Duple integral stars
Page 19
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BRITISH-designed integral mch and a lightweight rear-enined bus were among the new iodels unveiled at last weekid's Bus and Coach Council oaching symposium in
lackpool. NOEL MILLIER ,re
its.
One of the stars of the show at ackpool Airport industrial este was the Duple Caribbean ingral coach, the first complete )ach to be registered as a uple. TIN coach is based on a eoplan N716 underframe, miler to that used by the Neoan Jetliner, and has full air susmsion, independent at the ont, and a rear-mounted MerKies-Benz V8 engine rated to 3velop 280bhp.
The vehicle on show at ackpool was to Duple's Deixe specification and equipent fitted included reclining !ats, direct double-glazing, and offside continental door. The )dy on the integral is produced ) the same jigs as the Cariban body fitted to conventional iassis frames.
Duple says the integral underme is suitable for different pes of running units and alough a price has yet to be xed, it will compete with .aches like the Leyland Royal ger Doyen.
Duple Laser bodied coaches in istomers' livery were also own including a Leyland Tiger ir Primrose Motors of lominster and a Volvo B1OM r Parks of Hamilton.
The most unusual new proicts on show came from Telrd-based Quest 80, the cornmy that developed sideigined buses and trolleybuses r South Africa.
Kirkby Kingsforth had amples of the Quest 80 D-Bus d C-Coach chassis, The D-Bus s been designed as a low-cost ar-engined bus chassis for 33 to 35-seat buses or 28 to 30-seat coaches. It uses standard Ford Cargo lorry running units.
The D-Bus has conventional leaf springs and has a rear longitudinal lym ounted engine coupled to a five-speed manual gearbox with controls connected by heavy duty cables to a lever mounted to the right of the driver to allow room for fare collection equipment. The power unit is a naturally aspirated Ford 2723E unit rated to develop 114bhp at 2,600rpm. Standard Ford axles and brakes are used.
The D-Bus chassis is priced at £12,500 and is available with a variety of options including automatic transmission.
For coach application Quest has designed the C-Coach chassis. It is suitable for bodies from nine to 12m in length. This chassis has the rear-mounted Ford turbocharged engine mounted behind the rear offside wheels with the clutch housing bolted to a large U-drive unit to the centre mounted gearbox. The U-drive consists of both pinion and chain drives with a service life estimated at over 100,000 miles.
The C-Coach chassis has air suspension and will be offered with a range of engines and transmissions. A low-floor bus version known as the B-Bus is also being developed together with a three-axle single or dual drive chassis for heavier coaches. The standard Ford powered C-Coach is priced at f18,000.
Other vehicle debuts included the first right-hand drive British specification Setra S215HR Rationale coach, the first doubledeck Van Hool Astron with a mid-mounted horizontal MAN engine and a Van Hool Astromega with a wide stage carriage front entrance.