Buses GUY Wolverhampton England UK

GUY

Guy Motors was a Wolverhampton-based vehicle manufacturer that produced cars, lorries, buses and trolleybuses. The company was founded by Sydney S. Guy (1885-1971) who was born in Kings Heath, Birmingham. Guy Motors operated out of its Fallings Park factory from 1914 to 1982, playing an important role in the development of the British motor industry.

an-aerial-view-of-guy-motors-fallings-park-factory

1953 Guy GS bus built for London Transport

History

Foundation and the First World War

Sydney S. Guy registered Guy Motors Limited on Saturday 30 May 1914, the same day he departed his position as Works Manager at the Wolverhampton company, Sunbeam. A factory was built on the site at Fallings Park, Wolverhampton. and by September 1914 production was underway on the newly designed 30cwt lorry. This employed a much lighter form of pressed steel frame, unlike the more commonly used heavy rolled steel channel frames of the time. This made the vehicle able to cross difficult terrain and a 14 seat poster bus built based on the design was used for crossing the Scottish Highlands.

1914 Guy’s 14 seater bus designed for use in the highlands

In 1915 Guy came under control of the Ministry of Munitions and production was focused on the war effort. The factory continued to produce 30cwt lorries which were supplied to Britain’s allies in the First World War. They also produced Wasp and Dragonfly radial aircraft engines, Tylor truck engines and Maudslay gearboxes as well as being the country’s largest maker of depth charge fuzes. For their efforts during the war Guy received a commendation from William Weir, Secretary of State for Air. Due to orders from the ministry Guy prospered during the war, expanding its factory and became an established name in British manufacturing.

1920s

The post-war period was difficult for the motor industry as military contracts were cancelled and military vehicles no longer required for service were sold onto the market at low prices. Guy returned to the civilian market, deciding to make luxury cars with a design by RH Rose, also from Sunbeam. They produced the Guy 8-cylinder car, powered by the first British V8 engine and featuring horizontal side valves. Around 25 of these were made and it was joined by a smaller model in 1922 with the 2465 cc four-cylinder 16.9 hp. A cheaper model followed in 1924 with the 1954 cc 13/36 with an engine from Coventry Climax. About 110 of the 4-cylinder models are thought to have been made. Production also continued on vehicles based on the 30cwt chassis such as the Guy charabanc and their major success the 30 seater bus.

In 1924 the company adopted the slogan ‘Feathers in our Cap’ which led to the addition of a Native American mascot to their vehicles. 1924 also saw Guy produce the first ever dropped frame chassis for passenger vehicles (the B-type). This design allowed passengers to enter buses in a single step and became extremely popular, Guy receiving an order for 170 from Rio de Janeiro.

Guy Motors badge

Growing populations in towns and cities meant larger capacity buses were a necessity, leading Guy to develop a 6-wheeled version of their dropped-frame chassis which allowed for the introduction of the first 6-wheeled double decker buses and 6 wheeled trolleybuses in 1926. Guy double decker buses and trolleybuses would prove popular with a fleet of double deckers sold to the London Public Omnibus Company and exports supplied all around the world. Exports served as a major source of income for Guy with sales to South Africa, Pakistan, India and the Netherlands, their armoured vehicles proving particularly popular for covering difficult terrain with 100 supplied to the Indian government in 1928.

Guy’s first military vehicle produced in 1923

In 1928 Guy took control of fellow Wolverhampton manufacturer the Star Motor Company, who had seen declining sales throughout the decade, in an attempt to expand their luxury car manufacturing. Under Guy, Star Motors moved to a new factory in Bushbury and the range of vehicles was narrowed to prevent competition against itself. Despite this Star continued to struggle and a loss was made on every car sold. The Wall Street Crash had a crippling effect on industry and the subsequent recession meant Guy could no longer afford to fit out Star’s Bushbury plant and in 1932 the company entered receivership.

Despite performing well throughout the decade, by the end of the 1920s Guy was facing an uncertain future due to the takeover of Star and the Wall Street Crash which had seen share prices fall from one pound to one shilling.

1930s

Guy was able to endure the depression due to orders from the war office and by taking advantage of the 1930 Road Traffic Act which encouraged the development of lighter vehicles. In 1933 the Arab bus chassis, designed for use with diesel engines, was launched and would prove a mainstay of Guy’s success for the next twenty years.

From the mid-1930s, the company became increasingly involved in the British rearmament programme, developing and producing military vehicles. In 1935 Guy submitted their new four wheel Ant armoured car to military trials where it impressed and 150 were ordered by the government. After this success Guy began to concentrate solely on the production of military vehicles and by 1938 Guy relied exclusively on Government contracts and had ended civilian productions. During this time Guy designed a new armoured car, the Quad Ant, which was welded rather than riveted together. This development made armoured vehicles much safer and is reported to have saved the British government £100 million, earning Guy a commendation from the Royal Commission.

1914 Guy Syzygies

1919 Guy Charabanc T-5182

1921 Guy 30-seater bus

1921 Guy coaches in Wolverhampton Market place

1922 Guy Promenade Runabout

1924 Guy six-wheelers in Rio de Janeiro

1925 Guy first six wheeled pneumatic Trolley Bus

1925 Guy Motors

1925 Guy Rio 1925

1927 Guy 6 wheeled Londonbus

1927 Guy 26 seater

1927 Guy FBB (chassis number 22257) with a Hall Lewis B32R body

1927 Guy Star Flyer

1928 Guy 6 wheeled double deck long distance sleeper coach

1928 Guy BT Dodson DY 4965 in Hastings

1929 Guy php

1930 Guy FC of Newcastle Corporation

1930 Guy Motors

1930 guy-vixen

1931 Guy ‘BTX’ Zuid Africa

1931 Guy Trolleybus op weg naar Japan

1932 Guy Open coach

1933 Guy Trolleybus adv1

1933 Guy NL

1934 Guy Wolf Guy GR-1157

1936 Guy Trolleybus adv

1937 Guy Arab

1937 Guy Wolf with Martin body

1938 Guy Wolf with 20 seat bodywork by Waveney

1943 Guy Arab I JUA762 Pickering H30 26R Re bodied ROE H31-25R

1943 Guy Arab II as a double decker, later an open top decker similar to 39

1946 Guy Arab III with Massey C35F body new to W. Alexander

1946 Guy Arab Massey TSB019

1946 Guy Arab Seamer Service

1946 Guy Arab with Brush B35F body

1946 Guy Vixen Hainje B-22878 NL

1946 Guy-Arab bus 84 met carrosserie van Verheul. Dienstbus

1947 Guy Arab (Seida)

1947 Guy Arab III with Duple C35F body

1947 Guy Arab Verheul NB-34-13 NL

1947 Guy first post war Trolley Bus Belfast Corporation

1947 Guy Gardner 6LW Arab MkIII carr. Saunders GTW 30 NL

1947 Guy Gardner 6LW Arab MkIII carr Saunders-de Schelde GTW 32 NL

1947 Guy Gardner 6LW Arab MkIII carr Saunders-de Schelde GTW 33 NL

1947 Guy Gardner 6LW Arab MkIII carr Saunders-de Schelde GTW 34 NL

1947 Guy Gardner 6LW Arab MkIII carr Saunders-de Schelde GTW 35 NL

1947 Guy Gardner 6LW Arab MkIII carr Saunders-de Schelde GTW 36 NL

1947 Guy Gardner 6LW Arab MkIII carr Saunders-de Schelde GTW 37 NL

1947 Guy Motors of Wolverhampton, Individually built bus advert

1947 Guy Motors of Wolverhampton, Newport buses bus advert

1947 Guy Motors of Wolverhampton, Southampton Guy Arab bus advert

1947 Guy Saunders Tet 075 NL

1947 guy-arab

1947 Guy-Vixen. Carrosserie v d Bos(linker bus) NL

1947-52 Guy carr. Den Oudsten NB-21-69 NL

1947-52 Guy Vixen carr. Verheul NB-28-40 NL

1948 Guy Arab 16 Brian Shaw

1948 Guy Arab 16

1948 Guy Arab 21 Brian Shaw

1948 Guy Arab 37

1948 Guy Arab carr. Verheul NB-28-54

1948 Guy Arab Fleet LUT&PC 22

1948 Guy Arab Fleet of Maidstone Corporation Transport Department 26

1948 Guy Arab Fleet of Newport Corporation Transport 24

1948 Guy Arab Glasgow Corporation Transport Fleet 23

1948 Guy Arab I 136

1948 Guy Arab III with an MCW 35 seat body

1948 Guy Arab III with MCW 35 seat rear entrance body.

1948 Guy Arab IV African Transport Limited Kenya 30

1948 Guy Arab Mark IV Hong Kong China Bus Company Limeted 34

1948 Guy Arab Mark IV South Africa 35 Greyhound

1948 Guy Arab Mark IV Southdown Motor services Limited 32

1948 Guy Arab Mk III 19 6 1957 Verheul 1948 TET 88 E-45960 NL

1948 Guy Arab MkIII, Gardner 6LW, carr. Verheul GTW 320 NL

1948 Guy Arab MkIII, Gardner 6LW, carr. Verheul GTW 321 NL

1948 Guy Arab MkIII, Gardner 6LW, carr. Verheul GTW 324 NL

1948 Guy Arab MkIII, Gardner 6LW, carr. Verheul GTW 328 NL

1948 Guy Arab MkIII, Gardner 6LW, carr. Verheul GTW NL

1948 Guy Arab Single decker 2

1948 Guy Arab single decker vehicle

1948 Guy Arab Single Decker

1948 Guy Gardner 6LW Arab MkIII carr Verheul GTW 39 NL

1948 Guy met Verheul carr. uit de serie 82 tm 84 uit 1948 werd in 1953 verbouwd . De achterkant is verheul NL

1948 Guy Otters were never common and ones with Alexander bodywork rarer still

1948 Guy Vixen coach

1948 Guy Wolf chassis carries a Barnard body

1948 Guy-Arab met carrosserie Saunders NL

1948 guy-arab dd

1948 guy-arab 440

1948 guy-arab dd

1948 Guy-bus 23 erachter Crossley- Scheldebus 20 (NS 1065) op 12 september 1948 vliegveld Beek en EBAD NL

1948 The Arab Mark IV, Guy’s most successful bus design

1948 The Sunbeam Double-Decker Trolleybus

1949 burlingham guy coach

1949 Guy Arab III 6LW with Park Royal H30-26R body

1949 Guy Arab III, fleet number 10 (KTC 615)

1949 Guy Arab IV

1950-guy-arab-mk-iii

1949 Guy Arab MK 5

1949 Guy Arab MKIII Gardner 6 LW carr Hainje GTW 329 NL

1949 Guy ArabIII-Brislington Bus Works

1949 Guy Motors adv.

1949 Guy Vixen carrosserie Den Oudsten NL

1949 guy-arab

1949-53 Guy-carr. Jongman NB-56-18 NL

1950 Guy Arab III with Guy B33R bodywork

1950 Guy Arab III-Harkness Coachworks B31F (may be B30F now) 286, MZ7384

1950 Guy Arab III-Harkness

1950 Guy Arab Mark IV

1950 Guy Arab MK IV South Africa 37

1950 Guy Arab UF with Guy B40F body (using Park Royal framework)

1950 Guy Arab V double deck bus

1950 Guy Motors

1950 Guy Vixen Overland Firms 59

1950 Guy Vixen NL

1950 guy-arab

1950 Guy-Vixen NL

1951 Guy Arab III with a Windover C33F body

1951 Guy Arab III with rare Roe coach body

1951 Guy Arab III with unusual Roe coach body

1951 Guy Arab UF fitted from new with a preselector gearbox and carried a Guy B40F body.

1951 Guy-Arab 76 met carrosserie van Hondebrink. Opname 1955 tijdens toerwagenral NL

1951-guy-vixen-carrosserie-hainje

1952 Guy Arab III with Roe B41C bodywork

1952 Guy Arab LUF with Weymann B44F body

1952 Guy Arab Underfloor engined single deck Huddersfield 43 seater bus 4

1952 Guy GS – MXX 342

1952 Guy Otters with rare Mulliner bodywork

1952 Guy Underfloor Verheul Jac. van Dijk nr 58 NB-06-72 NL

1952 Guy Vixen Wadham

1952 Guy-Arab 89 met carrosserie van Verheul. Met 45 zit en 10 staanplaatsen. Opname grens Glanerbrug in 1954 NL

1952 Guy-Arab nr. 86 met carrosserie van Verheul NL

1952 guy-otter

1953 Guy Otter

1953-guy-arab-88-met-carrosserie-van-verheul

1953 Guy Arab bus 60

1953-guy-arab-iii-with-roe-b41c-bodywork

1953 Guy GS MXX-343ECW B26F Kerel

1953 GUY Otter Diesel light vehicle12

1953 Guy Special NLLVP with ECW B26F body

1953 Guy Special with ECW B26F bodywork

1953 Guy Special NLLVP with ECW B26F bodywork

1953 Guy Vixen 30 seater vehicle 4

1953 Guy Vixen London Transport GS84 and GS76

1953 Guys with ECW B26F bodies for use on low traffic country area routes

1953 Guys with ECW B26F bodies

1954 Guy Arab Lighteight heavy duty underfloor engined coach

1954 Guy Arab LUF with a Guy B43F body

1954 Guy Arab LUF with Picktree C35F body

1954 Guy Arab LUF with rare Picktree Continental C35F body

1954 Guy Motors of Wolverhampton advert

1954 Guy Otter with a Roe B25F body

1954 Guy Sunbeam Trolley Double Deck Bus Walsall Corporation

1954 Guy Warrior 43 seater Trambus with AEC 6cyl 135 bhp engine

1954 Guy-bus 8 van de EBAD met Den Oudsten carrosserie NL

1955 Guy Arab LUF with Alexander C41F bodywork

1955 Guy Arab LUF

1955 Guy Arab LUFs, fitted with Roe B34C+24 bodies

1955 Guy Arab Mark IV East kent Road car Company Limited 31

1955 Guy Warrior LUF Coach 3

1955 Guy Warrior with Burlingham C41F body

1955 guy-s ad

1956 Guy Arab LUFs with Willowbrook C37C bodies

1956 Guy Arab Mark IV Belgium 36

1956 Guy Arab, with Park Royal body

1956 Guy Kusters-bus, de EBAD 91

1956 Guy Raghano België

1956 Guy Seal Small capacity tourist coach 1

1956 Guy Warrior, XUK768, with Mulliner C37C body

1957 Guy Arab LUF with Roe B41R body

1957 GUY Jonckheere België

1957 Guy Arab Toerwagen 88 met carrosserie van Verheul

1957 Guy Otter P6 with Mulliner B26F bodywork

1957 Guy Vixen

1958 Guy Arab LUFs with Longwell Green B44F bodies, XNY419

1958 Guy LUF with Longwell Green B44F body

1958 Guy UF with Burlingham Seagull C41F body

1958 Guy Victory Trambus

1958 Guy Victory UF 44 till 65 seater Luxery Touring Coach Victory 2

1958 Guy Victory

1958 Guy Warrior Gardner 5HLW oil engine 2

1958 Guy Wulfrunian

1958 Guy-Arab nr. 89 met carrosserie van Verheul. De bus had 45 zit en 10 staanplaatsen

1958 guy-victory

1959 GUY 1460

1959 Guy Arab LUF Powered by a Gardner 6HLW engine Registration 1294 RE

1960 GUY J- Type

1960 Guy Warrior coach vehicle 21

1960 guy-victory

1961 Guy Arab III-Strachen-Highland Trans.G.Rixon2

1961 Guy Wulfrunians with Roe H43-32F body

1963 Guy Arab IV with Massey lowbridge body

1964 Guy Conquest Luxery Coach

1965 Guy Conquest Luxery Coach with AEC AV505 Gardner 6LX or 6LW Victory Trambus

1960 Guy Victory 40-45 seat

GUY DD

Guy Arab – FRU 224

Guy buses

1967 Guy -ZABO NL © AvdBorg&CBos

1978 Guy Victory U F Victory 1 ?

The End

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ZiU (Zavod imeni Uritskogo) TROLZA Russia Trolleybuses

ZiU-5

The ZiU-5 (in Russian ЗиУ-5) is a Soviet trolleybus. The ZiU acronym stands for Zavod imeni Uritskogo (Russian Завод имени Урицкого, ЗиУ, which corresponds to Plant named after Uritskiy (Moisei Uritsky, a Russian revolutionary). This model of city trolleybus was in mass production from 1959 to 1972. Total number of produced ZiU-5s exceeds 14500 vehicles. This allowed ZiU-5 to become dominant model of trolleybus in Soviet towns and cities of that time. Last vehicles were withdrawn from active service in the mid-1980s (the exact date varies from city to city). The small number of surviving vehicles are kept now for museum purposes.

