However we look at it,the Leyland National was part of our lives.From the designs on the drawing board to the first customers,it went through a process few vehicles had done.It was given an unstyled exteriorand the 7 examples were sent to different places to see how they would behave in adverse weather.One of these examples was given full styling and went to the motor show in 1970.From there the hard work was almost done.The first examples were quickly snapped up and by 1973 it had started to show it could cut the mustard.Some operators just could not get enough of them.whilst others just took them because of the quick delivery. The most obvious thing about the national was the noise,it proved to be a bone of contention.Somehow Leyland thought the engine would be quiet,it was far from that.The 510 engine was a bit of a workhorse and unforgiving too.Regular servicing was needed to keep things going.

I wonder how successful the National might have been if the NBC had not gone into partnership with Leyland.

There was really no need for the National. Leyland had a perfectly good rear engined chassis in the Bristol RE.

The whole LN excercise was a massive job creation scheme for the isolated manufacturing area of Cumbria. As such it was inevitable that the LN would have to be NBC's standard single decker. If you take these mandatory purchases out of the equation the remnants of the order book don't look too healthy by any business standards.

I found the LN to be an adequate vehicle for operation in Hobart but I still wonder if the whole LN saga was worth the effort