Bristol RE

The Bristol RE was a rear-engined single-decker bus and coach chassis built by Bristol Commercial Vehicles in Bristol from 1962 until 1983. It is often considered the most successful of the first generation of rear-engined single-deckers. Variants were named by length and frame height, the RELL and RESL low-frame bus versions and the RELH, RESH and REMH high-frame coach and dual-purpose versions, with a suffix for the Gardner or Leyland diesel engine fitted. In all 4,629 were built, most of them the long low-frame RELL. At first it was sold only to state-owned operators of the Transport Holding Company, but from 1965 the Bristol range opened to the British Electric Traction group and municipal fleets. Bodywork was most often by Eastern Coach Works, with Duple, Plaxton and Alexander bodies on some coaches.