IXO 1:43 1972 Mercedes Benz O 302-10R Autobus

The Mercedes-Benz O 302 is a bus model from Daimler-Benz AG that was introduced in 1965. The O 302 is designed as a high-floor solo bus for city, interurban and long-distance travel. By 1976, more than 32,000 O 302s had been built.  Based on the O 302, Daimler-Benz built the OE 302 , an electric bus, from 1969 . Some third-party manufacturers also built vehicles based on the O 302.  At Biamax the O 302 was manufactured under license, and from 1976 with the rear and the grill of the O 303. In 1974 an O 302 served as a team bus for the German national soccer team.

There are several versions of the O 302, with 10, 11, 12 or 13 rows of seats, all of them with two axles and in high-floor construction. The O 302 is designed in a semi-integral design, which means that it has a floor frame but a self-supporting body.  Depending on the version, the O 302 is between 9.6 and 11.9 m  long and has a gross vehicle weight of 11.6 to 14.5 t.  Optionally, normal-height side windows or windows with additional roof edge glazing were installed

The floor frame is a profile frame on which the two axes are suspended. Both the front and rear axles are rigid axles that are guided on handlebars. Optionally, the O 302 could be supplied with coil springs on the front axle and leaf springs on the rear axle or air springs, the springs on the rear axle are double. From 1971 the air suspension was installed as standard on all vehicles.  Shock absorbers are installed at the front and rear. The wheels are steel disc wheels, 9–20 ”tires are fitted; the bus has double tires at the rear. It has a hydraulic dual-circuit brake system with compressed air support and drum brakes on all wheels. Steering is by means of ZF ball nut recirculation with power assistance, the O 302 is a left-hand drive vehicle. 

The O 302 is available with four different inline six-cylinder naturally aspirated diesel engines, the 5.7-liter OM 352 , the 8-liter OM 327, the 8.7-liter OM 360 and the 11.6-liter OM 355.  All engines have direct injection and water cooling. The performance spectrum ranges from 126 HP to 240 HP (93 kW to 176 kW). The torque is transferred via a Fichtel & Sachs single-disc dry clutch to a five-speed gearbox from Daimler-Benz, which is manually shifted and synchronized in the forward gears. An eight-speed transmission was also later offered. The torque is transmitted from the transmission to the rear axle via a short drive shaft. You could choose between two different gear ratios for urban and interurban traffic.