Charlie's Cars was the minibus subsidiary of Shamrock and Rambler which ceased operating at the end of 1988 (after the date of your photo). I don't think there's any Shamrock connection, though!
My gut feeling, and that is all it is, is that it was with Cynon Valley. Shamrock and Rambler were owned by Drawlane and the Hilditch family had some association with that group. Additionally, Geoffrey Hilditch was manager at Cynon Valley. One or two Cynon Valley coaches went to Shamrock and Rambler around the same time so there was at least some dialogue going on between them. Perhaps Charlie's Cars was helping out during a temporary shortage of vehicle? The only trouble with this theory is that National Welsh were buying quite a few similar minibuses at the time and it might have been helping out on warranty work! (I see this as less credible.) Can you make out anything with a magnifying glass like legal lettering, on hire notices or even some evidence from the pile of papers on the dash what route it was working? Unfortunately where it's parked doesn't give you a clue. Regards, David Beilby On 11 Oct 2008, at 12:40, richard field wrote: > I photographed this Charlie's Cars Sherpa in Pontypridd bus station > on the 15th of August 1988. As it's an "E" reg vehicle it was new > but I never found out who was operating it. Was it on hire to Cynon > Valley, Shamrock, National Welsh, or somebody else? I've sifted > through fleet news in Buses Magazines of 1988 but can find no > reference to it. Can anybody help??? > > > Richard Field. > > > > <scan0023.jpg> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Welsh Bus Photographs" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Welsh-Bus-Photographs -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
