Reg No: 390 FHA – new 1958
Operator: Midland Red
Chassis: Land Rover Series I
Engine: Petrol
LAND ROVER TOWING VEHICLE
Land Rovers look too small to tow double-decker buses but Midland Red used them on recovery work for many years.
Land Rover loaned Midland Red a vehicle in 1957. Our introductory film in the Power Hall briefly shows this demonstrator on trial, towing uphill the heaviest double-decker bus then in the fleet, weighing over 8 tons. Midland Red was impressed and by 1963 twenty had been purchased and distributed throughout its network.
The Land Rovers had an average Midland Red life of just over ten years. 390 FHA was sold in 1967 to a gentleman in Brewood, Staffordshire, and used on a tour of Europe. In the early 1970s it passed to Dawson Brothers of Craven Arms, a garage which used it as a general recovery vehicle. It was sold in 1990 to a signwriter in the same town.
Preservation
A Land Rover enthusiast purchased 390 FHA in January 2001. He soon restored it to Midland Red livery and kindly offered it to this museum.