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The End of Bus & Car

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 6:42 am
by Bus & Car
Bus and Car went bankrupt in 1978. It was sold to MOL, N. V. and they kept it going for a few more years selling parts, service and 28 buses of two different models to the SNCV, the nationwide government owned bus company that connected everywhere to everywhere else. It is also possible they sold a few more Eagle coaches to European and other operators.

MOL had also bought BREC, the Belgian Railway Equipment Company, an OEM supplier to La Brugeoise et Nivelles, later BN. In time, MOL moved everything worth having from the Bus & Car location in Sint Michiels into the BREC location, just southwest of Brussels, the Belgian capital. A few years later, MOL closed down BREC because of ongoing labor disputes and strikes and then sold the building to a retail chain who uses it as a warehouse.

What was left over at the time were some parts and the remains of six or seven Eagle 17 city buses that were never finished and sold. They were all scrapped.

Interestingly enough, Craig Hanloh wanted to buy all of the existing parts and tooling in the early 2000's, most of which were stored near MOL's head office in Hooglede. Of course Craig was hoping to get this stuff for little or nothing and MOL wasn't interested. Hanloh actually came to see what was available while he was vacationing in Morocco but without any real financial resources, there was nothing he could do. Craig and I had a number of discussions about this and he wanted me to go to Hoogleede with him, or so he said. Later on he told me that he 'forgot' to contact me when he arrived in Belgium. By then I already had the idea that he was skating on thin financial ice and that turned out to be correct.

I'm sorry the photo is not of the highest quality. It was taken from a moving train going about 100 MPH. You can clearly see the former BREC name and logo on the side of the building facing the tracks.

Re: The End of Bus & Car

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 9:09 am
by beltguy
Thanks for the history lesson Joe

For those new folks, Joe Richards is our resident historian. He has furnished us with great tables of the production number information and lots of stories about the history of Eagle manufacturing over the years.

Jim