A long-forgotten Dunedin movie star has been resurrected after being found a little worse for wear in a paddock.
The 1966 Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmaster - Dunedin City Transport bus No136 - was bound for scrap in 2010 when Timaru bus enthusiast Philip Murphy discovered it and wondered if it could be saved.
Little did he know at the time that the bus had featured in a Dutch movie - Bride Flight - set in 1950s Christchurch.
Much of the movie was filmed in Dunedin.
It premiered in 2008 and starred Rutger Hauer, Elise Schaap, Anna Drijver, Karina Smulders, Waldemar Torenstra and Rawiri Paratene.
But before that, No136 had been one of 30 buses with New Zealand Motor Bodies bodywork in various lengths and sizes, which travelled the streets of Dunedin between 1959 and 1968.
No136 was one of the last and largest versions.
It was 10m long and had seating for 47 people.
Mr Murphy said he bought the bus because it was part of his childhood in Dunedin.
"It is a piece of local history - certainly well worth restoring.
"I didn't know she had been in a movie when I first saw her.''
He said the bus had been painted red on the right-hand side, and it took a long time, talking to various people, to find out why.
He understood she was painted red to portray a Wellington bus and to block reflections from buildings during filming in the Octagon.
Mr Murphy had restored the bus himself in Timaru, and recently sent the bus back to Dunedin to be painted by the Otago Heritage Bus Society, and to get a certificate of fitness.
It was almost ready to roll again, he said.
"I'm quite elated. It's taken quite a long time and many thousands of dollars to get it this far.
"She will be the only one of that model of bus that the council had that is in going order as a passenger bus at the moment.''
He hoped No136 would be used, along with other buses at the Otago Heritage Bus Society, during runs at Easter and Christmas when Dunedin's bus services stopped for holidays.
