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Bodies for Britain
Page 101
Page 102
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What the coach users think of the Show
SMALL DETAILS are the most important selling factor of different makes of coach body — that is my conclusion from talking to small coach operators at the Commercial Motor Show.
Modern coach bodies from different manufacturers — Duple, Plaxton, Van Hool, Caetano Jonckheere, and so on — know that the so-called "Continentalstyling has been taken up by the British manufacturers. This tends to focus the attention of a potential buyer on the details.
When such similar products are on offer, a clever salesman can easily influence the operator to change his allegiance from one manufacturer to another. Operators usually stay faithful to one or two makes of chassis, but they can be very fickle when it comes to bodies and run fleets with many different makes.
Small operators are often behind the wheel of their coaches and how the vehicle appears from the driver's viewpoint has a great affect on future purchases. The imported newcomers — Caetano, Van Hool, etc — seem to be making a great impression here by the strength of their bodywork. Many operators I spoke to said that these makes remain free of rattles and squeaks for a great deal longer than Duple and Plaxton products. This may now have changed as the home manufacturers have abandoned the use of wood for all-steel stressed structures, but it will take a couple of years' further .service for these to disprove the impression left by obsolete types.
The other part of the coachbuilder's craft which leaves a great impression on the drivers is the layout and marking of the instruments and switchgear. Here the Plaxton switch lay-out comes in for a lot of operator criticism. This now has transparent switches with a symbol to show their function illuminated by a light underneath. Most operators were not sure what the symbols signified nor could they see the symbols when the illuminating lights were shining through the switches.
The Duple switch layout with rocker switches each with their function written on them come in for much more praise. In this case a light on the dash panel above each block of switches illuminates them in the dark. The symbols used by Van Hool are also thought to be more understandable than those used by Plaxton. More operators seem to prefer the support
given by the Plaxton driver's seat than like the new Duple model incorporating kidney .pads.
Turning to the external appearance of the coaches on view, the clean lines of the Continentals seem to be more appreciated than the large amount of metal brightwork on the British products. Most operators appear to be tired of the wide chrome strip that still appears below the windows of the new Duple Dominant.
All exhibitors are aiming at bright attractive exteriors, but the Continentals do this more subtly by a combination of faint colours rather than a prousion of metalwork.
Although the new Duple Dominant ll body has never been seen before the Show it is not creating an enormous amount of interest among operators so far. The large heated laminated windscreen in particular is seen as being a useful improvement. Operators do not regard the styling changes as being important in themselves — they are useful only for the more tangible benefits they bring. As demisting equipment had been found by many to be very troublesome the heated screen is accepted as being a major improvement.
The restyled Dominant rear is well received as giving a cleaner line than previously.
The rubber moulded wheel-arches on the Dominant II are being criticised as being liable to discolour — as the rubber moulded strip along the bottom of the Plaxton Supreme although this is thought more useful in preventing accident damage.
Strangely, British light assemblies and lenses from Lucas are used on the Jonckheere body although Continental HeIla ones appear on the new Dominant.
The interior of the Jonckheere is judged by operators to have some better points in comparison with the Van Hool and both these preferred to Duple and Plaxton. The metal hat rack fixings on the Van Hool are criticised as are the pop-ri veted roof panels. The Jonckheere is said to be better on both these points — and the brighter interior with wood grain roof finish also finds favour.
Covers over the bolts fixing the seats to the floor on the Van Hool coaches draws many favourable comments. Not only do these hide the bolts but they make sweeping out and cleaning the coach much easier.
The high floor Plaxton Viewmaster is always surrounded by an admiring crowd and is though by many to be very suitable for express services and tours. This is not because of the styling or better view for passengers but largely because of the useful increase in luggage capacity under the raised body.
The new Moseley Faro body on the Ford A series chassis is not generating a great deal of interest as this chassis does not yet seem over-popular with coach operators. Despite the huge number of alternative psv bodies that are on offer from other bodybuilders the overall psv sales volume still seems to be very sluggish.
Operators still seem to be deterred by A series being a truck-derived chassis and would prefer to run a specialist psv chassis such as the Bedford VAS.
Bedford's new midibus attracts a lot of attention for its attractive styling and many operators are expressing interest in running a coach version — perhaps with the low floor raised by the addition of an underfloor luggage area.
Although the bus is of integral construction Bedford is understood to be releasing the underframe section to coachbuilders when development of the mechanical units it completed.
Although large coach operators can influence the bodybuilders to produce coaches to their liking, the small man often has to accept the standard model as the only available to him. Large numbers of coaches from both Duple and Plaxton are now being ordered by coach dealers as stock models without a final purchaser in view. This keeps bodybuilders order books full and puts back the delivery date on a coach wanted to his own specification by a small opera
tor. Also it allows dealers to keep the price they charge up as they have cornered the supplier ready for quick delivery.
Of course this can be useful if an operator wants to buy a coach in a hurry as he can usually find a dealer's stock model that suits his requirements. If necessary the dealer can switch seats between coaches he has in stock to more closely match the operator's colour scheme.
As always it is the newcomers to the market who seem to go all out to give their customers exactly what they want. This started with Moseley who have now been importing Portuguese Caetano bodies for some years.
More recent newcomers have been Van Hool bodies built in Dublin and the Jonckheere-bodied coaches marketed through Kirkby.
Van Hool in particular has paid a great deal of attention to the overall concept of coach design including matching up all the colours and materials used in the interior to give a tasteful overall effect. This must be a contrast to the more haphazard methods if buying an off-the-peg British coach direct from a dealer.
Van Hool believes in using more sombre dark-coloured interiors for their coaches. Some may call these dull although many operators seem. to prefer these to the more gaudy moquettes obtainable elsewhere. The Van Hool theory is that for coach passengers the coach itself is only a means of conveyance and the passengers are more interested in events outside the coach than inside it.
A point of interest at the Commercial Motor Show is a display of nine alternative interior designs commissioned by Van Hool from a specialist interior designer. These showed matching combinations of seat trim, curtains, roof, side roof, hat rack, side floor and aisle.
It thus seems that the British manufacturers are busy chasing the Continental image for their vehicles, but the Continentals themselves are still scoring points for detail and finish. If we can't beat them at their own game then perhaps the time has come for a radical new British-designed coach for the British market.