Museum ZiU-5 trolleybus in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

1978 ZiU-5

1959-72 ZIU 5 Trolleybus USSR

ZIU 5 trolleybus at the Budapest fun fair files

ZiU-9

or ZIU-9 (Cyrillic: ЗиУ-9) is a Soviet (and later Russian) trolleybus vehicle. Other names and indexes for the same vehicle include ZiU-682 and HTI-682 (Cyrillic: ЗиУ-682 and ХТИ-682). The ZiU acronym stands for Zavod imeni Uritskogo, which is a plant named after Moisei Uritsky, the Russian revolutionary. Before 1996 this acronym was also a trademark of the vehicle manufacturer. It has been changed to Trolza. The ZiU-9 was put in mass production in 1971 and it is still assembled along with other more advanced trolleybus vehicles in the Trolza (former ZiU) factory. The total number of produced ZiU-9s exceeds 42,000 vehicles. In addition, many copies of ZiU-9 were made in other factories of the former Soviet bloc. This model is the most numerous trolleybus vehicle in the world.

History and development

ZiU-9G trolleybus in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

The explosion-like development of trolleybus systems in the Soviet Union in the 1960s required a large number of trolleybus vehicles. The mainstay of the contemporary Soviet trolley fleet, the ZiU-5, was not sufficient for huge urban passenger transfers. It was more suited for medium-size cities rather than large megapolises such as Moscow or Saint Petersburg. In addition the ZiU-5 had an aluminium hull, which was expensive and complicated from a technological point of view. The two doors in the ZiU-5 hull ends did not work well in overcrowded situations which were quite common in Soviet public transportation.

The ZiU-9 was a quite successful attempt to solve this problems. It has one extra door compared to the ZiU-5. Two doors are wide and placed in the middle and rear end of the vehicle hull. One small door in the front end of the vehicle was/is comfortable for the driver and for outgoing passengers. The hull of the ZiU-9 is a welded steel one and it is significantly cheaper and simpler in production than the hull of the ZiU-5. The external appearance of the ZiU-9 was influenced by contemporary German-made MAN trolleybuses.

ZiU-9G trolleybus in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

ZiU-9 drawing

The electrical equipment of the ZiU-9 had some minor differences from the ZiU-5. The power of the main motor was increased. The indirect resistor-based control system of electric current was slightly modified to deal with the increased power of the main motor. While western designers developed new semiconductor-based control devices, Soviet engineers decided to leave the old resistor-based system for service simplicity. The first prototype vehicles were tested in Moscow in 1971 and were approved for mass production after some minor design adjustments.

The ‘9’ in the vehicle name was the initial project index of the design team. However, after launching mass production, the new trolleybus received a new index ‘682’ from the united classification of non-rail public transport vehicles. So all series vehicles had a ZiU-682 designation. But the number 682 is difficult to pronounce and the shorter ‘9’ still lives in the everyday language of drivers and servicemen. In 1986, the new classification was introduced and the former ZiU-682 was designated as HTI-682. But this was not an end of renaming the same vehicle. The Russian acronym HTI in the Cyrillic alphabet is ХТИ and these three Cyrillic letters in 1995 were confused with the Latin letters XTU. This Latin acronym became an official name of the vehicle.

Production

ZiU-9

The first prototype ZiU-9 was built in 1966. Elements of the appearance and number of design decisions were borrowed from contemporary to the time foreign firms MAN and Chausson.

ZiU-9A

ZiU-9A – experimental version with wide body to 2680 mm. The only prototype was made in 1968.

ZiU-682B

In August 1972, began production of the first production series ZiU- 682B ( with designation change ZiU ZiU -9 -682 was due to the labeling requirements of bringing industry classifier ) . First serial trolley cars differed from later releases . Until 1974, had an angular wheel arches, and not circular. The first batch of trolleybuses raised outdated engine DC – 207G, which in 1973 was replaced by the DC -210 110 kW . Suspension on the first ZiU- 682B was pneumatic, with torque rods as guiding elements, later became pnevmoressornoy . Rear funded playground had a reduced level of the floor, which reduced the number of steps one at the back door and to facilitate loading wheelchairs and prams and large items . However, this “advantage” was leveled by a high handrail on the steps of separating the rear and middle doors. Transition from high floor in the cabin to lower smoothly carried out in the aisle between the rear wheel arches, which caused inconvenience to passengers at peak hours ( especially in winter), standing on an icy downhill ” hill .” In 1991, developers have replaced high -speed separator handrail attached to the door, but by this time all storage sites were at three stages from sidewalk level . For natural ventilation in the roof of the cabin was equipped with 4 ceiling hatch, and each is equipped with a sliding side window pane . Currently, the only instance ZIU- 9B preserved and operated in the linear regime in the city of Zaporozhye and has the side number 562.

ZiU-682V (B00/B0A)

Trolleybus ZiU-682v in Minsk

At the end of 1976 began mass production next update ZiU- 682V, which replaced ZiU- 682B . Due to the presence of design flaws that emerged during the first years of operation, rather than jet thrust bearing elements as suspension springs were used . Since 1976, the number of fixtures in the cabin has been reduced from 12 to 11, every other window in the cabin lost air vents . Since 1978, the number of ceiling hatches reduced to three (due to hatch on the front axle ), steel trolley equipped with electric shtangoulovitelyami (apparently on the orders, since their machines Moscow was not until 1996 ) .

Since 1983, changed the shape and location of the front and rear position lamps . Lights original form, informally called ” boats” have been replaced by unified and offset edges closer to route indicators . In 1985 a similar design changes undergone external signal lights and turn indicators .

From March – May 1984 trolleybuses were produced without the low -level rear accumulation area, which was due to the need to strengthen the base structure of the body in the rear overhang . In 1985, the nameplate trolley was partially aligned with the standards forming the VIN code, which led to a change in marking HTI682V00 .

Since 1988, the plant switched to production modifications ZiU- 682V -012 ( ZiU- 682V0A ) powered DC -213 capacity of 115 kW. Since 1989, changed the shape of the housing radioreaktors roof trolley, it has decreased in size and had a sharp edge. In 1989, production started in parallel transition modification ZiU- 682V0B on which electric drive door opener was replaced pneumatically .

ZiU-682G

A trolleybus on Prospekt Leninskogo Komsomola Street in Vidnoye, Moscow Oblast, Russia

By the end of 1980 . individual components trolley manufactured at that time was almost 20 years, significantly outdated. Therefore, simultaneously with the launch of a series of recent modifications ZiU- 682V preparing to produce more profound modernization of the model trolley, which was designated ZiU- 682G . Experienced instances ZiU- 682G were released in 1988, and since February 1, 1991 the plant was fully passed on their production.

In addition to the changes already introduced earlier models ZiU 682V0A – and – ZiU 682V0B model ZiU- 682G has received the following differences . Front, under the windshield, placed the intake grille . Changed the location of windows with vents along the starboard side . Undergone significant redevelopment salon trolley . Most of the seats along the left side of the body is replaced with a double row on row, which increased the number of standing places . Changed design seat themselves and their handrails . Big changes undergone cab . Partition behind the driver, which had previously oval window became deaf ; extended sliding door in the driver’s cabin. In the cabin itself changed the layout of the dashboard, which became made of black plastic. Out of the past neergonomichny remote control trolley bus right from the dashboard, consisting of two long rows of identical tumblers . Control of external light devices was moved to the steering column . On a dedicated right panel were only control door opening, the wiper switch and alarm . Other switches transferred to the new control panel by trolley to the left of the driver’s side near the window. Redesigned suspension and brake pedals at the same time control approached the car .

On the other hand, ZiU- 682G supplied to provincial towns, 1993-2000 ., Compared with the previous model ZiU- 682V had significantly lighter load bearing elements of the frame component of the supporting frame (apparently, in order to reduce cost). As a result in severe operating conditions (e.g. in Nizhny Novgorod ) for 5 years, these structural elements to rot completely corroded, punctured a gentle kick screwdriver. Since 1997, the base modification in mass production became ZiU- 682G -012 ( ZiU- 682G0A ) . External difference between the new modification was reduced in height side window of the cab, also has another location pane . Minor changes have been planning the cabin. In fact it was adapted for the domestic market modification export version trolley ZiU- 682G -010, the production of which began in 1992.

On the basis of ZiU- 682G -012 began the further modernization of trolley conducted mainly commissioned Mosgortransa (as most other Russian cities at that time became insolvent ) and divided into several stages. For low voltage power generator instead of 63.3701 and auxiliary engine DC – 661B was set low noise static converter . Been improved waterproofing and grounding . Trolleybus began to possess higher corrosion protection, a number of sites now executes from aluminum, stainless steel and fiberglass . In parallel with ZiU- 682G -012, in 1998, started production in transition modification ZiU- 682G -014 ( ZiU- 682G0E ), which replace the old sofas in the lounge were installed individual padded seats, applied laser (source ?) Heaters cabin windows . This version is also equipped with a static converter.

ZiU-682G-016, 017 and 018

Trolleybus ZiU-682G, the last at the Moscow trolleybus-repair plant (MTRZ) overhaul with the removal of part of the apparatus on the roof

As a result of the continuation of the modernization of the trolley in the same 1998 there was a modification ZiU- 682G -016 ( ZiU- 682G0M ), which became the base model . Exterior siding boards became run from extruded galvanized steel sheet, which improved the appearance of the trolley and increased its corrosion resistance. Casement doors were subjected to additional rustproofing special compound. A great deal of work to improve the electrical trolley : applied dielectric coating rods susceptor set travel stops rods, improved insulation chicanery, installed in the cab indicator of leakage currents, improved design -board covers and sealing side compartments, redesigned heater . Also applied to the trolley locking system running with the doors open .

Back in the mid -1990s, it became apparent that the location of electrical underneath the trolley does not meet modern requirements of electric, because it does not protect it from moisture, anti-icing agents and many others, and also allows you to go through a puddle, if the depth exceeds ten centimeters. Then, in 1995, the model was designed ZiU- 52642, which is a major upgrade ZiU- 682G with the removal of electrical equipment on the roof of the trolley and other changes . However, for various reasons in the model series did not go.

The first production series with the removal of part of the apparatus on the roof became ZiU- 682G -017 ( ZiU- 682G0H ), launched in 2000. Unlike experienced ZiU- 52642 equipped with Thyristor-pulse control system, modification ZiU- 682G -017 remained equipped classical, uneconomical and unsupported acceptable smoothness Rheostat– contactor control system, electrical equipment factory “Dinamo ” conventional platen doors. Some of the changes undergone interior, in particular, have been installed interior lights more modern form. From 2002 to request the trolley began to be produced in variants with altered appearance cabin (this applied fiberglass pad ) .

ZiU-682G-016.02 and ZiU-682G-016.03

ZiU-682G-016.02 in Vladimir, Russia

Since October 2002, commercially produced modification ZiU- 682G – 016.02, which is a further development of the model ZiU- 682G -018 . Siding boards made of seamless steel sheet paneling front of the trolley combined with the use of fiberglass panels . The front bumper is also made of fiberglass. Passenger cabin windows are tinted glass, install new panoramic windshield . By trolley runs increased corrosion protection body, including the use of conductive soils firm «Sikkens» in lap welds, phosphate protective coating, as well as additional coverage base, sides, front and rear of the protective coating .

On trolley mounted traction motor DC – 213A production Moscow factory “Dinamo” 110 kW . Control system – rheostat- contactor . Most of traction electric trolley put to the roof . Collectors located on the roof, power resistors, group controller, radioreaktory circuit breaker WB -7 ( there is an option to install instead of the WB -7 breaker manual AV- 8 in the cab at the rear ), a static converter ( IPT-600/28 or BP -3G ), stroke limiter rods. Behind the driver is case inside of which has an electric panel protective relays . In this regard, the first window on the left side of the passenger compartment has reduced dimensions, there is no passenger seat facing the front wheel arch . Interior lighting passenger compartment carried fluorescent fixtures have modes full, partial and emergency lighting . Passenger room is equipped with separate comfortable seats ( which, however, often criticized for full passengers trouble and inconvenience) . Two passenger seats are equipped to transport people with limited mobility. Parking brake acts on the brakes the drive wheels of energy storage, control of air in the cab of the crane . Hydraulic oil tank is equipped with power steering oil level warning device .

To improve the electrical introduced fiberglass boards, electrical insulation flaps passenger doors from the body, external electrical insulation rod current collectors, insulation monitoring device UKI, emergency switch, the imposition of mostly electric traction kit from under the floor to the roof, technological track on the roof to move attendants, rear stopper rods pantographs fitted to three electrical insulators, locking the trolley system with open doors, emergency ( spare ) the passenger area lighting system ANTI passenger doors, emergency exits through the windows of the cabin, equipment service doors from inside and outside governments to open in an emergency installation on the roof of a high-speed circuit-breaker with remote control, etc.

Since 2004, also commercially produced trolley ZiU- 682G – 016.03 . Its main difference from ZiU – 682G – 016.02 is that the frame ( base) body made of an open profile ( sill ), which increases the rigidity and makes it more resistant to corrosion. Trolleybus body ZiU- 682G 016.03 – welded frame construction .

As an option, the setting of a wide front double doors swing- slide-type ( which is especially important for Moscow, used to pay for travel validator ) .

Since September 2009, in connection with the termination of a license to manufacture trolleybuses issue ZiU 682G016.02 – and – ZiU 682G016.03 discontinued.

ZiU-682G-016.04 and ZiU-682G-016.05

Trolleybus ZiU-682G-016.05 in Orël

Since September 2009, JSC “Trolza” in accordance with the obtained license for production to start the production of trolleybuses ZiU-682G-016.04 and ZiU-682G-016.05. And apparently, these trolleys and constructive modifications almost completely replicate their predecessors ZiU-682G-016.02 and ZiU-682G-016.03. As changes in the rank of permanent options included installing electronic route signs and a marquee in the passenger compartment and ABS that ZiU-682G-ZiU 016.02 and 016.03-682G-performed by the customer.

