutes at a time, it sounds wonderful!
Big Swift , little Swift.
... although when photographed from this angle it's difficult to tell which is which. On the left is AML 97H, an AH 505 engined 'mediumweight' Swift and on the right is VLW 444G, built with AH 691 engine but now believed to possess a 12.47 litre AH 760. London Transport latched onto AEC's initial idea of referring to the heavy duty Swift as a Merlin and it stuck (with them and nobody else!). AEC went on to simply distinguish between the two by the terms 'Swift 505' and 'Swift 691'.
AML has bodywork by Park Royal whilst VLW's came from MCW to 'standee' design and only actually seated 25, the remaining throng had to stand.
Today saw hasty and intensive attention to the 'Merlin' so that it could at least move around under it's own power. A rotten and holed air tank was repaired, pipework and the air unloader valve rodded and de-coked and the fuel pump timing sorted out. I can now just listen to it tickiing over for minutes at a time, it sounds wonderful!