City buses on show
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Alonvide the IMP congress was a first-rate exhibition of more than 30 city buses. Indicating the importance manufacturers attach to the congress, the show revealed several important trends in design. There was an emphasis on passenger comfort with some lavishly carpeted interiors. Outside there was evidence of the major efforts being exerted to make buses quieter and cleaner.
Making its public debut at The Hague was the first European version of the Leyland National. This featured Leyland's safety seat frames trimmed to French speci
fication complete with padded backrails. understand that several orders are near completion in France and several other EEC countries.
Also on show for the first time was an interesting prototype bus built by the Hamburg undertaking. This featured ultrasmall wheels and low floor height and is mainly intended to influence manufacturers, Another new vehicle from Germany was the Magirus-Deutz 170SH110 city bus. This has an encapsulated air-cooled engine. Two buses — one with an engine using an LPG diesel mix — were shown by the Austrian company Graf and Stift and impressed delegates by their high standard of finish. Both featured the sophisticated Voith Diwa transmission.
Fiat's 421AL city bus made its first appearance too but was greeted with less than universal enthusiasm by delegates. The vehicle has been produced with the aim of winning a large order from Paris. It is frontengined which means that floor height and step height are both excessive. The driver's seat is an incredible Mt 7in from the ground.