Hello, my name is Dusty Hemings.
The 1953 Flexi you have been looking at was my father's. When he died my sister got the bus and took it to Texas. The bus was in great shape when my father died, but my sister's husband had very little mechanical knowledge to maintain it, so he had someone work on it that had money on their mind and not looking at what a real work of art it was. It was sold to someone from the UK and shipped over there.
I found this forum topic when researching my father's heritage. The pictures of this bus really sent me back to when my father bought the Flxible from the Vincennes Bus company. The bus had just been refitted with a new 4/71 diesel.
My dad removed all the seats, refitted the interior and added the water tank, waste tank, pumps and electrics. He put new Michelin tires all around. My brother was a professional auto painter and painted the whole thing, which I know was painted over in Texas.
My parents used the coach for numerous trips to California and Florida. In it's day it was an absolute beauty with its stainless-steel sides and new paint. When coming at you it looked like it was smiling.
I drove this bus, and the clutch and engine were smooth. It's strange to see it in Ireland when, other than a few bad pics from Texas, it was in our driveway in Indianapolis, Indiana.
