These buses can be further classified by 4 main groups. The first group represents S3BL1-105. These buses are the only ones that are not equiped with ventilation system. The buses are powered by Gardner 6LXCT engines with Voith D851 transmission, except S3BL100-104, which were specified to have Cummins L10 engines for evaluation purpose.

The second group of 265 buses (S3BL106-370) represents orders in batches of 45, 50, 61 and 109. These buses are generally the same mechanic specifications with the first group, except 19 buses from the last batch of 109. Nine of the 19 buses, S3BL264-272, are powered by Cummins L10 engines with ZF 4HP500 gearboxes. Another 10 buses, S3BL273, 275, 280, 284, 291, 292, 294, 296, 298 and 299, are powered by Gardner 6LXCT with ZF4HP500 transmission. One extra bus together with the group of 9 with Cummins/ZF combinations was ordered, and the bus was installed with air-conditioning for evaluation purpose. The bus became the first air-conditioned Leyland Olympian in the fleet, that is AL1 (DX 2437).

The third group consists 50 buses (S3BL371-420). These buses are equiped with Cummins L10 engines and Voith D851 gearboxes. Starting from these buses, the upper-deck windscreens of both sides are attached to each other instead of being seperated by a thick centre pillar.

Cummins L10 engines were chosen to power the last group of 50 buses (S3BL421-470), but the gearboxes were changed to ZF4HP500 again. The window frames are blackened, and the colour of the seats and interior panels were changed from brown to grey. These specifications make these buses more similar to the air-conditioned buses. However, brown seats were retro-fitted later. These buses became the last Leyland products, and the production of final order of 30 non air-conditioned Olympians (S3V1-30) were continued by Volvo.

All these bus were fitted with Alexander R-type bodies when new. Among them, S3BL174 was rebodied by Guangzhou Cityview, and S3BL364 was rebuilt with a modified (S3V) Alexander R-type body. Original bodies of the both buses were seriously damaged during fire incidents.

Photographs of some of the S3BL buses are available. Please click on the links below to access.