Reg No: HYN 86 – new 1947
Operator: Co-operative Wholesale Society
Model: Brush Mark II
Power: 60 volt battery
Capacity: 10/14 cwt.
Brush entered the battery-electric market after World War Two by purchasing design and manufacturing rights from Metropolitan-Vickers (Metro-Vick). HYN 86 therefore has quite a resemblance to our 1938 Metro-Vick exhibit FWB 784. Brush production only lasted three years and HYN 86 is a very rare survivor.
HYN 86 belongs to a large order placed by the Co-operative Wholesale Society for distribution nationally. Its registration number suggests it started life with one of the London-based societies but it was later a bakery van with the Great Yarmouth Co-operative Society. It joined the East Anglia Transport Museum around 1973, passing to a collection of preserved battery-electric vehicles in Blandford, Dorset in 1983.
Preservation
HYN 86 was selected from the battery-electric vehicles being disposed of in 1987 by the Blandford enthusiast who kindly waived the purchase price. As you can see, it still awaits restoration either to its Great Yarmouth form or into the livery of one of the Black Country based bakeries that once ran many identical vans.