Richard, what is the difference between the two versions you have with white seating? Or is the first one a bit more beige?

Richard -- thanks for the further details. Personally I have only the version with blue seats top and bottom, and the darker yellow version. (I understand from Jacques' Encyclopaedia that there are also numerous variants of the "Kenning" Atlantean, but that livery has never appealed to me as much.)

Perhaps it is a trick of the light, but can it be that on your bus with the white seats, the driver's face has actually been treated to some flesh-colored paint? If so, this is the only sample I have ever seen with that detail.

Overall of course, this is a nice model despite the invidious Speedwheels, but it provides a good example of Binns Road cutting costs during the end by eliminating some painting steps. (Also, there is a related example of the factory saving money by re-using stickers on other models -- the #289 "Yellow Pages" Routemaster.)

I have a soft spot for this item as it is the very first toy vehicle I remember.  Sadly, large amounts of paint fell off that example, and it eventually ended up as a "low bridge victim".  Fortunately I look after my toys a little better nowadays!

I have an example which has the Yellow Pages label on the front in non-mirror writing.  Was that a variation, or just an error where the back sticker has been put on the front by mistake (or by a previous owner)?

I remember seeing the Kennings bus in a shop and wanting one, but I had to wait until my adult collecting before that happened. I was able to buy a late mint and boxed example at a toy fair this year for £1, which was less than the £1.49 price shown on the original price ticket!

Fred, what a find to locate the Kenning for just a quid. Amazing!

The non-mirror-writing version is a known variation. You could call it a mistake, or maybe it just happened when some stickers ran out temporarily.

As an aside, it’s nice to hear from a relatively younger collector here. For comparison, these Atlanteans come from my late teen years, so as such, mine never got played with as they were designed to be.

I always appreciated this model because it was to scale with Dinky’s earlier Atlantean and other buses, and wasn’t too huge like so many later Dinky Toys.

Many thanks for your reply.  I've been lucky with the Kenning bus, as I also found the white and blue versions at a car boot sale.  It must be to make up for never getting one all those years ago!

I really liked my Yellow Pages bus (until too much of the paint fell off, it really didn't seem to adhere well to the metal), but I did find it a little annoying that it was too small to match my other toy cars.  Even Matchbox cars were generally too big to sit comfortably alongside it.  I had a pair of Red Arrow buses, but they must have made less of an impression as I don't remember them as well as that Yellow Pages Atlantean.  I do remember that one had a white base and the other a black base.

Fred, the Atlantean is approximately 1/76th scale, so it’s not surprising that other toy cars were not to scale. (You can get 1/76th cars from Oxford Diecast these days, however.)

Your luck with the Kenning is exceptional. I was recently (it hasn’t even arrived in the post yet) moved to purchase the white version on eBay, and it was quite costly. Meantime the only blue one on there just now is even more expensive. Perhaps if you keep looking you’ll find the Manchester Assurance promotional version too!!

Unfortunately I live in California where car boot sales are not a thing, and even if they were, Dinky Toys would be most unlikely. (In the 70s, they were sold here but distribution was quite limited.)

Cheers,
Jonathan