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An Act of mercy
Page 93
Page 94
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HILE the recession has ought gloom to the British ssenger transport industry, I ve no doubt that the 1980 ptor Show at Birmingham will . a particularly exciting on for v operators.
New products and the omise of new competition ere t to give both bus and co rerators a wide variety of o ms with which to take adva ge of the liberalised atmo lere of the 1980 Transport Ac Britain.
However, British operators are cing two disappointments: to new important and exciting )dies will not be on -show. lese are the Dominant 3 and 4 xach bodies from Duple CoachAlders of Blackpool. They offer rilish operators seeking a .ifish product the thermal adhikes of coaches with smalr );#yindows and the option of Pub,le glazing. Now for what is 1 d(lay.
The British bodybuilding inJstry will be represented at EC by Walter Alexander :oachbuilders) Ltd (Stand 24), unchihg its R-type range of Puble-deck buses, and by
ho Counties (Stand 45)o are howing a new double
ecker oh Leyland AN68 Atlanan chaasis. These chassis are estined fp r Kuwait, and, as Leyind Olyknpians, for Greater 1anchester Transport.
Plaxtons of Scarborough stand 56) are meeting new verseas competition by ffering a new hot and cold air eating and ventilation system irough the luggage racks on its Su eme range of bodies. At the NECa new 29-seat body on Bed rd VAS chassis will be sho n together with a Grand Touri g luxury coach, a Volvo B10 chassis and a Supreme Expres body on Leyland Leopard chassis.
A completely new single-deck bus body called Bustler will also be revealed on the Plaxton stand mounted on Bedford YMT chassis. From the Continent, in addition to the familiar products from Salvador Caetano (Stand 48) and the Van Hool (Stand 32) ranges, three other Continental manufacturers will be showing British operators their wares.
From West Germany Karl Kassbohrer (Stand 104) is showing an example of its Setra integral coach with 47 passengers reclining seats and equipped with a Daimler-Benz OM 422 206kW (280bhp) diesel engine. The company has also announced its intention of exploiting the British market.
Also from West Germany, Gottlob Auwaerter (Stand 11) is showing examples of its Neoplan range of integral coaches it is expected will be marketed in the UK.
From Belgium Jonckheere (Stand 110) is showing examples of its Bermuda range of bodies on Volvo 858 and a semi-integral with DAF running units.
MAN (Stand 54) is continuing its British sales drive and displaying a example of the SR280 integral coach range.
For operators requiring a stylish and well built single-deck rural or urban bus body Wadham Stringer (Stand 97) is showing an example of its Vanguard bus body range on Ford R-Series chassis; it's a range now widely accepted in all sectors of both the psv and non psv bus operating industry.
At the small end of the market Devon Conversions (Stand 284), Reeve Burgess (Stand 382), Dormobile (Stand 117) and Tricentrol (Stand 144) are showing midi or mini-coaches including coachbuilt models and panel van conversions.
Exciting new exhibits also abound on the chassis manufacturers' stands, with Leyland Vehicles (Stand 40) using the 1980 Show to reveal a new Olympian double-deck bus design which is expected eventually to take the lion's share of double-deck chassis orders at home and abroad.
In addition, the long awaited 843 coach chassis with its turbocharged engine and full air suspension will be shown to the world for the first time although it will not be officially launched and named until early next year.
Leyland is also showing a Leyland Titan integral double-deck bus in the colours of London Transport and a new version of the Leyland National 2 with semi-coach seats for use as a suburban express.
Finally, an example of the Terrier-based Cub psv chassis and a product from LV's Danish subsidiary DAB will be shown.
Britain's second largest psv chassis manufacturer, Bedford (Stand 189) is showing an example of its latest Y-Series coach chassis. Designated YNT, the chassis which is designed to take 11m etre bodywork is bound to create interest as it is powered by the 154kW (206bhp) turbocharged Blue Series engine.
A single psv chassis is the only psv from Bedford's wide range being exhibited on this company's stand.
From Guildford, Hestair Dennis (Stand 36) is rapidly re-establishing itself as a builder of buses and is launching a new range of rear-underfloor-engined psv chassis. One example on show will be a Gardner-engined Falcon destined to be fitted with single-deck bodywork for Leicester City Transport. The Falcon will be available with a choice of engines and transmissions.
The Falcon I is powered by the Gardner 6HLXB engine rated at 127kW (170bhp) with a Voith D851 gearbox mounted between the axles and driving a Dennis deep-centre near axle.
The Falcon ll emphasises the in-line configuration and is fitted with a V6 Mercedes-Benz engine close-coupled to the Voith gearbox driving a straight axle.
The Falcon III will have a similar configuration and uses the Perkins V8.640 engine and Allison automatic gearbox.
In addition, Hestair Dennis will show an example of its nowestablished Dominator doubledecker with East Lancs bodywork and a new Rolls-Roycepowered air-sprung Dominator chassis, one of 144 destined for South Yorkshire PTE.
A surprise exhibit giving yet another option to operators requiring an integral service bus is on the Renault stand (13). The Renault PR100 is a rear-engined 11-metre air-sprung bus and is the first Renault psv announced for the British market.
Ford of Britain (Stand 50) will be showing the latest version of its well-proven lightweight R1114 coach chassis fitted with Plaxton bodywork.
Metro-Cammell Weymann
(Stand 41) is showing two examples of the successful Metrobus double-decker, one built to London Transport and one to Greater Manchester Transport specifications.
New competition for the Metrobus as well as British doubledeck manufacturers, will appear on the Scania stand (21) in the form of the Scanic BR11DH which is to be revealed with new bodywork by East Lancs Coachbuilders.
Another double-deck contender is on a Volvo stand (17) where the new straight-axle Mark 3 version of Ailsa underframe will be shown. The Ailsa Mark 3 is in some respects a simpler version than earlier models and deserves to win friends.
For coach operators, Volvo will be revealing its all-welded B1OM chassis with its air suspension and its optional Tempo 100 German speed specification.
DAF (Stand 106) will be show
ing its MB200 DKL turbocharge chassis as well as the rear-er gined SB20000 DNU chassis fc semi-integral coaches which wi be exhibited with a Plaxto Supreme body, giving consider ably more luggage capacity tha available with a standard-typ chassis.
The new DAF 12-metr MB2000 DKTL, mounted witl Moseley Continental Alph. coachwork, is on Stand 48. Thi first of the DAF models in thi Moseley Continental range o bodies to be introduced, it ha: 51 reclining seats and a distinc tive colour-scheme outside.
The coach has successfullâ– completed a stringent tilt test ir Portugal, and there is no doub that it will do the same in Britain