The ship had been sold to the City of Long Beach, and the plan was to create an "Olde London" village along side the permanently moored ocean liner. (The village never came into existence, however.)
The developers of the village purchased two double-decker London buses for use in the village, and they had the good idea to ship them to Long Beach aboard Queen Mary when she sailed her final voyage for Cunard, which would end at the ship's new home. So the buses were loaded aboard the ship and secured to the aft deck. The novelty of having the buses aboard proved popular with the passengers, many of whom were willing to pay a dollar to sit in the buses as the ship rounded Cape Horn on its way to the West Coast.
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| The first of the buses was lifted aboard Queen Mary by a crane in Southampton. Another sign of the times: Note the Pan Am ad on the side of the bus. |
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| The bus is being lowered onto Queen Mary's aft deck. |