Modifications as of 2012

Note that approximately 2003 JSC “Trolza” changed several notations produced models trolleybuses family ZiU- 682G, considering them all modifications ZiU- 682G -016 (VIN- code starts with all modifications XTU682G0M ) . As of 2010 the manufacturer offers the following serial modifications ( listed in order of increasing number of changes compared to ZiU- 682G )

ZiU- 682G -016 (012 ) – basic model similar ZiU- 682G -012 (delivery in the form of a body 1st version)
ZiU- 682G -016 (018) – modification, similar ZiU- 682G -018, and has a slight performance improvement ZiU- 682G -016 (delivery in the form of a body 1st version)
ZiU- 682G – 016.02 (delivery in the form of a body 1st version)
ZiU- 682G – 016.03 (delivery in the form of a body 1st version)
ZiU- 682G – 016.04
ZiU- 682G – 016.05

In 2009, we developed a modification ZiU- 682G – 016.07 . This machine has a total 016.04 with different numbering and control system – TrSU ” Chergos ” instead of the standard rheostat- contactor . The only instance in operation in Murmansk.

In fact, the serial production ZiU- 9 in 2012 was discontinued due to lack of demand for the model .

Clones produced by other companies

Many factories in modern Russia or Belarus developed their unlicensed or semi-licenced copies of the ZiU-9 design. They may have different designations and trademarks, but in the colloquial language all of them are referred to as “ZiU-9 clones”.

ACSM -101 and their various modifications manufacturer Belkommunmash (Minsk)
BTZ -5276 and modifications manufacturer Bashkir Trolleybus Plant ( Ufa)
VZTM -5284 and modifications manufacturer Volgograd Plant of Transport Engineering ( Volgograd)
VMZ -170 manufacturer Vologda Mechanical Plant (JSC ” Trans- Alpha”, Vologda )
Trolleybuses production ” Nizhtroll ” (Nizhny Novgorod), officially passing as overhaul reconditioning
CT- 682G production “Siberian trolley ” (Novosibirsk), officially passing as overhaul reconditioning
MTRZ – 6223 Moscow trolleybus production plant – modernization ZiU -682 for Moscow
ZiU -682 ZiU BTRM production ” Barnaul trolleybus repair shops ” ( Barnaul), officially passing as overhaul reconditioning
MTRZ – 6223 Altayelektrotrans production ” CAU ” Altayelektrotrans ” ” ( Barnaul)
ZiU -682 Barnaul production of ” Company ” Altai electric transport company ” ” ( Barnaul)

Operators

In Greece ZiU-9 in excursion route at Piraeus

Ziu-9 in Budapest, Hungary

In Hungary, Ziu-9 trolleys still operate in Debrecen (DKV) and used to operate in Budapest (BKV) and Szeged (SzKT). ZiU-9s worked or are now working in all ex-USSR countries except the Baltic states. They were also sold to Greece, Argentina, in Colombia the EDTU (Empresa Distrital de Transportes Urbanos) was a larger operator of these buses; they was in a very bad conservation state in the former Eastern Bloc countries. Three cars were on loan in 1973 for testing purposes in Helsinki, Finland.

Greek donation

In 2004, the ILPAP, the operator of trolleybusses in Athens, Greece donated nearly all of its old ZiU-9 trolleybuses to the city of Belgrade and to Georgia. One was donated to the East Anglia Transport Museum.

Belgrade has had ZiU-9 trolleys of its own since late 1970s. In 2010 a public action was taken to save Belgrade’s first ZiU-9 from being scrapped.

ZiU-10

(Zavod imeni Uritskogo, Russian for Uritsky Factory) or ZIU-10 (Russian: ЗиУ-10), also referred to as ZIU-683, is a model of trolleybus, built in Russia. It has been manufactured since 1986 by the Uritsky Factory, in Engels, which later became Trolza. It is an articulated, three-axle variant of the ZiU-9/ZiU-682.

A ZiU-10 in Moscow

###

WEYMANN Motor Bodies 1932-1966 Then Metro-Cammel-Weymann Addlestone England UK

WEYMANN

MOTOR BODIES

1932 Metro-Cammell-Weymann was formed by Weymann Motor Bodies and Metro Cammell bus body building division to produce bus bodies.

MCW bus bodies were built in Metro-Cammell’s and Weymann’s factories until 1966

1966 Weymann’s factory in Addlestone was closed (the Metro-Cammell and Weymann brand names were dropped in the same year).

From 1977 MCW also built bus chassis.

1989 the Laird group decided to sell its bus and rail divisions. No buyer for the complete group could be found so each product was sold separately. The Metrorider was bought by Optare who relaunched it as the MetroRider; the Metrobus design was bought by DAF (chassis) and Optare (body), who jointly reworked it into the Optare Spectra. The Metroliner design was acquired by Optare though not pursued. The Metrocab was bought by Reliant. Metro Cammell‘s rail division and the Washwood Heath factory went to GEC Alsthom(now Alstom).

List of Models

Fanfare
Olympian
Orion
Metropolitan (1973-78)
Metrobus (1977-89) 95 MDR and 11 MDR
Metroliner (1980- )
Metrorider (1986-89)

Officine VIBERTY Turino Italy

Viberti

Articulated trolleybus Fiat 2472 with Viberti body in Milano

Fiat Viberti Monotral CV61

Viberti badge

Officine Viberti was an Italian manufacturer of trailers, coach and bus bodies and mopeds, better known by its integral Monotral chassisless self-supporting coaches and buses. It was based in Turin. Viberti made the Vi-Vi moped from 1955 until 1957 in alliance with the German motorcycle manufacturer Victoria.

History

The company was founded in 1922 to build civilian and military transport vehicles and was a supplier to the Italian armed forces during World War II. One of its products was the SPA-Viberti AS.42 armored car.

Viberti is now part of the Acerbi-Viberti Group.

That was all Viberti

VÉTRA Société des Véhicules et Tracteurs Electriques Paris 1925-1964 France

Vétra

Vétra
Former type	Private
Industry	Transportation
Fate	Bankrupt
Founded	1925
Defunct	1964
Headquarters	Paris, France
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Trolleybuses, electric locomotives

Vétra (or Vetra), or more formally the Société des Véhicules et Tracteurs Electriques, was a French manufacturer of trolleybuses and electric locomotives. Founded in 1925, it became one of Western Europe’s largest builders of trolleybuses during the middle decades of the 20th century, making in excess of 1,750 vehicles, for cities in France and in several other countries. The company ceased production in 1964.

History

Limoges was one of the last places where Vétra trolleybuses operated. This 1950-built example was photographed in 1988.

Vétra was founded in 1925 and was based in Paris. After initially experimenting with production of accumulator railcars, the company made its first trolleybus in 1927. The first Vétra trolleybuses were two vehicles, model MV, supplied to the Aubagne–Cuges trolleybus system, which was located just east of Marseille and began operation on 22 September 1927. In the decades that followed, Vétra had a near-monopoly on French trolleybus production. Trolleybus systems operating in France also bought their fleets nearly exclusively from Vétra. From the 1930s through the 1950s, the “overwhelming majority” of trolleybuses in use on French systems were built by Vétra. On a smaller scale, the company also sold trolleybuses to systems located in other countries.

1939 VETRA CS35 (et VBRH)

The traction motors and other electrical equipment in Vétra trolleybuses were supplied by Alsthom (now called Alstom) in all or nearly all cases, while many mechanical parts, often including chassis, came from Berliet. The vehicle bodies were fabricated by various different companies, Berliet included. In its 38 years of trolleybus production, the company made no less than 31 different models. Some were only small variations on another model. For example, the VBRh was basically the same as the VBR except was 2.9 m tall instead of 2.7 m, and the h suffix in the model number stood for “haute” (high).

1948 Vétra-Berliet VBRh n° 272 ex-Paris Limoges F

Models produced included both two-axle and three-axle rigid vehicles, with large numbers of each. In its history, Vétra only built one articulated trolleybus. This was a prototype for Algiers, Algeria. Built in 1950/51, it was designated model VA4.SR and had four axles, three in the front section and one in the trailing section. It was tested on the Paris trolleybus system in January 1951. This prototype was unsuccessful, and it was eventually rebuilt into a three-axle rigid vehicle.

1954 VETRA-BERLIET VA3B2 3 axelss

Vétra also made some freight vehicles for a non-passenger trolleytruck line between Villey-Saint-Étienne and Varangéville, France. It also built small electric locomotives for use on mine railways.

1943 Vétra-Berliet CB60 n° 10 Limoges F

In 1961 Pegaso, the Spanish truck and bus maker, reached an agreement with Vetra to launch to the Spanish market a Pegaso trolleybus, called model 8010, based on Vetra technology. The operation, however, was a failure, due to the contemporary import to Spain of several tenths of ex-London Transport BUT units; and only one Pegaso 8010, with a Seida body, was ever built.

1959-68 VETRA BERLIET Barcelona

By the early 1960s, several French trolleybus systems had closed, and most of those that remained were destined to close within a few years, so were not purchasing new trolleybuses. Facing a steep decline in orders, Vétra filed for bankruptcy. Production ended in 1964, with the completion of an order for two VBH85 trolleybuses for Fribourg, Switzerland.

Vetra 29 roule sur la ligne 8-9 en direction du Jura. Suisse.

Customers

Vétra sold trolleybuses to transit systems in 12 different countries, on three continents, including as far away as Chile. However, the majority were sold to systems in France. The overall total was in excess of 1,750, a quantity that has been matched or exceeded by only very few other trolleybus manufacturers.

Europe

A 1957 Vétra VBF-model trolleybus in Grenoble in 1965. This vehicle originally served the Paris trolleybus system.

Seida bodied three-axle Vétra trolleybus for the city of Madrid

The Lyon trolleybus system purchased by far the largest number of Vétra trolleybuses of any system, a total of 372, comprising seven different models. Other large buyers in France were Marseille (145, of seven different models), Paris (133), St. Etienne (78), and Limoges (43). After the closure of the Paris system, in 1966, its 38 VBF trolleybuses were sold to the Grenoble system, and 40 of its VBRh trolleybuses were sold to Limoges; 24 of the latter entered service there, and some remained in service until 1989.

Other European countries where Vétra found buyers were Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Spain and Switzerland. Most were small orders, but in Spain, 45 Vétras were purchased by Madrid and a total of 55 by Bilbao, in multiple orders.

Outside Europe

Vétra also found a good market in North Africa, where it sold to all but one of the eight trolleybus systems in operation, including Algiers,Constantine (3 separate operators) and Oran, in Algeria; Cairo, Egypt; Casablanca, Morocco; and Tunis, Tunisia. The sole exception was the system in Tétouan, Morocco, which bought all of its trolleybuses from Saurer. The trolleybuses sold to some of these systems in the 1930s were designed by Vétra but built by various other companies.

The company sold trolleybuses to a total of only two systems outside Europe and North Africa. Santiago, Chile, purchased 100 in 1952–53, and Niterói, Brazil, opened its trolleybus system with 45 Vétras in 1953. The Niteroi vehicles were model VBRh, which was Vétra’s most widely sold model in the post-war era, bought by many cities. By contrast, the Santiago vehicles were a unique model, VA2, and were approximately the same size as, and bore a strong resemblance to, trolleybuses that the Santiago system had purchased from the U.S. company Pullman-Standard in 1946–48 and 1952.

Last active examples

A small fleet of short-chassis vehicles in Lyon were the last Vétra trolleybuses in service anywhere.

By 1983, with the retirement of St. Etienne’s last Vétra trolleybuses, Limoges and Lyon were the only systems anywhere that continued to use Vétras in service. The last active examples in Limoges were ex-Paris VBRh vehicles built in 1949–54, and these were retired in June 1989. This left the Lyon trolleybus system as the last operator of Vétra trolleybuses anywhere.

Although Lyon once had a large fleet of Vétra trolleybuses, by late 1981 all that remained were ones from a batch of 22 VBH85 trolleybuses, built jointly by Vétra and Berliet in 1963, which had a short chassis and were used only on Lyon route 6, which follows narrow streets and has hairpin turns. In 1984/85, Lyon operator TCL chose to refurbish seven of these, rather than buy a new batch of non-standard-length trolleybuses just for one route.^[16] As a result, these last Vétra trolleybuses (renumbered 1701–1707) received an extended life, remaining in service until early 2000.

Preservation

More than 30 Vétra-built trolleybuses have been preserved, with 33 examples accounted for as of 2000, all but four being in France.

By operators

Some are owned by transit agencies that are currently still operate trolleybuses, but the vehicles concerned may or may not be in operating condition. The Limoges trolleybus system has preserved 1944/45 CB60 No. 18, and the Lyon system has preserved 1962 Vétra-Berliet ELR No. 10 (which is ex-Marseille 331 in 1977). The St. Etienne system has preserved three different examples: 1952 VCR No. 72, 1955 VA3B2 No. 151 (ex-Marseille 155), and 1962 VBBh/ELR No. 126.

At museums

Three restored Vétra trolleybuses on display at the Musée des transports urbains, interurbains et ruraux, in Paris

Most of the surviving Vétra trolleybuses are in the collections of museums or preservation groups. The largest number, by far, is owned by theAssociation pour le Musée des Transports Urbains, Interurbains et Ruraux (AMTUIR), in Paris, which counted 10 Vétra trolleybuses in its collection as of 2000. The Musée Provençal des Transports Urbains et Ruraux (MPTUR), in La Barque, has three Vétra trolleybuses. The Amis du Rail et des Transports de Marseille (ARTM), in Marseille, has two.

At least three Vétra trolleybuses are preserved outside France, including Limoges No. 5 (a 1943 CB60), which is owned by an individual but is kept at The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft, in the UK, and operates occasionally at the museum. Lyon 1704, a 1963 Vétra-Berliet VBH85, from the batch that were the very last Vétra trolleybuses in service anywhere, joined the Sandtoft collection in 2006.

Cést Tout

Finis

TATRA Kopřivnice Moravia Czech Republic

Tatra (company)

TATRA, a. s.

Type	Private
Industry	Automotive
Founded	1850 1897 as a car manufacturer
Founders	Ignác Šustala
Headquarters	Kopřivnice, Moravia, Czech Republic
Key people	Ronald Adams (CEO) Hugo Fischer von Roeslerstamm (designer) Hans Ledwinka (designer) Julius Mackerle (designer)
Products	Automobiles, wagons,carriages, trucks
Revenue	CZK 7.87 billion (2008)
Owners	DAF Trucks (19%)
Employees	2,000 (2011)
Parent	Paccar Inc (19%)
Website	tatratrucks.com

Tatra Präsident on the Kopřivnice coat of arms.

Tatra is a vehicle manufacturer in Kopřivnice, Czech Republic. The company was founded in 1850 as Schustala & Company, later renamed Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft when it became a wagon and carriage manufacturer. In 1897, Tatra produced the first motor car in central Europe, and one of the first cars in world, the Präsident automobile. In 1918, it changed its name to Kopřivnická vozovka a.s., and in 1919 started to use the Tatra badge named after the nearby Tatra mountains in Slovakia.

Tatra is the third oldest car maker in the world after Daimler and Peugeot. During World War II Tatra was instrumental in the production of trucks, and tank engines for the German war effort. Production of passenger cars ceased in 1999, but the company still produces a range of primarily all-wheel-drive 4×4, 6×6, 8×8, 10×10, and 12×12 trucks. The brand is mainly known as a result of the legendary Czech truck racer Karel Loprais: in 1988–2001 he won the world’s hardest off-road race Dakar Rally as many as six times with the Tatra 815. At the time of his sixth victory, he was the most successful driver in the history of the Dakar.

