A RARE 1949 bus that used to drive around the streets of Oxford before being sold to America is coming home.

Oxford Bus Museum in Long Hanborough has bought the AEC regent double-decker bus OFC 395 and is planning to ship it back to the county in the next few weeks.

The bus was one of 53 high-bridge buses acquired by Oxford Motor Services between 1949 and 1951 and operated in the city for 12 years before being acquired via a dealer by the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment in Aldermaston where it was used for site staff transport.

In summer 1974, it was exported to Long Beach, California, where it was used as a tourist attraction at the Queen Mary site.

Oxford Bus Museum trustee Christopher Butterfield explained it was common for vehicles to be touted as original London buses so they could be sold to Americans.

He added: “It was in vogue in the 1970s for people in the USA to acquire English buses.

“Dealers used to buy them at scrap value, paint them red and put a nonsensical destination route with London landmarks on the front and could sell them for much more money.”

He said there was an example with a buyer from Georgia who contacted James Freeman – then head of Reading buses – asking him about the vehicle he had bought. He believed from its livery that it was from the capital, only to discover it had never been near St Paul’s or the Houses of Parliament.

Mr Butterfield said OFC 395 was no exception, having been painted red and passed off as a London bus while in California.

A few years ago it was acquired by its present owner, who drove it across America to its present location in Mayville, New York close to Lake Erie and the USA/Canadian border.

Mr Butterfield said: “We learnt OFC 395 was in upstate New York. You cannot make a 1949 bus, you have to acquire them. We have to get them when we get the chance.”

The museum has a second bus of a similar design but a low-bridge – designed to go under the railway bridge in Oxford. It hopes to be able to use the old bus as parts for the new acquisition.

The new bus has a Weymann body on its original AEC Regent III engine with the original seats but, having been left in the open for a number of years, the paintwork is in need of substantial renovation.

Mr Butterfield said until it is brought back to England, on low loaders by sea, it will be impossible to estimate how much or how long restoration might take.

And while the bus does run, in its present state it is unlikely to pass an MOT test.

But the museum, which is a charity and entirely run by volunteers, hopes once restoration is complete and the bus has been repainted in its original Oxford colours, OFC 395 will be added to its fleet providing free vintage bus trips for the public.

The museum contains 30 vintages buses and coaches – the earliest dating from 1913 – a collection of Morris cars dating from 1925 to 1977 and a collection of bicycles.