[896er]

Hi there!

My name is Kristian, I'm from Germany and I really like to hunt for former german buses in foreign countries ;-)
When I was 13 years old (2002), we spent our holidays on Crete. I remember that there were a lot of MAN SL200 and Mercedes-Benz O 305 in service, all in good condition concerning to the age of them. My preference for former german buses wasn't as distinctive as it is today, but I made three photos of them in Amudara.
A friend of mine (also buslover) is going to spend 10 days in july at Crete. The photos I saw in the Leo's gallery show that there might be no more old Mercedes or MAN at all!? Can anybody tell me what has happened to them? Back then the isle was full of them :-) Maybe they are standing demolished on a scrapyard? We are very interested in it.

Thanks a lot for helping.







Regards,
Kristian

[garvanitis]

Hello Kristian,

I believe that maybe I can help you. Soon you'll get a personal message from me with some info you are looking for and with my e-mail adress for further details...

George

[Paul]

Hello Kristian,

I live in Heraklion, Crete where the photos of the MAN are taken and i am almost sure that the Mercedes O305 you are searching is still parked (not in service) in the yard of Public Bus Service of Heraklion near the local Airport Nikos Kazantzakis. Sometime in the week i may find time to go there and check if it is still there and if there is any other old german bus there and i will inform you here. I think George has more details about what buses are left and the condition of them now and is the best who can give you information after the owners of the buses but i will try to help also...

Paul

[Paul]

I checked our gallery and found the one that i want to check if still there... Here it is

[896er]

Thanks for posting :-) Does anyone know when they have started to import O 305 and Sl200?

[garvanitis]

Thanks for posting :-) Does anyone know when they have started to import O 305 and Sl200?

Most of these buses arrived in Greece about 1991-4. Some of them came about 1995-7 and there is at least in service from 1999. There are also some early imports about 1981-2 mostly in Crete, Heraklio and Chania, almost new, 1978-8 M.Y.
Soon I'll send you a fully detailed list with these buses... Some of them are still in service, two of them as school buses in Thessaloniki, one as staff bus of Patra's General Hospital, and one for a fruit-packing industry in Kavala.

---

Now, about your pics...

In the first two we can see HPK3217, Astiko KTEL 122, a 1979 M.Y. MAN SL200 (VIN:192-2964-2960). It was imported by 1993...

The third picture shows HPH4040, Astiko KTEL 131, a 1975 M.Y. MAN SL200 (VIN:192-0856-1052), ex Vondenhoff, Herzogenrath (AC-EV 221), new VWS 217, Siegen (SI-EM 114), imported by 1991.

We have no info about where HPK3217 came from... Can you help us?

[896er]

Thank you for the additional information! Unfortunately I haven't achieved anything new about your questions :-(

Best regards,
Kristian

[896er]

Hi guys!

The friend of mine is going to fly next week to Crete. Are there now any places (e.g. scrapyards) where he could find remains of old buses and trucks?

Regards,
Kristian

[miltos xania]

Hallo Kristian

Thank you for posting those wonderful pics!!I live in Chania,Crete and i remember very clearly all those excellent buses.90% of the local bus fleet in the city of Chania were mercedes-benz o305 until 2004.There were also 6 man sl200.Unfortunately nobody can see them any more even in scrapyards.
In this link there is a photo of the last 305 of chania.It was in service until 2005 http://www.chaniabus.gr/content/icons/6.jpg