Early years

Ignác Šustala, founder of the company

Präsident, the first factory made car in Central and Eastern Europe in 1897

Rennzweier, the first race car made by the company in 1900

Ignác Šustala (1822–1891), founder of the company in Kopřivnice, Moravia, started the production of horse-drawn vehicles in 1850. In 1891 he branched out into railroad car manufacture, naming the company Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft, and employed Hugo Fischer von Roeslerstamm as technical director in 1890. After the death of Šustala, von Roeslerstamm took over running the company and in 1897 he bought a Benz automobile. Using this for inspiration, the company made its first car, the Präsident, which was exhibited in 1897 in Vienna. Orders were obtained for more cars and under the direction of engineers Hans Ledwinka and Edmund Rumpler, ten improved cars were made.

The first car to be totally designed by Ledwinka came in 1900 with the Type A with rear-mounted 2714 cc engine and top speed of 40 kilometres per hour (25 mph), 22 units were built. This was followed by the Type B with central engine in 1902 but then Ledwinka left the company to concentrate on steam engine development. He returned in 1905 and designed a completely new car, the Type S with 3308 cc 4-cylinder engine. Production was badly hit in 1912 with a 23-week strike and Hugo Fischer von Roeslerstam left the company.

Tatra concept

Tatra T-11 of 1924

Main article: Backbone chassis

After World War I Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau was renamed Kopřivnická vozovka, and in 1919 the name Tatra was given to the car range. Leopold Pasching took over control and in 1921 Hans Ledwinka returned again to develop the revolutionary Tatra 11. The new car, launched in 1923 featured a rigid backbone tube with swinging semi-axles at the rear giving independent suspension. The engine, front-mounted, was an air-cooled two-cylinder unit of 1056 cc.

The Tatra 11 was replaced in 1926 by the similar Tatra 12 which had four-wheel brakes.

A further development was the 1926 Tatra 17 with a 1,930 cc water-cooled six-cylinder engine and fully independent suspension. In 1927 the company was renamed Závody Ringhoffer-Tatra a.s..

Streamlined Tatras

Tatra V570 1931, 1933

Tatra T77 1933–1938

Tatra T87 1936–1950

Tatra T97 1936–1939

Tatra T600 Tatraplan 1946–1952

1968-75 Tatra 2 603 II Engine 2474 cc V8

Tatra T603 1956–1975

Tatra T97

Prewar streamliners

Tatra’s specialty was luxury cars of a technically advanced nature, going from aircooled flat-twins to fours and sixes, culminating (briefly) with the OHC 6 litre V12 in 1931. In the 1930s, under the supervision of Austrian engineer Hans Ledwinka, his son Erich and German engineer Erich Übelacker, and protected by high tariffs and absence of foreign assemblers, Tatra began building advanced, streamlined cars after obtaining licences from Paul Jaray, which started in 1934 with the large Tatra T77, the world’s first production aerodynamic car. The average drag coefficient of a 1:5 model of the fastback Tatra T77 was recorded as 0.2455. It featured (as did almost all subsequent big Tatras) a rear-mounted, air-cooled V8 engine, which was in technical terms very sophisticated for the time.

Tatra and the conception of the Volkswagen Beetle

Both Hitler and Porsche were influenced by the Tatras. Hitler was a keen automotive enthusiast, and had ridden in Tatras during political tours of Czechoslovakia. He had also dined numerous times with Ledwinka. After one of these dinners Hitler remarked to Porsche, “This is the car for my roads”. From 1933 onwards, Ledwinka and Porsche met regularly to discuss their designs, and Porsche admitted “Well, sometimes I looked over his shoulder and sometimes he looked over mine” while designing the Volkswagen. There is no doubt that the Beetle bore a striking resemblance to the Tatras, particularly the Tatra V570. The Tatra T97 of 1936 had a rear-located, rear-wheel drive, air-cooled four-cylinder boxer engine accommodating four passengers and providing luggage storage under the front bonnet and behind the rear seat. Another similarity between this Tatra and the Beetle is the central structural tunnel. Tatra launched a lawsuit, but this was stopped when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. At the same time, Tatra was forced to stop producing the T97. The matter was re-opened after World War II and in 1961 Volkswagen paid Ringhoffer-Tatra 3,000,000 Deutsche Marks in an out of court settlement.

War years

After the 1938 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany, Tatras continued in production, largely because Germans liked the cars. Many German officers met their deaths driving heavy, rear-engined Tatras faster around corners than they could handle. At the time, as an anecdote, Tatra became known as the ‘Czech Secret Weapon’ for the scores of officers who died behind the wheel; at one point official orders were issued forbidding German officers from driving Tatras.

Tatra T600 Tatraplan

Postwar management

The factory was nationalised in 1945 almost three years before the Communist Party came to power and renamed to Tatra Národní Podnik. Although production of prewar models continued, a new model, the Tatra T600 Tatraplan was designed—the name celebrating the new Communist planned economy and the aeroplane inspiration (Colloq. Czech: aeroplán). It went into production in 1948. In 1951, the state planning department decided that the Tatraplan should henceforth be built at the Skoda plant in Mladá Boleslav, leaving Tatra free to concentrate on trucks, buses and railway equipment.

The Tatra T603

Main article: Tatra 603

Tatra T603

A mere three years later, amid much dissatisfaction among officialdom about the poor-quality official cars imported from Russia, Tatra was again given permission to produce a luxury car, the Tatra T603. A fair successor to the prewar cars, it was also driven by a rear-mounted, air-cooled V8 and had the company’s trademark aerodynamic styling. Uniquely, the Tatra T603 featured three headlights, and the first prototypes had a central rear stabilising fin, though this was lost for production. It was also fitted with almost American-style thick chrome bumpers with bullets (a.k.a. Dagmar bumpers). Almost entirely hand-built, Tatras were not for everybody; normal citizens could not buy them. They were reserved for Party elites, communist officials, factory presidents and other notables, as well as being exported to most other communist nations as official cars. Even Cuban president Fidel Castro had a white Tatra T603, custom-fitted with air conditioning.

Tatra T603s were built until 1975, a twenty-year era as one of Communism’s finest cars. Numerous improvements were made over this time, but not all the new cars built in this period were actually new but rather reconditioned. When a new Tatra replaced an old, the old vehicle was returned to the factory. There, it was upgraded to modern condition, refinished, dubbed new and sent out again as a putatively new vehicle to replace another older Tatra. This makes it hard to trace the history of surviving vehicles.

Tatra T613 (1976)

1970s makeover—the Tatra T613

Main article: Tatra T613

In 1968 a replacement was developed; the Tatra T613. It was styled by the Italian styling house of Vignale and was a more modern, less rounded shape. It was not until 1973 that the car went into production, and volume production did not begin until the following year. Although the layout remained the same, the body was all new, as was the engine, being equipped with four overhead camshafts, a higher capacity motor (3495 cc) and an output close to 165 bhp (123 kW; 167 PS). In addition, it had been moved somewhat forward for improved balance. These cars were built in five series and went through several modifications until production ceased in 1996. It is a tribute to Vignale’s styling that they did not look dated until rather late in that time period. Over 11,000 cars were built, and sales slowed to a trickle of just a few dozen per year towards the end of production as Tatras began to seem more and more outdated.

Tatra 700 in museum

1990s Tatra T700

Main article: Tatra T700

The Tatra T700 was a large luxury car released in 1996 by Tatra, essentially a heavily restyled version of the Tatra T613 model it replaced. The T700 was offered as both a saloon and coupé with either a 3.5 or 4.4 litre 90° air-cooled V8 petrol engine. The model was neither successful nor produced in large numbers, and production halted in 1999. The T700 was the last passenger car made by Tatra, which then concentrated on commercial vehicles.

1990s Tatra MTX V8

The Tatra MTX V8 was the fastest Czech car of all time. Production started in 1991 in Kopřivnice. Under the hood lies a Tatra 623 V8 motor, injection version making 225 kW at 6500 rpm. 0–100 km/h will take 5.6 seconds. Maximum speed is 265 km/h. It is the work of legendary Czech designer Václav Král. Only 5 units of this car were ever produced.

Tatra MTX V8

Tatra in the West

Unlike most Soviet Bloc manufacturers, Tatra enjoyed modest sales success in Western Europe, where its truck line had a reputation for simplicity and durability. No effort was made to distribute Tatra’s unusual automobiles in the West, though a small number did find their way to collectors in Western Europe, and even to the United States. The fall of the Soviet Union did not help Tatra’s fortunes, as the company made no inroads in Western Europe’s already crowded automobile market. Worse, the introduction of competitors, such as Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot into the Czech Republic, further eroded Tatra’s sales. Production of the T700 ended in 1999.

Among western collectors, Tatra automobiles remain largely unknown. The largest display of Tatra vehicles in the United States is at the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. The museum’s eclectic automobile collection contains 12 Tatra models, including a T-613 ambulance. When talk show host and car collector Jay Leno visited the museum, the founder picked him up in a 1947 Tatra T-87, prompting Leno to purchase one himself. Leno soon become an advocate for the brand. In the United States, the few Tatra clubs are closely associated with Citroen clubs, as many Tatra collectors also collect Citroën DS series cars.

A Tatra T87 is on exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Trucks

1898–1914 Beginning

The replica of the first truckmanufactured at Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau

The first truck manufactured at Kopřivnice in 1898 was a flatbed with 2 liquid-cooled side-by-side-mounted two-cylinder Benz engines each at 2.7 L capacity with total power output of 8.8 kW (12 hp) placed after the rear axle and cargo capacity of 2.5 ton. The unique feature of the engines setup was that the engines could be operated sequentially depending on the load requirements. No 1 engine was started via a cranking handle and had a flywheel attached and No 2 engine without the flywheel was connected via a gear clutch and started by the first engine already running. The second truck manufactured was once again a flatbed R type of 2.5 ton cargo capacity built in 1909. Powered by liquid-cooled petrol four-cylinder engine of 4.1 L capacity and power output of 18.4 kW (25 hp) with the engine placed above front axle which is the conventional design to this day. The vehicle featured solid rubber tyres and semi-elliptic leaf spring suspension. In 1910 Tatra manufactured its first bus the Omnibus type SO with total production of 5 units.

1914–1922 Serial Production

The first true serial truck production at Tatra was instigated by the beginning of World War I. In the year 1914 there were only 2 trucks made, type T 14/40 HP, however by the 1915 end the production jumped to the total of 105 TL-2 units and the following year 1916 the numbers rose to total of 196 TL-2 and 30 TL-4 truthe time peaked in 1917 with 19 TL-2 and 303 TL-4 models, after that production declined and the similar amount of vehicles of one type manufactured in a year was not achieved or surpassed until 1936 with the T 27 model. Technically models TL-2 and TL-4 were almost identically designed, in fact TL-4 evolved from TL-2 where both had liquid-cooled OHC engines of max power output of 25.7 kW (35 PS; 34 hp). The TL-2 had a GVM 2,100 kg (4,630 lb) and 4,000 kg (8,818 lb) GCM, TL-4 had 2,700 kg (5,952 lb) GVM and 6,700 kg (14,771 lb) GCM respectively. Both types remained in production in small series until 1927. The TL-4 is considered the first truck to come out of NW (Nesselsdorfer Wagen-bau) to carry the name Tatra in 1919.

1923–1938 Tatra Concept

Tatra T93

Tatra, year 1932, 1155 ccm, 20 PS

After the introduction of Tatra 11 and Tatra 12 cars with their distinctive backbone tube design and swing axles, Tatra introduced its first truck on the same basis, the light utility Tatra 13 powered by 2-cylinder air-cooled petrol engine with power output 8.8 kW (12 hp) and 1,000 kg (2,205 lb) cargo capacity. Further models followed and in 1926 T23 and T24 were introduced nicknamed “bulldogs” which could be considered Tatra’s precursors to COE designed trucks. Improved version T13 introduced as T26 with more powerful 4-cylinder flat air-cooled engine and in six-wheeler chassis created capable offroad light utility truck which later evolved into T72 model which was heavily used by Czechoslovakian army at the time and was also manufactured under license by the French company Lorraine-Dietrich. In 1933 Tatra build limited series of T25 heavy artillery hauler with 4 and 6-cylinder petrol engines. The most popular Tatra truck before World War II was type T27 powered by 4-cylinder petrol or diesel engines and remained in production for nearly 17 years (1930–1947) with total production of 7,620 units, by adding an extra axle to the rear the type T28 was created however, it was not successful and only limited production resulted in a mainly bus chassis. In the period from 1931 to 1938 Tatra also built a small utility truck based on the chassis from T30 named Tatra T43 which remain popular with small business owners. T72 model successfully continued the line to T82 built mainly for military in cargo and personnel transport between 1935 and 1938 and further to T92 and T93 built for Romanian army from 1938 to 1941 which were identical except T93 had also a driven front axle.

1939–1956 The Legend Born

Main article: Tatra T111

Tatra T111

Following the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia the production at Kopřivnice was annexed by the Germans for the supply of trucks needed by the Wehrmacht. Apart from the existing line up of T27, T92/92 a new heavy truck the T81 commenced production featuring liquid-cooled 12.5 L V8 diesel engine with a power output of 118 kW (160 PS; 158 hp), in 6×4 axle configuration. This vehicle evolved in 1942 into the legendary T111 which continued in production until 1962, with the total of 33,690 units made. The T111 also featured Tatra’s first air-cooled diesel engine, a massive V12 originally designed for the armoured SdKfz 234 Puma. In the latter stages of World War II Tatra was instrumental in the development of air-cooled diesel engines for German tanks. In late 1944 General Heinz Guderian ordered that production of the Type 38(t) Hetzer tank be modified to incorporate a Tatra Type 928 V-8 air-cooled diesel engine, though this order was delayed so production could continue uninterrupted. After the war the T111 contributed heavily to the rebuilding effort in Central and Eastern Europe and a memorial was built at Magadan, Siberia for its exploits in the Far East of the USSR.

1957–1982 Eastern Block Finest

Main articles: Tatra T138, Tatra T148 and Tatra T813

Tatra T813 ‘KOLOS’

The decision to replace the reliable but ageing T111 was taken in 1952 based on central planning economy of socialist government where directive was made to Tatra N.P. that it should concentrate on the manufacture of 7 to 10 ton capacity commercial vehicles and in 1956 first T137 and T138 trucks were exhibited at Czechoslovak machinery expo in Brno. The production of T111 however continued alongside T138 series until 1962. T138 itself continued in production until 1969 when it was replaced by improved T148 where designers main target was increase in power output, reliability and product improvements.

In 1967 Tatra began production of one of its famous off-road trucks the T813 using its modular construction technology; the model incorporated the latest trends in commercial vehicle design such as cab-over-engine (COE) and wide profile tyres. It featured a new V12 engine and all military versions had a central tyre inflation/deflation system as standard equipment. The T813 was designed to tow loads up to 100 ton GCM and it was a familiar sight on the roads in Czechoslovakia hauling large often over-sized loads.

1982–2008 T815 and Beyond

Main article: Tatra T815

Tatra 815, multiple winner of Dakar Rally

Tatra TerrNo1

Tatra T815 was designed for extreme off-road conditions, and its road versions are derived from the off-road original. After the 53-rd session of CMEA council a directive that Tatra N.P. would be a sole supplier of off road commercial vehicles of <12 ton capacity for Eastern Block countries, led to a modernization of company and its production models. Following extensive testing at different sites, including Siberia, the type T815 was introduced in 1982 and production started in 1983. Comparing to previous models T815 was made of 142 main assembly components as opposed to 219 main assembly components of its predecessor. The engines power output was increased up to 45% and a new COE tilt-able cabin was introduced. Modular engine designed resulted in V8, V10 and V12 engines with or without turbocharger.

