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18501 Open Top Mk2 - Southern Nat'l	THE REAL BUSES The Bristol Commercial Vehicle Company developed the VR rear engine design in the mid 1960's. The first VR's were however somewhat trouble some, the in-line vertical engine proving a major problem. Thankfully these VRL's were soon replaced by a more reliable transverse engine version which was classified the VRT. The VRT was produced in three versions, the mark I that had a flat windscreen, the mark II that featured a curved windscreen, and the most popular mark III version that featured a redesigned radiator grille and rear engine cover. Bristol VRT's were the standardized double deck type for most operators within the National Bus Company, however examples of the type also found favour with several municipal operators. Almost all the VRT's were bodied by Eastern Coach Works, although some operators specified small batches with body designs by other builders. The model continued in production until 1981 by which time over 4400 examples had been built. Its demise came as a result of the introduction of the Leyland Olympian, sadly this event also marked the end of the Bristol Commercial Vehicle business. Convertible open top versions of the ECW bodied VRT were popular with several National Bus Company operators who operated coastal services. Southdown had several batches of such vehicles that operated seasonal open top services during the summer period, and then had the roofs re-fitted during the winter months allowing operation of normal services. Many Bristol VRT's after withdrawal by their original owners found further service with independent operators across the UK. Today small numbers of this sturdy work horse continue to provide sterling service, while a growing number are passing into the hands of preservationists. THE EFE MODELS The EFE can produce four versions of the Bristol VRT this is achieved by using different castings for the front grille and engine compartment on the mark II & III versions with curved windscreen. The closed top versions were the first to appear with the mark II making it's debut in December 1995 followed in March 1996 by the mark III. The Open top versions both of these models share the same top deck casting with the first issue of mark III coming in April 1997 followed by the mark II in July 1998. Mark III versions of both the open and enclosed top models have greatly out numbered the mark II releases. In 2009 EFE announced plans to produce two further versions of the Bristol VR, the first was a mark I vehicle with flat windscreen and the other a flat screen version of the mark II. A totally new one piece body tooling was produced for these models and this marked a departure from EFE's previous practice of producing sperate upper & lower deck castings for all of it's double deck models. The first issue of the new flat screen model took place in May 2012 and unlike the earlier curved screen versions included driving mirrors and a higher degree of internal detailing that includes painted seat cushions and some internal grab rails. The fact that the flat screen version uses a single piece body casting would seem to preclude the likely hood of an open top version being produced.
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