As the sight of the turquoise Arriva buses humming down Malta’s roads has now become commonplace, the once ubiquitous old yellow buses will soon be museum pieces – so much so that Heritage Malta was given 129 buses for posterity.

“The first plan is to salvage them – which is not a small thing. Our criteria were based on having a specimen from every local coach builder we knew of, and that they were representative of the older routes,” Heritage Malta chairman Joe Said told The Sunday Times.

A total of 160 other buses, according to the Transport Ministry, were scrapped.

Heritage Malta has, however, kept some “iconic” parts, such as grilles and bumpers, which were often tailor-made for a particular vehicle.

“In the fullness of time, these may be introduced into an industrial heritage museum,” said Mr Said.

While the older buses may not have been the most accessible and certainly not the most eco-friendly vehicles to roam the roads, their quirkiness endeared them to many tourists, turning them into an unofficial icon of Maltese culture.

Older bus models were often built by so-called ‘bodybuilders’ round the island, with the engine, more often than not, being sourced from Britain – and the engine type proudly emblazoned on some part of the bus in ornate lettering, known as tberfil in Maltese.

The local element meant that a lot of parts and panels could be replaced easily and quickly – for instance, the sliding windows in the old buses were made of normal glass, rather than the tempered glass fitted into cars.

The charm was traded for comfort in later years, when drivers started importing old coaches from the UK to be used as buses, albeit still costing owners tens of thousands to buy.

Owners of the older buses are not immune to their charm, and those who owned the better-looking traditional buses have refused to consign their old workhorse to the scrap heap, choosing instead to adapt them to the market that seems to have appreciated them most – tourists.

There is also a vibrant online community which cherishes the memory of the old buses while tracking the progress of each bus as if it were a friend.

Some have taken their devotion beyond taking pictures and have shelled out thousands to own a slice of Maltese history, with older models selling for around €20,000.

Alex Farrugia, 34, who has been driving buses for 15 years, spent the last four months driving an old Maltese bus built on an Albion chassis. He estimates that there are over 70 old buses still in private hands.

“I plan to restore it to its original condition and keep it as part of this country’s heritage,” Mr Farrugia said.