T815 was upgraded to T815-2 with minor cosmetic changes and improved ergonomics and safety – the biggest change was the engine emissions accordance the “Euro 0” limits and to Euro1 limits in 1993 (turbocharged V8 engine only since this time for the full legislation. As alternative was offered also the Deutz 513 aircooled V8 engine). The next facelift in 1997 brought in the new exterior design cabin TerrNo1 with all new interior with better sound and heat insulation however the cabin design is based on the original so it can actually be retrofitted to all T815 built since 1993. In 2000 the TerrNo1 cabin is face-lifted again and for the first time there is an option to fit liquid-cooled engines.

The TerrNo1 model introduced the “KingFrame” rear axles suspension. Another evolution step T3B engine came with the Euro2 emission limit. Following further improvements in 2003 T815 gets new Euro3 T3C V8 engine mated to all new 14-speed range+split gearbox as well as option for engines from other suppliers most notably CAT, Cummins, Detroit Diesel, Deutz and MTU with its “monster” 22.5 Litre V12 and up to 610 kW (829 PS; 818 hp) power output! In September 2006 Tatra introduced its Euro4 compliant turbocharged T3D engine with the SCR exhaust technology and in February 2008 the worlds’s first Euro 5 compliant aircooled diesel engine based on T3D engine

The evolution of Tatra T815 would not be complete without mentioning its derivates T816 (T815-6) Armax and Force series which had its origin back in 1993 when Tatra participated in the tender process for heavy duty off road trucks for UAE army and after two years of bidding the company was successful in securing a contract worth $180 million.

Tatra 163 Jamal

The resulting model became known as T816 “LIWA” (Arabic for “desert”). The latest model for the military customers is T817(T815-7) marketed as high-mobility heavy-duty tactical truck with low profile cabin for C-130 Hercules transportability for NATO member countries armed services.

Tatra also went back to its roots and decided to produce once again a bonneted CBE heavy duty off road truck to continue the successful line started with T111, so in 1999 the T163 Jamal was put into full production after first prototypes were built in 1997 and followed extensive testing including at Siberia, as a heavy duty dump truck, once again based on proven backbone tube chassis construction with the cabin designed by Jiří Španihel TheT163 6×6 is used mainly on construction sites and in quarries.

Tatra T-810 for Czech Army

Tatra was also a successful bidder for the Czech Army replacement of aging Praga V3S (with the Tatra I6 aircooled engine – one half of the T111 V12 one) medium off-road truck with T810 which technically is not a “genuine” Tatra as its origin goes back to when former Czech company ROSS, in partnership with Renault Trucks, obtained a contract to supply the army with medium size off-road trucks, the “ROSS R210 6×6”. The company however went bankrupt in 1998 and Tatra bought full rights to the design, then modernized and reintroduced it as T810 while continuing cooperation with Renault. Under the deal Renault supplies the cabins and the engines and Praga supplied axles and transmissions for the prototypes; however the whole project has been dogged by controversy due to the way Tatra had obtained the contract, its relationship with supplier Praga and the subsequent court case brought on against it by Praga. The serial T810 vehicles are than finally equipped with the new design Tatra rigid axles with the WABCO disc brakes, with the ZF Ecolite transmission and Steyr drop box.

Recent years

Current Tatra production

Tatra 163 Jamal

Tatra 810

Tatra 815

Tatra 816

Tatra 817

Tatra 158 Phoenix

With orders and production almost at a standstill after the fall of Communism, Tatra decided to stop building the T613 automobile in 1996. An attempt was made to produce an updated version, the Tatra T700; it was largely based on the old car, with updated body panels and detail. Sales were poor, and having in its history produced a total of 90,000 cars, Tatra finally abandoned automobile manufacturing in 1999 in order to concentrate on trucks.

The United States Terex Corporation acquired the majority ownership (71%) of Tatra in late 2003. As of late 2006, however, majority ownership (80.51%) lies in the hands of Tatra Holdings s.r.o., an international consortium comprising Vectra Limited of UK, Sam Eyde of the U.S., KBC Private Equity of Belgium, Meadowhill s.r.o. of Czech Republic and Ronald Adams of the U.S. On 15 December 2006, a contract was signed between Tatra and the Czech Republic for 556 trucks at roughly $130 million, or 2.6 billion Czech crowns. This contract was signed in lieu of replacement of older military vehicles.

In April 2007, Tatra announced that it had already matched its production in 2006 and produced 1,600 vehicles. In 2007, Tatra plans to produce between 2,300 and 2,500 vehicles. In contrast to previous years, Tatra has increased employment by the hundreds within the past two quarters, has reversed previous errors, and is growing again. Although there have been many struggles in the past decade, the company still remains one of the great prides of Czech industry, and has proven to be a valuable asset to international engineering, with its unique assembly and production methods and designs.

In August 2011, DAF Trucks announced it had built up a 19% stake in Tatra, which will use DAF cabs and PACCAR engines. DAF dealers will sell Tatra off-road trucks.

In March 2013, Tatra was sold in auction for 176 mil CZK (ca. 7 mil euro) due to its debts. Production continues. In 2013 Tatra sold 722 trucks, the most since 2008. Approximately two-thirds of units were exported.

Current truck models

India

Tatra had a truck-building joint venture in India called Tatra Vectra Motors Ltd, formerly called Tatra Trucks India Ltd. It is a joint venture between Tatra and the Vectra Group from England. In 2009, Vectra announced a new joint venture with Russia’s Kamaz to form Kamaz Vectra Motors Limited to manufacture Kamaz trucks in India., This joint venture replaced the former Tatra Vectra venture. The manufacturing plant is located in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, around 40 km from Bangalore. The fully integrated manufacturing facility includes an engine assembly and testing plant, a cabin welding shop, a frame fabrication shop and a test track. Most Tatra trucks for sale in India are manufactured in collaboration with Bharat Earth Movers Limited.

In 2002, the company received a 1,070 trucks order from the Government of India. Tatra’s growing involvement in India’s defense industry is often cited as an example of growing relations between Czech Republic and India.

In 2010 the Indian Government ordered 788 vehicles from public sector defence equipment manufacturer BEML. The order comprises supply of 498 8×8 vehicles, 278 6×6 vehicles without winch and 12 6×6 with winch.

Tatra Recovery Vehicle of the Indian Army

A Tatra Truck at India Gate, New Delhi on India Republic Day on 26 January

Indian Army Tatra truck mounting BM-30 Smerch.

Israel

SPYDER anti-aircraft missile system developed by the Israeli company Rafael, fitted atop a TATRA truck.

Reportedly following one of Israeli-Arab conflicts, Israel tested some Tatras captured from neighbour Arab armed forces (Egypt). Israel Defense Forces‘s command was apparently quite impressed with their performance, independence of cooling by air only and their capabilities as military trucks in desert and in wars for long-range raiding operations in such terrains etc., and felt necessary to include these trucks in their arsenal. As direct purchase from oppositely aligned Czechoslovakia was impossible, the lore has it that Israelis used some well-paid services of Nicolae Ceauşescu‘sRomania in cooperation with an American Company called ATC (American Truck Company) to purchase sand-coloured and military trucks, desert-equipped Tatra trucks too, leading to jokes along the line “Romania has a new desert”. Current photos of various Israeli weapon systems, e.g.,SPYDER slated, e.g., for India, show new Tatras as the carrier vehicles.

A number of Tatra trucks entered service in the Israeli Army also in many army sectors and as for example anti aircraft missile launcher, with the brand mark of “American Truck Company”, under which Tatras were sold on U.S. market and exported to Israel.

Future

In February 2008, Tatra announced the world’s first (and so far the only) air-cooled engine meeting the new Euro 5 standards. The press release claims 7.5 times lower emissions of particulates and 3.5 times lower emission of nitrogen oxides compared to the previous engine. Further, production of air-cooled engines should significantly reduce the production of greenhouse gasses due to the absence of liquid cooling systems. All Tatra vehicles from February 2008 onwards should use the new engine.
A month later, Tatra CEO Ronald Adams told The Prague Post Tatra could return to producing passenger cars, saying: ‘We would not come back to compete with the large automobile mass producers such as Volkswagen, Škoda, Toyota etc. But we might come back with a replica of the old Tatra cars using a current undercarriage and driveline from one of the major automotive producers.’ The company has launched a feasibility study, hoping to produce one thousand replicas of their legendary Tatraplan and 603 cars in 2010.

In July 2008 pictures of a fuel cell concept car designed by Mike Jelinek, the Tatra 903, were shown.

Navistar & Tatra

Tatra T815-7 (T817)

Tatra and Navistar Defence introduced at Eurosatory Exposition in Paris, France (Jun 14-18 2010) the results of their strategic alliance since October 2009, the models ATX6 (universal container carrier) and ATX8 (troop carrier)^[48] The vehicles appear to be based on Tatra T815-7 (T817) 6×6, 8×8 chassis(see pics here),^[49] suspension and cabins while using Navistar engines and other componets.^[50] Under the deal Navistar Defence and Tatra A.S. will market the vehicles in North America, which includes sales to the United States military and foreign military sales financed by the United States government. Tatra will source parts and components through Navistar’s global parts and support network for Tatra trucks delivered in markets outside of North America as well as market Navistar-Tatra vehicles around the world in their primary markets.

Tatra aircraft[edit]

Tatra T.131, a licence-built Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann.

Tatra T.101 two-seater touring aircraft

Trucks

“baby” Tatra T805

RM-70 multiple rocket launcher

OT-64 SKOT

Buses

1928 Tatra typ 24 Tatra 24

Trolleybuses

Tatra T86 (1936–38)

Ostrava, Tatra T 400 Tatra T400 (1949–55)

Tatra T401 (1958; only 1 built)

From now only Pictures:

That’s it

BOND Brothers busbodybuilders Lancashire England UK

BOND Brothers

BODYMANUFACTORS

Lancashire

England UK

a small firm Lancashire firm

1953-bond-rc-41-f-body-on-leyland-pd2-75

1953-dac85-but-with-bond-bodywork

1953-leyland-psu1-13-with-bond-rc41f-body

1954-leyland-pd2-20s-with-rare-bond-l53r-bodywork

1955-owr265-a-leyland-pd2-20-with-a-bond-l27-26rd-body

1955-small-firm-lancashire-firm-of-bond-brothers-to-build-a-pair-of-leyland-titans

1956-ashton-xtc-854-was-guy-arab-iv-with-bond-h32-28r-bodywork

1956-ashton-xtc-855-was-guy-arab-iv-with-bond-h32-28r-bodywork-nbu-508-a

1956-ashton-xtc-855-was-guy-arab-iv-with-bond-h32-28r-bodywork-nbu-508

1956-bond-b43f-body-on-its-leyland-psu1-14-royal-tiger-chassis

1956-but-9612t-with-bond-h33-28r-bodywork

1956-but-9612t-with-bond-h61r-body-uk

1956-but-9612t-with-bond-h61r-body-uk1

1956-but9612t-with-bond-h61r-body

bond-brothers-aec-reliance-plaxton-hgl278n (doubt)

bond-brothers-aec-reliance-plaxton-ppt57d (doubt)

bond-brothers-bristol-lh-ecw-dtl547t (doubt)

(could be the bus firm Bond Bros)

guy-arab-iii-mk-3-zodiac-bond-bros-ft-6572

AEC Bond Brothers Bodywork

lancaster-corporation-e28093-daimler-cwg5-e28093-ftd-70-e28093-70-bond-bros

lancaster-corporation-aec-regal-bond-brothers-bodywork-iii-ktf581

lowestoft-aec-bond-bros-body

aec-bond-brothers-bodywork

Thats all I know about Bond Brothers.

FLOIRAT Buses France

123berliet-4renault-5chausson-6floirat-7chausson-8floirat-9renault-10chausson

Sylvain Floirat

Sylvain Floirat était un homme d’affaires français (a French Business Man) né le 28 septembre 1899 à Nailhac en Dordogne et mort le 14 mars 1993.

Autobus Floirat Z10 des transports en commun de Mulhouse, actuellement au musée de l’AMTUIR.

Was son of factor, apprentice charron, first bodybuilder in Saint-Denis (coach Floirat) at the end of the Second World War, then launches into business by getting in 1946 the licensing of airlines in connection with public transport : it is the creation of the company Aigle Azur in April 1946, which starts its activities in North Africa, Lebanon and in Indochina and which still exists. Manager of the company the equipment Automobile 1934-38. In 1951 he bought factory Joseph Besset constructor of coaches at Annonay in difficulty. In 1955, he returned, at the request of the french government, the Europe n^o1 radio station then distressed and in fact very quickly one of the most popular radio stations in France. Its founder Charles Michelson sells its stake in the company, 17 July 1956 against the considerable sum for the time, of 245 million francs. In 1962, noticing the huge success of the company, Michelson tries in vain to renegotiate this assignment to higher courts. The case reflects then up to the Summit of States french and monegasque that press hastens of relate with including, an article on the cover of the daily newspaper Le Monde dated 27 January 1962 and Le Figaro, the next day.

3 x Floirat

Taking the direction of Matra gear, it’s actually a profitable industrial complex focused on innovation in telecommunications, transport and military computer.

At the end of the 1960s, Sylvain Floirat bought the famous Hôtel Byblos founded in 1967 by Lebanese billionaire Jean Prosper Gay-Para in Saint-Tropez. The hotel which largely owes its notoriety to the Gallery of stars and “people” who attended it. CEO. of Breguet Aviation between 1955 and 1967, President of the French television company between 1966 and 1968. Mayor of Nailhac, Honorary President of the Chamber of Commerce of Périgueux. Grand Officer of the Legion of honour; President of Essendiéras plantations, he bought the castle ofAndré Maurois in Essendiéras. In 1981, he is a Director of the Hachette group and participates in the Board of the Filipacchi group in 1984.

1948 Floirat

The Floirat (www.groupe-floirat.com) Group specialises in luxury with the Byblos in Saint-Tropez hotel, La Réserve, Saint Jean de Luz and Les Manoirs de Tourgeville at Deauville, in the clubs with Les Caves du Roy in Saint Tropez and the Black Legend in Monaco (opened in 2009) and real estate in the southeast of the France. It is now run by the grandson of the creator, Antoine Chevanne.

1950 Brounais car Floirat

1938-50 Floirat X 123 – Renault ABV

Floirat Railcar

1948-file floirat 1 t/m 4

1948 floirat (railcar)

1948 floirat x 5707 railcar

Floirat 5006-5007 et 5701 a 5708 railcar

1948 rem floirat

1952 Autorail Floirat ATLAS ACB3

1950 Floirat GA1B9

1953 Floirat C14 56 small

1953 Floirat C14 Saca

1953 Floirat C14 SACA

1953 FLOIRAT Y55 (le seul)

1954 Floirat Z10 des transports en commun de Mulhouse, actuellement au musée de l’AMTUIR.

1955 Floirat Y 55

1955 LATILLE-FLOIRAT Istanbul

1956-57,je pense à des Floirat.

