1973 MERCEDES-BENZ O305 #301

The first of a total of 298, our Mercedes-Benz O305, #301, later known as #1301 has had a colourful career and is ready to come home to Auckland and enjoy a well deserved retirement!

#​301 is the first of it's model, produced in 1973 for the Auckland Regional Authority. Later re-numbered to 1301 in 1976. This was the beginnings of what would become known as the iconic fleet of 'yellow buses' in Auckland. 

In the 1990s, #1301 as it was then known was retired from service with the ARA, it ended up with Bayes Coachlines in 1998 as their #77. In the late 2000s, it was sold off as a Motorhome, passing to one other person as a motorhome and becoming known as H1KA and getting its distinctive green paintjob. We picked the bus up in 2021, to save the bus from an otherwise uncertain future. Eventually we will return this bus to its original yellow and we will see its original identity returned to the bus.