Excelsior Holidays gets its Guests
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EXCELSIOR HOLIDAYS of Bournemouth has taken delivery of the first of 20 Plaxton Paramount 3200-bodied Quest 80 model VM coaches.
The coach, which was developed by Quest specifically to meet Excelsior requirements, is powered by a rear-mounted upright in-line Ford 5.95 litre turbocharged engine developed by Sabre and intercooled to develop 16 4kW (220bhp) at 2,50Orpm.
The chassis — named after Excelsior managing director Vernon Maitland — is designed to retain the economic advantages of operating lightweight coaches which are replaced every two years while offering the comfort and performance criteria demanded by tour passengers.
It has many parts from the Ford Cargo lorry range, including Cargo integral power steering, axles and brakes, and gearbox connected to a righthand gear lever.
Other chassis features include Dunlop air suspension, automatic oil level reservoir and warning indicator and two 50gallon fuel tanks.
It also has a low driving position and is suitable to be adapted into semi-integral coachwork.
Four of the 20 Excelsior vehicles will be of the semi-integral type and will be used on the company's tour programme to the Soviet Union.
Quest 80 is now offering Cummins L10 engines and ZF S 6.65 or S 6.90 gearboxes as options in place of the Ford units.
The Plaxton Paramount 3200 coach bodies fitted to the 12m coaches feature a new low and wide entrance and low splitwindscreen arrangement. The short feature window has been deleted on the Excelsior vehicles.
Excelsior Holidays has also taken delivery of the first Plaxton Paramount 4000 double-deck coach, which is to be used on its Bournemouth to London service and four Plaxton 3500-bodied Daf SB 2300 coaches which have been bought for Continental touring, with Sutrac air-conditioning among a long list of body features.