1958 Floirat B8R

1958 Floirat B8R II

1958 Floirat Boulogne © B Basset

1958 Floirat Hochwaldliniek

1958 Floirat

1958 Floirat oldie

1963 Floirat in Chair de poule, Movie

1966-0444 – Mulhouse, autobus Floirat Y55

Floirat Railcar

autocar floirat

Beauvais, autocar Floirat

Floirat Z10

Floirat Z10a FM450 150 pass

Floirat

Floirat anhanger B7gr

Floirat autocar

Floirat CAI B 6 CAI 4 L 65

Floirat Ad

floirat long

Floirat Lourdes article126-2

Floirat Pinder (Saviem?)

Floirat Trolley Turkey 15

Floirat vlcsnap

Floirat Y 53 Catalogue

floirat y55

floirat-c14-saca-11

floirat-rca-2

un floirat transformé par des forains

images floirat

Cést Tout

###

SOMUA Buses France

SOMUA

BUSES

FRANCE

SOMUA made a lot off equipment.

With Buses they started in 1919

They worked together with Floirat, Latil, Panhard, Saviem, Renault, Scemia, Schneider.

Somua bus advertisement

1924 SOMUA express

1928 Somua RZCA 140HP Cap. 43(12) gebaseerd op Schneider H type

1929 SOMUA RZDA

1945 Somua in Praque

Somua in Russia

Somua left Chevrolet right in Russia

1950 Somua OP5-2 ACR

1950 Somua OP5-3

1951 Autocar Somua à moteur diesel 6 cyl.

1954 SomuaOP5.3 à l’arrêt Hippodrome

1955 Somua OP 5-3 Nr 365 der RATP

1955 SOMUA OP5

1956 SOMUA OP5

1957 Somua

1958 Somua ETV 75

1962 Somua OP53,ex RATP,en vadrouille dans les Bouches du Rhone

1963 SOMUA-PANHARD OP5 (RATP)

1964-0636 – Paris RATP, autobus Somua OP5-3

1964-0643 – Paris RATP, autobus Somua OP5-3 & TH4H

1965 Ligne 13 Gare centrale CTS Strasbourg

1965 Somua OP5-3 & TN4H

1965 Somua SW-B1-1509

1965-0323 – Strasbourg, autobus Somua

1966 JHM-1966-0452 – Mulhouse, trolleybus Somua & bus Floirat

1966 JHM-1966-0452a – Mulhouse, trolleybus Somua & bus Floirat

1966 vincennes Somua op52

1967-0002 – Paris RATP, autobus Somua OP5-2

1968-1156 – Paris RATP, autobus Somua OP5-3

1969-0797 – Strasbourg, autobus Somua

Chausson, ( Nez de cochon) moteur Somua, 45 places

######

http://myntransportblog.com/2014/07/22/panhard-levassor-since-1981-paris-france/

http://myntransportblog.com/2014/05/13/buses-more-latil-france/

http://myntransportblog.com/2013/12/14/buses-chausson-france/

http://myntransportblog.com/2014/09/30/buses-and-traincars-scemia-from-1918-1958-france/

http://myntransportblog.com/2014/09/29/saviem-societe-anonyme-de-vehicules-industriels-et-dequipements-mecaniques-buses-france/

http://myntransportblog.com/2014/08/27/renault-buses-cars-and-trucks-france-part-ii-between-the-world-wars-1919-1938/

#####

###

SOLARIS Bus, Tram and Coach SA Bolechowo, Poland

Solaris Bus & Coach

Solaris Bus & Coach SA

Type	Public
Industry	Automotive industry
Founded	2001
Headquarters	Bolechowo, Poland
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Solange Olszewska, Krzysztof Olszewski
Products	Buses
Revenue	€292.2 million
Operating income	€20.6 million
Profit	€13.5 million
Total assets	€126.1 million
Total equity	€87.6 million
Employees	1562
Website	www.solarisbus.com

Solaris Bus & Coach SA is a bus, coach, trolleybus and tram manufacturer based in Bolechowo near Poznań, Poland.

It is a family-owned business, with Krzysztof Olszewski as co-owner and his wife Solange as CEO. It is located in a former weapons factory, and was featured by BBC World in a program related to EU expansion in May 2004, as an example of a post-communist success in Poland.

History

Solaris started as Neoplan Polska, founded in 1994 by Krzysztof Olszewski. Neoplan Polska was selling, and since January 1996 also building under German licence, low-floor Neoplan city buses. In 1999 it released first buses under its own Solaris brand (model Urbino). On 1 September 2001 Neoplan Polska was renamed to Solaris Bus & Coach Sp. z o.o. In 2005 it was transformed into a joint stock company.

In the 1990s, the company developed its own research office and used computer software originally developed for the design of space shuttles. It reduced the time needed to design and build new prototypes to about six months. Another six months are needed to build a new bus prototype.

Trolleybuses are made in co-operation with the Hungarian company Ganz Electro or (the Czech division of) the company Cegelec and Polish company Medcom. Both companies make the electric devices for the vehicles. Solaris produced the first European bus model using hybrid technology, the Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid. That hybrid model was delivered in November 2008 to the Polish city of Poznań.

In 2007 Solaris was employing about 1,200 workers, in 2009 about 1,600 workers. Now “Solaris Bus & Coach” builds about 1,000-1,200 buses a year.

In 2013, Solaris sold 1,302 buses and trams.

Products

Solaris InterUrbino 12 in Kielce, Poland

Current models

Solaris Alpino – low-floor city bus
Solaris Urbino – low-floor city bus in lengths of 10m, 12m, 15m (three-axle rigid, 18m or 18.75m articulated
Solaris InterUrbino – intercity bus/coach
Solaris Vacanza – coach
Solaris Trollino – low-floor trolleybus in lengths of 12m, 15m (three-axle rigid) or 18m articulated
Solaris Tramino – tram (introduced in 2010)

Discontinued models

Solaris Valletta – city bus

Gallery

City buses

Solaris Urbino 10

Solaris Urbino 12

Solaris Urbino 12 LPG-GPL-CNG

Solaris Urbino 12 in Chur, Switzerland

Driver’s area of Solaris Urbino 12

Interior of Solaris Urbino 12

Engine of Solaris Urbino 12

2010 Solaris Urbino 12 Hybrid in Brno

A Solaris Urbino 18 of RSV (Reutlingen, Germany

Solaris Urbino 10 at Warsaw Okęcie Airport, Poland

Trolleybuses

A Solaris Trollino 12 trolleybus in Landskrona, Sweden

Solaris Trollino 18AC inTallinn in Estonia

2006 Solaris Trollino 15 in Vilnius in Lithuania

Solaris Urbino 18

Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid II

Solaris Alpino

Solaris InterUrbino 12

Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid Vossloh Kiepe

Solaris Trollino 18 “Metrostyle” in Salzburg

Solaris Tramino LF 32 in Poznań

Interior of Solaris Tramino LF 32

Solaris Tramino S109j for Jena, Germany

Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid MetroStyle

Solaris Vacanza 12 pierwszej generacji z 2002 roku w Katowicach jako ruchome centrum krwiodawstwa

Solaris Trollino 12

Solaris Trollino 15

Solaris Trollino 18

Solaris Trollino 18 MetroStyle

Solaris Tramino w Poznaniu

Solaris Tramino

Special version of Solaris Vacanza 13 als mobiele bloed donatiemobiel in Grodzisk Mazowiecki Ambulance

Solaris Trollino 18 “Metrostyle” in Salzburg

Intercity buses and coaches

A Solaris Vacanza 13

Solaris Valletta in Kielce, Poland, Transexpo 2007

Solaris Interurbino 12 at Transexpo 2010

Solaris Interurbino 12 interior

© O.Nordsieck

That’s it

#####

ŠKODA Works founded in 1859 in Pilzen, the Austrian Empire – Czech Republic till 1999

Škoda Works

For the automobile manufacturer, see Škoda Auto.

ŠKODA, a.s.

Former type	Private
Industry	Conglomerates
Fate	divided
Successors	Doosan Škoda Power Pilsen Steel Škoda Auto Škoda JS Škoda Transportation
Founded	Pilsen, Bohemia, Austrian Empire (1859)
Founders	Emil Škoda
Defunct	1999
Headquarters	Pilsen, Czech Republic
Area served	Worldwide
Products	locomotives aircraft ships machine tools steam turbines guns

BUSES

Škoda Works (Czech: Škodovy závody) was the largest industrial enterprise in Austria-Hungary and later in Czechoslovakia, one of its successor states. It was also one of the largest industrial conglomerates in Europe in the 20th century.

History

1859 to 1899: establishment of Škoda

The noble Waldstein family founded the company in 1859 in Plzeň; Emil Škoda bought it in 1869. It soon established itself as Austria-Hungary‘s leading arms manufacturer producing heavy guns for the navy, mountain guns or mortars along with the Škoda M1909 machine gun as one of its noted products. Besides producing arms for the Austro-Hungarian military, Škoda also manufactured locomotives, aircraft, ships, machine tools, steam turbines and equipment for power utilities and still does so.

In 1859, Count Wallenstein-Vartenberk set up a branch of his foundry and engineering works in Plzeň. The output of the plant, employing over a hundred workers, included machinery and equipment for sugar mills, breweries, mines, steam engines, boilers, iron bridge structures, and railway facilities. In 1869, the plant was taken over by Emil Škoda, an industrious engineer and dynamic entrepreneur.

Škoda soon expanded the firm, and in the 1880s founded what was then a very modern steelworks capable of delivering castings weighing dozens of tons. Steel castings and, later, forgings for larger passenger liners and warships went on to rank alongside the sugar mills as the top export branches of Škoda’s factory.

1899 to 1945: before and during World War II

1918 Škoda 75 mm Model 15

Panzer 35(t) tank

In 1899, the ever expanding business was transformed into a joint-stock company, and before the First World War Škoda Works became the largest arms manufacturer in Austria-Hungary. It was a navy and army contractor, mainly supplying heavy guns and ammunition.

Exports included castings, such as part of the piping for the Niagara Falls power plant or for the Suez Canal sluices, as well as machinery for sugar mills in Turkey, breweries throughout Europe, and guns for the Far East and South America.

The First World War brought a drop in the output of peacetime products. Huge sums were invested into expanding production capacities. By this time, Škoda Works already held majorities in a number of companies in the Czech lands and abroad that were not involved in arms manufacture. In 1917, the company had 35,000 employees in Plzeň alone.

Following the emergence of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1918, in the complex economic conditions of post-war Europe the company was transformed from what was exclusively an arms manufacturer into a multi-sector concern. In addition to traditional branches, the production programme embraced a number of new concepts, such as steam (and later electric) locomotives, freight and passenger vehicles, aircraft, ships, machine tools, steam turbines, power-engineering equipment, etc.

In 1923, the company’s world-famous registered trademark—the winged arrow in a circle—was entered in the Companies Register. The deteriorating political situation in Europe saw arms production rise again in the mid-thirties.

Škoda manufactured the world’s first triple-barrelled gun turrets for the Tegetthoff-class battleships of the Austro-Hungarian navy. Prior to World War II Škoda produced LT-35 tanks, which are better known under their German designation Panzer 35(t). These tanks were originally produced for the Czechoslovak army and were used extensively by the Wehrmacht in the Polish campaign, the Battle of France and also in the German invasion of the Soviet Union. In July 1944 Skoda started production of Jagdpanzer 38(t).

In 1924, Škoda Works acquired the Laurin-Klement car manufacturer, later known as Škoda Auto. Both companies became separated after 1945, when the entire Czechoslovak economy came under government control.

ES499.1 locomotive

1945 to 1989: after World War II

Škoda 14 Tr trolley bus in Vilnius

After WWII, in 1945 (the year when nationalisation efforts began in Czechoslovakia and when the Communists started to come to power) Škoda was nationalized and many sections were split from the company (e.g. the car works in Mladá Boleslav (Škoda Auto), the aircraft plant in Prague, some factories in Slovakia, and other plants producing food-industry equipment). The company was renamed Závody Vladimíra Iljiče Lenina (Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Plants) in 1951, but since the new name caused losses of sales abroad, the name was changed back to Škoda in 1953. The factory concentrated on markets in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. The company produced a wide range of heavy machinery such as nuclear reactors andlocomotives. A lack of updates to its product designs and infrastructure considerably weakened the company’s competitive position and its brand.

After 1962, Škoda became well known in the USSR and other countries as a trolley bus manufacturer, beginning to export Škoda 9 Tr, one of its most successful models. The successor, Škoda 14 Tr, manufactured between 1982 and 1997, is still widely used, for example, in post-Soviet states.

In 1978 the company was turned into the government-owned group of companies (“koncern”) Škoda. It was based in Plzeň and consisted of the companies: První brněnská strojírna [First Machine Works of Brno], ČKD Blansko, ČKD Dukla Praha-Karlín in Prague, Slovenské energetické strojárne S. M. Kirova [Slovak S. M. Kirov Energy Machine Works] in Tlmače, and Výzkumný ústav energetických zařízení [Energy Facilities Research Institute] in Brno.

1989 to 2011: after the fall of communism

The latest model of Škoda tram—Škoda 15 T featuring 100% low floor, pivoting bogies and 999,9HP

Plzeň, Škoda Transportation, rozestavěný vůz metra typu 81-71M II

Hall of transportation section, parts of tram Škoda 14 T on left, modernized metro wagon 81-71 on right.

After the Communist Party lost power in late 1989, the company was privatized into the hands of management. Mismanagement and asset stripping led to a collapse—the company was restructured and some factories closed. Except for some smaller companies named Škoda and Škoda Auto, after the chaotic 1990s period, the Czech Škoda companies were again regrouped within the holding company Škoda Holding a.s. in 2000. In 2010, the holding company changed its name to Škoda Investment, a.s..

Following the change in the political climate in 1989, Škoda started along a path of privatization, and used this time to come up with an optimal production programme, making new business contacts, and looking for markets other than those that had so far been its priority markets, i.e. the Communist Bloc countries and the Soviet Union, which collapsed after 1989.

In 1991, a foreign partner for the passenger car works Škoda Auto a.s. was sought by the Czech government. Volkswagen was chosen, and the German firm initially took a 30% stake, rising to 100% ownership by 1999. Škoda Auto is now a completely independent entity from other companies bearing the Škoda name.

In 1992, the company was privatized by the so-called Czech method. It began expanding its production activities, acquiring the TATRA and LIAZ vehicle works and constructing a plant to produce aluminum soft drink cans. This expansion put the company’s financial stability in jeopardy. In 1999, it concluded an agreement with creditor banks, and restructuring of the entire capital structure of the Škoda group was undertaken. The result was legal and financial stability at the company. Currently a sectoral restructuring of production companies in the group is under way. In April 2000, Škoda Holding, a.s. took over the helm, controlling nineteen primary subsidiaries and most product lines.

In 2003, the Czech government sold its 49% stake to the Appian Group for 350 CZK million, later that year the Appian Group acquired the rest of its stake in a liquidation of the previous owner. The Appian Group is a holding company incorporated in the Netherlands and controlled through a screen of shell companies. The real owner or owners are unknown, despite investigations by the Czech police. In September 2010, a group of four managers (current or former Škoda or Appian managers) announced that they would acquire Škoda from Appian for an undisclosed price. The Czech media speculated that the acquisition was only a formality, as the managers probably owned the parent company Appian.

