texte : http://busexplorer.com/PHP/MidPage.php?id=453 (avec 3 photos N&B)
In 1974 Bus & Car built the prototype of a new city bus model, the Eagle 17. The bus was developed for DAN Cooperative Society in Tel Aviv, Israel. It had the "silver skirts" as Eagle also used on the Brussels city buses in 1975-1976. Only six went effectively to DAN, two in 1974 and four in 1976. Also in 1974, a demonstrator was built for METRO Seattle in the US, where it received fleet number 1001. It is not known where it went after the trials. The attached picture, provided by John Murrow (The Unofficial Metro Bus Pages), shows this bus. Apart from the windscreen and an opening (additional equipment?) in the skirt, it looks identical to a Belgian demonstrator shown at the 1979 bus show in Kortrijk. Apart from the prototype, the 6 DAN buses and the Seattle demonstrator, 7 more buses were built. One was finally sold to an unknown Belgian operator, one went to an unknown destination in Africa and the whereabouts of the third vehicle are totally unknown. Four vehicles were never finished, bringing total production to 15 vehicles. When Mol took over the Bus & Car factory in 1976, production was apparently halted, though some of the buses may have been finished by Mol. The four unfinished buses were spotted stored in a workshop in Beersel, Belgium, in November 1994. However, Mol apparently made a futile effort to re-launch the model as one was shown at the Kortrijk bus show in 1979. It was called the “City” and was in blue and cream colors. Unfortunately the Eagle stand at the show was rather packed, making it difficult to take good pictures, but the photographs shown give a good impression of how this bus looked like. It may have been one of the three buses with unknown destination. (Additional information provided by Mr.Robert Smith)
