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This Couple Started With A Rusted Bus Carcass, And 33 Years Later It’s Incredible

This post was updated on March 19th, 2024

Most people don’t have the patience to work on a single project for decades. Trillian and Kerry, a New Zealand couple who bought a decrepit 1960 Bedford SB3 bus over 30 years ago, have a near super-human ability to focus.

After buying the dilapidated bus from Auckland’s North Shore Ferries, the two worked on and off for 33 years to bring it to its present state.

Keith Levy, of The Flying Tortoise, met them at Northland’s Uretiti campground to photograph Trillian and Kerry’s unique achievement.

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The original bus resembles a gazelle after a pack of lions have at it.

Bedford housebus

Housebus restoration

But it’s astonishing how things can change.

Emmylou housebus

There’s a cozy bedroom in the back.

Sleeping area in house bus

And a gorgeous wooden ceiling made of curved plywood.

Wood ceiling

Interior of Emmylou house bus

Trillian and Kerry make a cameo.

Trillian and Kerry

Look at those hand-crafted window frames.

Wooden window frames

“Ye Olde Leyland”.

Exterior of Emmylou housebus

The couple hand-built this rear fender.

Exceptional paintjob on bus conversion

Handcrafted fenders

Rear of bus

“Emmylou”.

Emmylou bus conversion

My hands ache just looking at all these rivets.

Rivets

Awesome job Trillian and Kerry!

Trillian and Kerry in Emmylou

They say that “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. Now we know that an exquisite, hand-built bus conversion takes more than a day as well! (12,045 days to be exact).

You can see more amazing photos of campers, caravans, and just plain cool stuff at Keith’s website The Flying Tortoise.

Via The Flying Tortoise
Photos courtesy Keith Levy

1 thought on “This Couple Started With A Rusted Bus Carcass, And 33 Years Later It’s Incredible”

  1. the words “OUTSTANDING” don’t even come close to describing the quality and end result of this unit.

    again, thanks for the time and effort to bring projects of this caliber to all of us…

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