Škoda was subsequently focused solely on the transport sector. Other divisions have been sold, a large part of them to the Russian company OMZ (the price was not published, estimated at around 1 CZK billion). Simultaneously some smaller transport companies were acquired, for example a part of the Hungarian company Ganz, VÚKV (owner of the Velim railway test circuit) and some transport-related assets of the former ČKD, now called Škoda Vagonka. In 2009, Škoda holding announced that the South Korean conglomerate Doosan will acquire its power section for 11,5 CZK billion ($656 million). Finally in March 2011 Škoda sold its Škoda Transportation subdidiary to Cyprus based company SKODA INDUSTRY (EUROPE) LTD, later renamed CEIL (CENTRAL EUROPE INDUSTRIES) LTD.

As of 2012 Škoda Investment still own Škoda brand and some real estate, but does not perform any industrial activity. Between 2007 and 2012 the company paid dividends to Appian – a whopping sum of 32 CZK billion (app. 1.18 billion Euro/1.6 billion USD).

#####

SEIDA Sociedad Española de Importación y Distribución de Automóviles

Seida

1951 Seida Metalbloc

Sociedad Española de Importación y Distribución de Automóviles (S.E.I.D.A. or, more commonly, Seida) was a Spanish cars and trucks dealer and coachbuilder that later evolved into making integral chassisless motorcoaches, and that in 1998 was subsumed into Evobus.

History

Chrysler dealer

Seida was incorporated in 1925, and began as the dealer for Spain of all the brands of Chrysler Corporation. As such, it became very well known, and in the 1930s its main showroom in Madrid, located in downtown main avenue, Gran Vía, and known as Salón Chrysler, was noted by its luxury, serving even as sporadic art gallery for some avant-garde exhibitions. By the same years, Seida opened a new rationalist repair shop and gas station building in Espronceda Street, by the renowned architect José de Azpiroz, that became a hall-mark of the modern architectural trends in Madrid.

In April 1935 Seida sponsored the show in Madrid of an american hell driver named Miller on a Plymouth car.

That same year, 1935, Seida began to assemble Chrysler’s Dodge trucks in a new plant built in Zorroza, on the docks of Bilbao. Several hundreds of them were made both before and after the Spanish Civil War.

The links with Chrysler Corporation persisted until 1969, when Chrysler Europe disembarked in Spain through the acquisition of Barreiros.

Mobile bank office for Banco de Bilbao in a bus body built by Seida in 1961 over a Pegaso 5040 chassis

Coachbuilder

In the 1940s, after the Spanish Civil War, Seida extended the premises in Zorroza with a new building to a Chrysler design, and switched to coachbuilding, the first bus chassis bodied being a hundred of German Klöckner units released in 1942. In those years Seida expanded its business to become shipowner, purchasing the merchant steamer Sendeja.

By the 1950s Seida lead the Spanish market of coach bodies, having patented, as Metalbloc, an all-metal body structure. By then Seida became the preferred bodybuilder for Pegaso, which was at the time the most pervasive bus and coach chassis maker in Spain. Specially memorable were its bodies for the Pegaso Z-404 coach or urban bus chassis, that used to receive a striking body which featured the same cross-shaped radiatorgrille that Touring put in its carrozzerie for the Pegaso Z-102 sports cars.

1945 autocares H-S modelo 202, carrozados por Seida para el Ejército del Aire

Along those years Seida other significant works were the bodies for Hispano-Suiza trolleybuses for the city of San Sebastián, Dodge two-level coaches for Iberia airliner, double-deck Guy and single-deck Pegaso buses, for the city of Madrid, and ACLO and Pegaso inter-city line coaches for Alsa. For the city of Madrid too, Seida made its most impressive bodies; namely four three-axle Vétra VA3B2 trolleybuses with GEE (General Eléctrica Española) electrical equipment.

1955 Pegaso Z-404 Seida

Rootes and Babcock dealer

For a few years along the 50s, Seida was also dealer in Spain for the British Rootes Group car brands, and too for the short-lived Spanish-made Babcock truck.

1960 – PEGASO BUS SEIDA

The Kässbohrer connection

In 1963 Seida reached an agreement with German Kässbohrer to license-build Setra chassisless coaches. These were equipped with Pegaso engines and other mechanical units and were marketed with simultaneous double badge as Setra Seida and Pegaso. Initially Seida built models S14 and S10 from Setra, the first one, a full-length 12-meter 55 seat vehicle, being with a great difference the most demanded. A few years later the S154, recently launched by Setra, replaced the S14 while the S10 was discontinued.

1961 Pegaso flota tb1168 seida 9 g

Despite being rather expensive, these coaches were very successful in the Spanish market, to the point that Seida opened a second plant in Vigo. In the 1970s MAN, Mercedes-Benz or Cummins engines were offered as alternative power units to the Pegaso ones, and the Setra Seida and Pegaso badging was replaced by just Setra.

1961 TB 1168 Pegaso 5020 Seida © Isidoro Hernandez

In 1981 Seida inaugurated a new modern plant in Castro Urdiales, but soon ran into difficulties, including bitter disagreements with Kässbohrer, and suffered in the late 80s and early 90s a long and rather complex financial and legal process, which included several changes of the society registered name and ownership. The plant in Vigo meanwhile was sold to Talleres Varela Bus, a general auto repair shop.

The end

In 1998 the Castro Urdiales plant went to the hands of Daimler-Benz‘s Evobus concern and Seida successor company disappeared.

Saurer Seida

Finish

SAURER Buses Arbon Switserland 1903-1982

Saurer

Adolph Saurer AG

Former type	Public company
Industry	Automotive, Military
Fate	Merged with Franz Brozincevic & Cie into Nutzfahrzeuggesellschaft Arbon & Wetzikon (NAW)
Successors	Saurer AG
Founded	1903
Defunct	1982
Headquarters	Arbon, Switzerland
Key people	Franz Saurer
Products	Motor vehicles

Adolph Saurer AG based in Arbon, Switzerland was a manufacturer of trucks and buses under the Saurer and Berna (beginning in 1929) brand names, active between 1903 and 1982.

Saurer was very well known all around Europe in the years between World War I and World War II (1918–1939).

Especially, in World War 2 a modified version of Saurer trucks was sponsored by the Nazi and used to gas people in Chełmno

History

A Saurer Car-Alpin in 1930

In 1853 Franz Saurer (1806–1882) from Veringenstadt in Germany established an iron foundry for household goods near the Swiss town of Sankt Gallen. In 1863 he started a production of Jacquard sewing machines in Arbon, from 1869 together with his sons as company associates of F. Saurer & Söhne. In 1896 his eldest surviving son Adolph Saurer (1841–1920) took over the company, he and his son Hippolyt (1878–1936) developed the enterprise as a joint-stock company.

From 1896 Saurer also manufactured petrol engines and the next year Hippolyt Saurer initiated the production of a phaeton body automobile run by a one-cylinder opposed-piston engine. In 1902 a first four-cylinder T-head engine model with touring car and sedan chassis was built.

From 1903 onwards Saurer concentrated on the production of commercial vehicles which soon gained a good reputation. The company ran subsidiary companies in Austria (1906–1959, in the end taken over by Steyr-Daimler-Puch), France (1910–1956, taken over by Unic), the United Kingdom (1927–1931, taken over by Armstrong Whitworth), and in Germany (1915–1918, taken over by MAN). In Italy, the Officine Meccaniche (OM) manufacturer was for many years licensee of Saurer engines and other mechanical units, which they used in their own ranges of truck and buses. In Poland the state-owned Państwowe Zakłady Inżynieryjne produced license-built Saurer engines (powering, among others, the 7TP and 9TP tanks) and coach chassis used in the Zawrat bus.

In the United States, the Saurer Motor Truck Company, headed by C.P. Coleman, had the rights to manufacture and sell heavy trucks under the Saurer brand name at its plant in Plainfield, New Jersey (which commenced operations in November 1911). On September 23, 1911, the Saurer Motor Truck Company merged with the Mack Brothers Motor Car Company of Allentown, Pennsylvania, headed by J. M. Mack, to form the International Motor Truck Company (IMTC). IMTC would continue to make and sell trucks using the Saurer name until 1918. In 1922 IMTC would become Mack Trucks, Inc.

In 1929 Saurer acquired its Swiss rival, Motorwagenfabrik Berna AG of Olten, but the Berna name was allowed to continue, badging the very same Saurer models.

From 1932 on, trolleybuses were a very significant segment of Saurer production. Typically Saurer, or Berna, trolleybuses featured Brown, Boveri & Cie or Société Anonyme des Ateliers de Sécheron (SAAS) electric equipment and Carrosserie Hess bodies. Saurer trolleybuses operated in most of Central Europe countries, and still do it in several of them.

In World War 2 a restructured type BT 4500 and 5 BHw of Saurer trucks were used to gas people in the Nazi extermination camp of Chelmno.^[3]

In 1951 Saurer and its Italian licensee, OM, reached an agreement by which Saurer would market in Switzerland OM’s light and medium-weight trucks and buses, using Saurer-OM and Berna-OM badges. This was successful and lasted until Saurer closure.

NAW

Declining sales in the early 1980s saw the two leading Swiss truck makers, Saurer and FBW (Franz Brozincevic & Cie of Wetzikon, Switzerland), forming a joint organization calledNutzfahrzeuggesellschaft Arbon & Wetzikon, proceeding with motorbus and trolleybus production under the NAW brand, while the last Saurer-badged truck sold in the open market was delivered in 1983. Four years later, in 1987, a model 10DM supplied to the Swiss Army meant the very last Saurer truck produced in history.

In 1982 Daimler-Benz had acquired a major shareholding in NAW and soon took full control; and in a short time dropped Saurer, Berna and FBW brands, while using NAW premises to assemble heavy haulage versions of Mercedes-Benz trucks.

Eventually NAW went into liquidation in early 2003.

The textile and automotive spin-offs

In 1995, Ernst Thomke, reputed Swiss Manager, took over the leadership of Saurer AG in Arbon as Chairman of the Board. To restructure this conglomerate, he had previously abandoned his position with its then major shareholder: BB Industrie Holding AG (22%). The previous major shareholder, Tito Tettamanti, of the conglomerate, founded in 1853, specialized in textile machinery and “propulsion technology”, had acquired the main competitor in each field, Schlafhorst, with a large manufacturing capacity excess and Ghidela.

Thomke led actively Saurer AG until 1996, when he retired to the direction of the Board until 1999. In his years he promulgated transparency at all levels, flexible working hours, optimized the production and refined accounting systems. In 1996, the group Saurer AG went back into financial results showing profits. More than half of the revenues originating from Schlafhorst, upon its positive restructuring.

A Doflug D-3802A powered by aSaurer YS-2 aero-engine.

Aero-engines

Saurer also produced the YS-2 and YS-3 aero-engines, closely related to the Hispano-Suiza 12Y series of engines designed and built in France, to power the Doflug D-3802 and Doflug D-3803 fighters.

Oerlikon Textile

Since 2007, the conglomerate Saurer AG, which meanwhile had reached a worldwide leading status in textile machinery, has been integrated into the Oerlikon Corporation (see: Oerlikon Textile )

Oerlikon-Saurer Textile is a manufacturer of systems for spinning, texturizing, twisting and embroidery.

Oerlikon-Saurer “Graziano Trasmissioni

Also since 2007, the remaining Saurer AG automative part, “Graziano Trasmissioni”, a manufacturer of gear, gear groups and complete transmission systems for agricultural, earth moving and special vehicles as well as for four wheel drive passenger cars and luxury sport cars has also been integrated into the Oerlikon Corporation. (see: [2] Oerlikon Drive Systems)

Gallery of Saurer, Berna and NAW vehicles

A Saurer coach in Northern Spain in 1923

Saurer PostBus, c.1950
A Saurer trolleybus inTimişoara, 2005
Saurer 4TIILM trolleybus in Gdynia, 2006

Carrosserie Hess bodied NAW trolleybus in Schaffhausen
Saurer Tramway Lausanne (TL)
Saurer 4H 1941
Saurer Autobus 1930
Saurer Autobus Salzburger Hauptbahnhof
Altstätten Bahnhof-Stadt (1984)

Trolleybus Saurer 411LM

Trolleybus Saurer 415

GT 560/640-25 Winterthur 2005
Saurer MH4 4×4 1954

http://myntransportblog.com/2014/08/19/ramseier-streun-and-co-jenzer-worblaufen-switserland/

http://myntransportblog.com/2014/02/22/buses-manufacturer-hess-ag-bellach-switserland/

http://myntransportblog.com/2013/12/19/buses-trucks-fbw-franz-brozincevic-wetzikon-switserland/

http://myntransportblog.com/2013/10/30/buses-berna-switserland/

That’s it

Charles H. ROE Bus Body/Coach builders Leeds Yorshire England UK

Charles H. Roe

Logo

A November 1978 built Roe body on a Leyland Atlantean AN68A/1R, new to South Yorkshire PTE as their 1633, pictured in Manchester with Citybus

Charles H. Roe Ltd. was a Yorkshire coachbuilding company. It was for most of its life based at Crossgates Carriage Works, in Leeds.

1930 Guy BTX trolleybuses with Roe L27-26R body

In 1947 it was taken over by Park Royal Vehicles. Two years later, along with its parent, it became part of Associated Commercial Vehicles (ACV) in 1949, which was merged with Leyland Motors Ltd in 1962. In 1965 30% of Park Royal and Roe’s shares were exchanged by Leyland Motor Corporation for shares in Bristol Commercial Vehicles and Eastern Coach Works held by the Transport Holding Company. Later the THC was succeeded by the National Bus Company and Park Royal, Roe, Bristol, ECW and Leyland National Ltd became subsidiaries of a new company Bus Manufacturuers Holdings 50% owned by British Leyland and 50% by National Bus. Leyland took complete control of BMH in 1982 and closed Charles H. Roe in 1984. In the following year, a group of employees from the former business, supported by Yorkshire Enterprise Ltd, began the Optare coachbuilding business in the former Roe carriage works.

1930 Guy BTX with Roe L29-26R bodies

History overview

Mr Charles H. Roe was a coachbuilder, draughtsman, engineer and entrepreneur who established a coachworks business bearing his name in Leeds, Yorkshire in 1917. He continued to be its managing director until 1952. Charles H. Roe Ltd produced distinctive and durable coachwork which although associated most strongly with municipal operators, particularly in Yorkshire, sold to a wide range of bus, trolleybus and coach operators, and there were even a few car, railway carriage, tram and commercial vehicle bodies too. Eventually becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of British Leyland in 1982 it was closed in 1984. Former workers and management pooled their redundancy money and in 1985 returned to the Roe factory in Leeds with a new bus-building business under the new name of Optare Ltd.

1930 Leyland Lion LT1 with Roe bodywork

History

Early years

Charles Henry Roe was born in York on 22 May 1887. His father Charles Roe worked for the North Eastern Railway at their carriage works in the town, eventually rising to a foreman’s position. C.H. Roe served his apprenticeship at the drawing office of the carriage works and his first job after gaining his trade in 1912 was as a draughtsman at the Wakefield works of Charles Roberts and Company who built railway rolling stock. A year later he moved to Leeds to work as an assistant to the chief engineer at the Hunslet-based RET Construction Co who was a pioneer builder of trolleybuses. Whilst there he worked on a twin-shaft drive transmission system from the traction motors of the trolleybus chassis to replace a previous chain-drive arrangement and designed a lightweight body featuring steel panels over a suitably reinforced teak body frame. As an engineer and draughtsman he was exempt from World War I Conscription. Customers for the RET vehicle with Roe-designed bodies included the trolleybus systems of Bloemfontein Corporation, The Shanghai Transport Company and Ramsbottom Urban District Council. The Ramsbottom examples were to a steel-frame design but it was wood and metal composite construction particularly using teak that became synonymous with the C.H. Roe name. The RET business had gone through one bankruptcy prior to C.H. Roe joining, originally having been founded as the Railless Electric Traction Company Ltd. in 1908. In 1916 The RET Company was required under war regulations to turn over production to munitions and being unable to supply orders in hand for trolleybuses was closed down in 1917.

