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Bedford JJL
The Bedford JJL was an innovative but ultimately unsuccessful midibus model built by Bedford. The JJL could have been a success, but was ahead of its time in predicting the boom in the midibus market, as seen by the success of the Dennis Dart. Only four JJLs were produced, along with a pre-production prototype, starting in 1979.[1] The production vehicles produced were as follows:[2][3]
The build date of the first chassis may indicate that this was the prototype that was converted to a production bus, although the bodywork numbers and build dates conflict with those found in.[4][5][6] Maidstone Borough Council took delivery of the JJLs in 1981/82.[7] UKK 335X and AVS 903T were sold to Brighton Buses, and then to Northern Bus, Sheffield in 1992.[4][5] EKX 648T also went to Brighton, but was scrapped in 1988 after a collision with a tree.[6] HKX 553V was sold to Bournemouth Transport (trading as Yellow Buses) in 1983, and then onto The Goodman Group,[8] where it saw service with Rambler and Goodmans coaches. It is the last JJL in service and has been exhibited at rallies. HKX553V was sold in 2018 to a collector from Aylesbury In 1985, Bedford considered reviving the JJL.[9][10] Marshall SPV had the idea to reintroduce the JJL under the Marshall Bus brand, although the deal never caught on.[11] Tricentrol of Dunstable produced a short version of Bedford's YMQ chassis, the YMQ/S, ten years after the JJL. References
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