Isuzu BX/BXD

The Isuzu BX was a family of buses that Isuzu built and sold in Japan until 1967, and the BXD names the later cab-over versions of the same line. The article traces it from earlier Sumida and Isuzu buses of the 1920s and 1930s, through the BX50 diesel bus of 1940 and the BX80 bonnet bus of 1947 built on a petrol truck chassis, to the BX91 diesel bonnet bus of 1948 that could carry more than fifty people. Cab-over models followed in 1949, a left-hand-drive BX93 was exported to Okinawa in 1950, and a rear-engined bus built from BX parts appeared in 1951. Engines grew from 72 horsepower to 130 horsepower, and the bonnet and grille were restyled several times. Production of the BX ended in 1967, closing a long history, though the BXD cab-over chassis stayed in demand for special bodies into the 1970s.