Geoffrey so proud of his Routemasters PRINTED in colour on thefront page of the Gazette on June 4, 1971, was Geoffrey Upson'sminiature London bus. The electrical engineer and motor racingenthusiast was asked to produce two toy Routemasters to show off thebest of British to an American audience. Now, almost 40 years to theday his children posed beside the seven-seater, he spoke to TanyaRosie about a life powered by battery.
THE creation of Geoffrey Upson, of Upson Mobility Vehicles,stands proudly as the only colour image in the Gazette in 1971.
Mr Upson, now 78, built two miniature replicas of a London busthat delighted the children and adults of Brentwood alike.
The vehicles were five feet tall, carried seven youngsters andwere to be sold for Pounds 1,000 apiece - equivalent to about Pounds19,000 today.
Not a single bus was sold, but Mr Upson's story is one far fromfailure.
The father of four made the buses for an exhibition called"British Week" in San Francisco.
Each Routemaster cost Pounds 2,500 to make, and only two wereproduced, but Mr Upson remembers the project with fondness.
Attention Parked up outside his company premises on Roman Road,Mountnessing, the buses gained much attention from neighbours.
"A lot of people were interested and tried to come to see it," hesaid.
His daughters were pictured next to the bus in the 1971 image,and loved their father's work.
Mr Upson, who has been married for 51 years, said: "We had afarm, so the children had plenty of space to try them out."
The buses toured Belgium, appeared on Blue Peter, and wereeventually flown to the US.
He said: "The Americans were very excited to see them becausethey love anything English.
"To see a bus in miniature and working was of great interest tothem."
The British Week assignment was just one episode in a lifeimmersed in vehicles.
The son of a buyer for Ford, Mr Upson entered the company himselfat 14 as a mailboy.
There, he learnt all about vehicles and was even taught to driveby one of the chauffeurs.
He was later asked to become a representative, which had itsperks: "They said 'Now you're a representative of Ford, you'rerepresenting Henry Ford', so I used to travel everywhere first classand got a new car."
But Mr Upson now manages his own company, making mobilityvehicles for the disabled.
Rewarding He said: "It's a rewarding job in the sense thateverybody comes in, they go away and you've helped them, which isgood."
His industriousness has also earned him the respect of hiscolleagues and customers alike. "If I had a job to do and it meantgoing in on a Saturday or a Sunday, I went in," he said. "It was myjob. That's what's important and people notice that."
Mr Upson still works a five-day week and doesn't see himselfretiring any time soon. He said: "I can't walk away because when Istarted it was seven days a week, working all day, then coming homeand doing my paperwork in the evening.
"The ladies enjoy a holiday, but I think the men get a bit fed upand want to get back."
Mr Upson added: "If somebody asks me to do something cheap, Iwouldn't get excited about that at all, but if somebody wanted aproduct that they could be proud of, and I could be proud of, then Iwould be happy to do it."
Mr Upson's little red buses may not have sold, but they werevehicles of quality, and it is this emphasis on excellence that hasmade him successful throughout his long career.
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