AEC Reliance

The AEC Reliance was a single-decker bus and coach chassis built by AEC from 1953 to 1979, with its engine mounted under the floor in the middle of the frame. The name had been used once before, for a different single-decker chassis sold between 1928 and 1931. Two prototypes were finished in 1953, one with a Duple coach body and one with a Park Royal bus body, and production vehicles entered service from 1954. The permitted length grew from the original 30 feet to 36 feet from 1962 and later to 39 feet, and AEC fitted a range of its own engines, from the 7.7 litre AH470 to the 12.4 litre AH760. It competed with the Leyland Tiger Cub and Leopard even after both firms came under the same ownership in 1962, and it sold widely abroad, including in Australia and New Zealand.