14010 Late Grille - South Wales	THE REAL BUSES The Lodekka was the result of a collaboration between chassis manufacturer Bristol and bodybuilder Eastern Coach Works. The design was considered a revolutionary when launched in 1959 and for the first time a lowbridge double deck bus was available with normal height saloons and conventional centre gangways on both decks. Prior to the Lodekka all lowbridge designs had required a sunken side gangway on the top deck and four wide bench seats. The intrusion of this gangway on the lower deck could quite literally prove a major headache to any unwary passengers! The Lodekka was by today's standards a low floor design employing a completely flat floor on the lower deck which was achieved by running the drive line down the off-side of the bus under the seats. Although the Lodekka FLF employed a front entrance most operators chose to use conductors although some did experiment with driver only operation. Around 5000 Lodekkas were built in total which included the shorter FS version however only around 1850 were of the FLF variate and many of these were used by operators in the Tillings Group and became the standard double type in many of the divisions. During the 1970's the National Bus Company exchanged a large number of its Bristol FLFs for Bristol VRTs from the Scottish Bus Company were the newer design didn't find favour. The Bristol FLF remained in service in large numbers both north and south of the Scottish border until the late 70's. Most were eventually replaced by newer vehicles better suited to driver only operation. THE EFE MODELS All four versions of the Lodekka model made their first appearance in 1992. The FLF can be produced with and without the front Cave-Brown-Cave ventilation grilles either side of the destination box. By changing the front grille casting both the early and later radiator design can be reproduced. To date releases of the two castings with the later style of front grille have out numbered the pair with the earlier style by around 5 to 1.
14202 Early Grille - Midland General