Hello from Australia,

The red Clipper you see here in the pics is my baby of 21 years this easter. She is a 1951 Flxible made in Melbourne Australia, she has a 653t detroit (with jakes) with an allison 643. I a a proud member of the Flxible Clipper Club of Australia since its inception in 1993. If you have any questions i would be happy to answer them. This bus was driven by one of our members in 1957 on an express route in Victoria (oz) he by the way owns his own Clipper and comes on every run going !. My bus is belived to have done about 3.5 million miles in its working life, it has been a camper since 1975. It is also fitted with "Derek Birch" power steering of which there is no equal ! (by the way thankyou Derek for that most detailed article on Clipper Power Steering recently)

I have used Clipper front headlight surrounds on the back to house 1967 ford taillights, ( i spent some time in car parks with a tape measure looking for a suitable donor) I was looking at them a few years back when it occured to me that they looked to be the same profile. I had two spare surrounds so i gave it a go. It was a once only cut with the jigsaw ! You can't lay the the surround on top of the panel without cuting a hole, so a bit of guess work is required, but you can make a template from the the front headlight cutout in the front panels (if you take out the existing front headlight surrounds temparily) Somehow i managed to get it right. the front right fits the back left etc. I now have no problem with people not seeing my brake/turn lights ! They also look like they came from the factory like that.

Best wishes to all

Matt Thane

Photographer's bus -- an ``Ansaliner'', built by Ansair, the company that built Flxible's in Australia.