Leyland Programme for 1926.
Page 10
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ALTHOUGH the new range of passenger vehicles and the chassis therefor which are being constructed by Leyland Motors, Ltd., for the coming year's trade have been shown to the agents of. the company and a few personal friends, the company are not yet in a position to disclose the whole of their intentions for 1926. We can, however, state that an entirely new range of passenger-vehicle chassis has been developed and, in some cases, trials of the models have been conducted for the past 18 months, the shortest period of test having been over 12 months.
The chassis are passenger models exclusively, thus conforming to the appeal which has been made in the columns of The Commercial Motor for specialization in the direction of chassis which are entirely suited for passenger work, and are not modified goods chassis. This, of course, was an obvious line of development, but post-war conditions have tended to delay the advance towards the ideal, and there is, of course, this to be said, that the passenger vehicle owners and their users have equally had to learn their own actual requirements before manufacturers could have before them a definite line along which to travel.
The new Leyland range embraces five entirely new models. Each chassis is given a name instead of a number or group of initials. The Leveret chassis is designed to accommodate a 20-seater bpdy, the Lioness chassis being intended for a 26-seater. The Lion and the Leopard chassis are both designed to accommodate the driver beside the engine, the 026 first being intended for a 31-seater body, and the second for a 28-seater body. The last of the series, the Leviathan, is intended to accommodate a 52-seater double-deck bus with a covered top.
The whole of these chassis are of the low-load-level variety, whilst the larger ones have front-wheel brakes, for which originality is claimed, and which have proved to be extraordinarily efficient, being able to bring a vehicle travelling at 30 m.p.h. to rest in its own length with perfect smoothness of action.
The engines themselves are entirely new, having overhead valves operated by push-rods from the camshaft, whilst the clutches, gearboxes and back axles are also of a completely new design. When the vehicles are shown at Olympia, we believe that some extraordinary claims as to fuel economy will be made and be able to be substantiated. On test, these new models have more than held their own in competitive performance, and they will undoubtedly worthily uphold the tradition of Leyland Motors. Ltd., as commercial-vehicle manufacturers.
Examples of the new range will be shown at Olympia, including a 31-seater on a Lion chassis, a 26-seater on a Lioness chassis, and a double-decker on a Leviathan chassis, in addition to which there will be a large-capacity tank wagon for the Mickleover Transport, Ltd., and examples of the Trojan van, which, during the past year, has enormously increased in popularity.