THERE were only 131 Ansair Flxible Clippers built in Australia in the decade from 1950 and Russell Barr has the second one off the production line.

Reginald Ansett's Ansair company manufactured the American-designed bus that were famously used as Pioneer Tour coaches.

"I used to travel to Hobart to my brother's when I was about 10 or 12 [years] and I used to wait at Conara for the Clippers to run because they were the fastest coach around - they had a beautiful sound," Mr Barr, 63, of St Marys, said.

"When the Bedfords come I would want to go and hide.

"I used to say 'I will have a Clipper one day' and this one came up in Hobart at Dodges Ferry and we have had it 14 years.

"They are a classic and major part of Australian transport history . . . they were the fastest aerodynamic coach and they finished in 1976.

"The only thing that killed them was that they could only carry 29 to 30-odd [people].

"Tasmania had the highest rate of Clippers, we had 17 at one stage."

Mr Barr's Clipper, named Nadine, is fitted out with a double bed, shower, toilet, seating, a kitchenette - the lot.

"When we got it it had been restored but we refurbished it by putting in new carpet, a seat for the wife, new covers, curtains, a fridge, stove and the on the outside I put the Pioneer Tours on it.

"My most favourite thing is getting elderly people come up to you and say that they went to school in them, the truck drivers come and say 'you've got one of those things that used to burn us off the roads' - they had a top speed of 80 miles and hour."

Mr Barr is a Flxible Clipper Club of Australia member and has taken his bus to numerous rallies across Australia, including Alice Springs and the Barossa Valley.

He also shows off the bus at Tasmania car shows such as Longford and Pyengana.