SPICE UP YOUR LIFE
Did you know that you can come and stay on the actual Spice Bus from the Spice Girls’ 1997 movie Spice World? It is right here at the picturesque Island Harbour Marina on the Isle of Wight.
In the film, the brightly-coloured, Union Jack-painted tour bus transported the Spice Girls around London, driven by a character called Dennis, played by Meat Loaf. At the end of the film, the bus was destroyed by a bomb, but as this was only heard off-screen, the real bus was thankfully unharmed.
Island Harbour Marina has owned The Spice Bus since 2014. It has been on display here since then, although it is only in 2019 that we have converted it to be ‘quirky accommodation’.
We hope that you will ‘Wannabee’ on the bus and will come to Island Harbour to do so! ‘Say you’ll Be There’.
Photo credit: Matt Alexander/PA Wire
Vital statistics – For those that are interested!
The Spice Bus is a 1978 British Leyland Bristol VRTSL3 double-decker. For bus enthusiasts, it has a 10,450cc Gardner 6LXB 6 cylinder diesel engine that can produce 180BHP. The ‘Bristol’ marque comes from Bristol Commercial Vehicles, who were taken over by British Leyland in 1965. The VRTSL3 class shows that it has a Vertical Rear Transverse engine, a Short and Low chassis and that it is a Series 3 model. The VRTSL3 is the most common variant of the Bristol VR range, being manufactured from 1966 until 1981.
When in service, the bus had a H43/31F configuration. This means that it was a Highbridge, or ‘double decker’, with 43 seats upstairs and 31 seats downstairs. The ‘F’ shows that the door is at the front. Other configurations had the doors at the rear, or occasionally, even in the centre. I am sure that you can now all sleep at night, now that you know all about her!
When originally in public service, the bus had a number of owners and operated first in the East Midlands, but later in Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire. She was withdrawn from service in January 1997, just in time to become a film star! You will see a couple of pictures below, of how she originally looked whilst operating in Sussex.
Come and see her! Yet another reason to come and visit Island Harbour!
With many thanks for technical information on Bristol buses to Rob Sly of the Bristol Commercial Vehicles Enthusiasts.