A really "smelly and scruffy'' bus falling into disrepair in an Ashburton paddock has become an international star.
The 1976 Leyland Leopard bus was cast in an advertisement for Milka chocolate in November and is now screening on Youtube and television sets around the world.
The Otago Heritage Bus Society was asked for the use of a bus in an advertisement being filmed near Queenstown.
It offered up its most "immaculate'' but the Italian producers preferred the former Dunedin City Council bus.
Bus society operations manager Andrew Robinson said the bus performed well and the advertisement turned out great.
"They chose the grottiest, mangiest one. It was really smelly and scruffy when we found it. There were animals living in it,'' Mr Robinson said.
"[It] hadn't run for two years [but] they [producers] were really happy with it. It all worked out really well.''
The advertisement was shot over a week at Paradise, Arrowtown, and Dalefield and Mr Robinson drove the bus.
"It's quite a retro ad. I thought I was going to absolutely hate it. It was really different but really fun,'' Mr Robinson said.
The bus society, formed in 2010, had about 30 members and had bought and restored eight buses, of which the Dunedin-built Leopard was a particular favourite.
"We took a huge gamble. We found out on the internet that a couple of old buses had ended up in a paddock in Ashburton. Initially, it sat around in the shed and nobody wanted to use it but we started doing a few weddings and things with it. It's not fast or powerful but it goes and it's never let us down.''
The Leopard was decommissioned by the DCC in 1993.
It cost the society $5000, of which the DCC contributed half, and had been restored by volunteer mechanics.
The 175hp bus carries 45 passengers, has a top speed of 60kmh and was back on the road in 2013.
"It looks ugly and dysfunctional but it's actually really clever,'' Mr Robinson said.
The advertisement would not be shown in New Zealand as the chocolate is not sold here but people could watch it via the Otago Heritage Bus Society Facebook page.
