Leyland-MCW Olympic

The Leyland-MCW Olympic was an underfloor-engined single-deck bus made from 1949 to 1971 for at least eighteen countries, and 3,564 were built at four factories, three in the United Kingdom and one in South Africa. Of these 1,299 were right-hand drive and 2,265 left-hand drive. The name recalls the 1948 London Olympic Games, when Leyland was working on a horizontal version of its new 9.8-litre O.600 diesel engine. In 1948 Leyland and the MCW sales organisation agreed a twenty-year collaboration on integral designs, favouring each other with body-on-chassis business. It was a very durable heavy-duty bus that ran in arduous conditions for longer than its designers ever expected.