1931 Guy BTX with a Roe L29-26R body

Sole trader

By August 1917 C.H. Roe had set up on his own account as an engineer and coachbuilder in a nearby factory unit. Always an innovator with a shrewd grasp of the value of intellectual property Roe applied for his first patent (relating to driving pulleys) on Armistice Day November 11, 1918. During this time Roe continually extended his site, which adjoined that of his former employer which had now been requisitioned by the Royal Flying Corps. As a sole trader, Roe built a wide variety of products from simple flatbed trailers for traction engines to a refrigerated mobile fish shop body and stylish charabanc bodies on the ubiquitous Ford Model T. Another early patent was for a tipping body for lorries (spelt in true Yorkshire style ‘lurries’ in the application) with compartments to allow discrete loads to be kept separate. Railless Ltd had reformed after the war to build trolleybuses and Roe designed and/or built bodies went on examples supplied to the North Ormesby, South Bank, Normanby & Grangetown Railless Traction Company and to York Corporation.

1932 AEC Regal dating from 1932, was fitted with this Roe B32F body in 1938

The first company

Expansion at the Hunslet site was by the end of 1919 impossible, but C.H. Roe lived with his wife in the Cross Gates area of the city of Leeds and knew that a large shell-filling factory there had been vacated by the government. Thus for the purpose of purchasing this large site with a modern factory building and space for expansion he registered Charles H Roe Ltd on May 26, 1920. The shareholders included his father and a number of family friends. Whilst the formation of the company and negotiations to buy the Cross Gates site commenced, coachbuilding continued at the Hunslet factory, bodies including Charabancs on Karrier and Lancia chassis. After taking possession of the Cross Gates site the first Roe double-deck bodies were built for Birmingham Corporation on Railless Ltd chassis, a second trolleybus maker to patronise Roe was Clough, Smith Ltd whose trolleybuses comprised their Leeds-built electrical equipment on Straker-Squire chassis and were hence known as Straker-Clough; Roe bodies supplied to them were then supplied to the Teesside Railless Traction Board (a municipal joint committee who had taken over the North Ormesby Company) and Rotherham Corporation. Other products of this era included a number of charabancs on chassis including Leyland, Thornycroft and Fiat and a stylish limousine on a Lancia chassis. All types of bodies from other builders were also repaired and painted.

1932 AEC Regent with Roe body

Trading difficulties in the early 1920s recession affected many businesses, the under-capitalised original Roe company being just one, during 1921 two debentures had to be secured to continue trading, the second relating directly to the Birmingham Corporation double deckers. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough and the first company was voluntarily wound-up after a directors’ meeting in November 1922. The receiver of the original company was able to give the bank a small surplus, whilst among the debts received £3,000 had come from various other purchasers plus £900 from Railless Ltd, who had subcontracted the Birmingham bodybuilding contract to Roe. Late payment can kill many a new business and it seems to have been the death of the original Roe company. C.H. Roe in a personal capacity bought the remaining assets from the receiver for £1,140.

1932 AEC Regent with Roe H30-26R body

Charles H Roe (1923) Ltd

The early years

One lesson had been learned in the formation of the second company (initially Charles H. Roe (1923) Ltd) in that share capital was one third larger (£8500 rather than £5850). At this time motorbus, rather than trolleybus or charabanc bodies began to assume a greater prominence. Like trolleybuses however a lot of the coachbuilding work on motorbuses was subcontracted either from the chassis manufacturer or from a dealership company. Thus many early Roe bus bodies on Karrier chassis were sold by the Huddersfield company as complete products.

1934 AEC Regent with Roe 56 seat body

An even more complicated situation arose with the Leeds based operation Tramway Supplies Ltd. They tendered for complete vehicles and then subcontracted the chassis supply to one manufacturer and the body supply to another. One of the body subcontractors was the Blackburn Aircraft who also had a factory in Leeds. They built their last bus bodies in 1924, just as Government orders for aircraft (particularly flying boats, a Blackburn speciality) began to pick up. Railless Ltd (the third Railless company) were, incidentally, backed by Short Brothers another aeroplane manufacturer with a specialism in flying boats and a sideline in bus bodies.

1934 AEC Regent with Roe H30-26R body

An example of how complicated the whole complete vehicle contract thing could get concerns a Tilling-Stevens bi-mode petrol-electric/trolley bus (type PERC1) built-for and patented-by the Teesside Railless Traction Board’s manager. Tilling-Stevens had contracted to supply a complete vehicle; they then subcontracted the body to Tramway Supplies who sub-subcontracted it to Blackburn, who sub-sub-subcontracted it to Roe.

1934 AEC Regent-Roe H30-26R

Other odd work in the early years of the new company included in 1924 a 36 seat petrol-fuelled rail vehicle for the Derwent Valley Light Railway. It was based on two Ford Model T chassis fitted with flanged steel tyres and coupled back-to-back, this rail minibus or petrol multiple unit seated 18 in each carriage and was driven from one end only, the rearward-facing car running in neutral gear with the engine switched off. When worked coupled fuel consumption was stated to be 14.33 mpg and if one unit was run the even more efficient figure of 17.55 mpg was obtained. It wasn’t enough to save passenger operations on the line from oblivion however and the units were exported in 1926 to the County Donegal Joint Railway Committee (CDR) in the north-west of Ireland who converted them from standard gauge to 3 ft gauge, lowering the bodies in the process. The CDR thus became the first railway in Ireland to use internal combustion engines and by the time of closure ran all passenger services and a number of freights using Gardner-powered diesel units.

1934 Leyland TD3 with a Roe H24-24C body

By 1925 Roe were receiving orders directly from customers in the council-owned sector, many of them previous customers for sub-contracted bodies, Mr Roe’s approachability during body construction may have played a part in this, letters from general managers of the time thank C.H. Roe for his enabling inspection of bodies in-build. Among municipals taking Roe bodies by this time were Ramsbottom, Rotherham, Northampton, Doncaster, Leeds, Oldham, Bradford and the Teesside Railless Board, most of whom would continue to be Roe customers for a long time; chassis included Bristol, Guy, Thornycroft and AEC. The first double-deck motorbuses were for Doncaster in 1925 on AEC, a year later Roe were building 30 ft-long six wheeled double-decks for Oldham on Guy chassis. Unlike London at the time all of Roe’s double-deck customers specified closed-tops on the upper deck. In 1926 Straker-Squire finally folded and Roe stored uncompleted vehicles for Clough, Smith prior to a new arrangement which saw their electrical equipment fitted to Karrier chassis. Also at this time Roe started building enclosed, or saloon, coaches which were often fitted to chassis which had previously carried charabanc bodies, Roe having a surplus of second-hand charabanc bodies by 1925. Two further debentures were called for, but this time it wasn’t to keep the business going, but to fund the expansion of the premises.

1935 AEC Regent originally with Roe H30-26R body

Independent prosperity

One of the more significant patents to emerge from Cross Gates was number 313720 registered in 1928 the name of the Company, Mr C.H Roe and Mr William Bramham, the works manager who was later to be general manager at Eastern Coach Works at Lowestoft, Northern Coachbuilders of Newcastle upon Tyne and Saunders-Roe of Beaumaris. This concerned a continuous machined teak waist rail designed to double-interlock with the vertical teak pillars and the steel reinforcing strips, once assembled also binding those to the outer panels; it could be accurately described as an early example of system-built coachwork. New chassis makes bodied in the late twenties included Albion and Crossley, both of whom chose Roe bodies for demonstrators, in Crossley’s case for its first double-decker. Trolleybuses continued to figure, makes including Karrier-Clough and Guy, the three-axled double deck now being the common form for these, customers including Bloemfontein, South Lancashire Transport and corporation fleets including some detailed above, Doncaster for example taking one of the only two Bristol trolleybuses with a Roe body in 1928.

1935 Roe H26-22C bodied AEC Regent

Another significant patent was jointly granted in 1930 to the company, Mr Roe and J.C. Whitely the general manager of Grimsby Corporation for a central entrance double decker with a distinctive design of staircase which rose transversely two steps to a wide landing and then branched into forward and rearward ascending longitudinal flights to the upper deck. Roe built bodies to this style until 1950 and licencees included H. V. Burlingham of Blackpool.

1936 Leyland Cub KPZ2 with Roe bodywork

In 1934 five years after the original company was wound up, the board agreed to remove the (1923) from the current company name. At the same time share capital rose to £12,000 and the current mortgages and debenture were repaid in favour of a new first mortgage.

1936 Leyland KPZ2 Cub with Roe B24F body

In 1935, encouraged by the chassis builder, a Commercial Motor Show exhibit was built on an AEC Regent chassis for Leeds Corporation, this bus had a rakish streamlined outline and a full-width cab but more importantly had an all-new steel framework patented by the company, Roe and Bramham (who became a director that year) and a ‘Safety Staircase’ patented by the company, Roe, Bramham and William Vane Moreland, the general manager of Leeds City Transport. This staircase on a rear platform bus gave less loss of seating capacity than the straight staircase favoured in London and Birmingham but intruded less onto the boarding platform than the normal semi-spiral arrangement whilst being superior to either layout in having two broad landings allowing boarding and alighting passengers to pass on the staircase. It became a standard feature of all subsequent peacetime Roe double-deck bodies for Leeds Corporation and was widely employed by other fleets, 777 examples being built by Roe prior to expiry of the patent in 1950.

1936 Leyland TS7 with ROE B32 F Body

During World War II, Roe mainly continued to build passenger bodies, although supplying the war effort more directly with such specialised bodywork as mobile printing presses for field communications use on Foden Lorries and articulated mobile kitchens, canteens and dormitories to assist blitzed factories. These were on semi-trailer chassis coupled to Bedford tractor units. Similar bus-seated vehicles were built mainly for use within Ordnance factories (where they became known as Bevin buses) but two were supplied to Liverpool Corporation and briefly used as service buses (1942-4) before being converted to mobile canteens. More normal passenger vehicle bodies were built during the war to the Government-mandated ‘utility’ outline including 240 single-deck 32 seaters on Bedford OWB chassis and over 400 double-deck bodies on Guy and Daimler motorbuses and Sunbeam trolleybuses, most to the sunken upper deck offside gangway or lowbridge layout.

1936 Leyland TS7c with Roe B34F body

In 1945 nominal share capital increased to £108,000 and the valuation of the works increased to £98,000. In 1939 both the English Electric Company and Metro Cammell Weymann had approached Roe about amalgamation or takeover and in 1945 talks were opened with Mumford of Lydney in Gloucestershire. These talks were inconclusive but in 1947 Park Royal Vehiclesbought a controlling shareholding in the company, three Roe board members were replaced by Park Royal directors and C.H Roe joined the board of Park Royal. In 1949 Park Royal were taken over by Associated Commercial Vehicles by then the parent company of AEC, Crossley and Maudslay.

1937 AEC Regent Roe Pullman H31-25R

The ACV years

Although ACV owned three chassis manufacturers and three coachbuilders (Park Royal, Roe and Crossley) they did not try to tie the hands of customers. Some rationalisation happened early in that any orders for Park Royal composite bodies were transferred to Roe, and steel-framed bodies were either built by Park Royal or by Roe using Park Royal frames. By the mid-1950s all metal-framed bodies by ACV, regardless of coachbuilder, had a Park Royal outline.

1937 Bristol JO5G with Roe B32F body

The flagship of the Roe composite body range was however exclusively built on AEC Regent III; this was the Pullman body, the only Roe bus ever to be named. The prototype – a Leeds bus to the specifications of W. Vane Moreland – with its deep windows and four window bays rather than the then standard five had looked ultra-modern when shown on a pre-war Regent at the 1937 Commercial Motor Show in London, it is an acknowledged influence on the London Transport designers whose RT1 appeared two years later with similar construction and outline.

1937 Leyland TD5 with Roe H31-25R body

Trolleybuses continued to figure, on Sunbeam/Karrier, Crossley or BUT chassis. The most striking of these were the Coronation class vehicles built on Sunbeam MF2B chassis for Kingston upon Hull Corporation Transport. These had a front entrance on the front overhang and a central exit; they were fitted with twin staircases and were intended to be one-man operated so were equipped with trolley-pole retriever equipment at the rear.

1938 Leyland Tiger TS8 with Roe B30F body

After the initial post-war boom Roe also took on a great deal of repair, rebuilding and refurbishment work, adding a workshop for this purpose. Plymouth Corporation had its entire fleet of Guy Arab utility buses thoroughly rebuilt by Roe, some 100 passing through the works. Roe also extended the Brush or Metro-Cammell bodies of Midland Red‘s post-war underfloor engined single deckers from 27 ft 6in to 29 ft 3in, allowing an extra four seats to be fitted. This work covered classes S6, S8, S9, S11 and all but one of S10, a grand total of 455 buses all converted in 1952 or 1953. In 1952 Charles H Roe resigned from the position of managing director, although he remained as chairman.

1938 Leyland TS8-Roe B36R

As pressure of work eased Roe also introduced a coach body for the AEC Reliance. This was known as the Roe Dalesman and ran through four separate marks, from 1953-9. It was mainly stock-built for coach dealers selling to small independents but major operators to use the type included West Riding Automobile Company and Black and White Motorways. Other specialist work undertaken included two single deck trams for Leeds, a mobile chest X-ray unit for tuberculosis control and crew cab lorries on Ford Thames Trader for the Uganda police force. Box vans were supplied on Bedford to the Bradford Dyers Association.

1938 Leyland TTB3 or TTB4 with a Roe H35-29R body

The composite body had been revised post-war, with a new patent waist rail, the teak structural member now covered by rolled steel plate. In 1957 the composite double decker reached its final form with teak framing to the lower deck ceiling or upper deck floor and an aluminium framework above. This was to continue in production, mainly on Daimler half-cab chassis until 1968, the last batch being built for Northampton Corporation on CVG6, replacing earlier Roe-bodied CVG6s which at the time comprised the entire Northampton fleet, all but five having composite bodies.

1938 ROE CM-Roe

Simultaneously Park Royal bowed to pressure from the British Electric Traction group of major regional bus operators and replaced their rather elegant mid-1950s aluminium-framed body with a steel-framed structure of very angular outline, this first appeared as the production version of the integral AEC Bridgemaster, but soon spread to all other steel-framed Park Royal and Roe double deckers. Crossley had been closed by ACV in 1958, having ceased to make chassis five years previously.

1939 Karrier E6 with Roe H32-28R body

Roe metal-framed bodies to this new outline went on a wide range of double deck chassis. A large batch were built for BET on the new Leyland Atlantean, these were delivered in 1960 to Trent Motor Traction, Devon General and the Northern General Transport group. As well as looking ungainly these buses became notorious for their propensity to corrode. Roe also built both forward and rear entrance bodies using this structure on conventional chassis, Swindon Corporation taking Daimler CVG6 and both Yorkshire Traction and Stratford Blue Motors taking rebodied Leyland Tigers.

1939 Leyland Tiger TS8 with Roe B32F body

Far less conventional was the Guy Wulfrunian which was even more avant-garde than the Atlantean, it was designed to the requirements of the independent West Riding company and featured a front engine on the front entrance platform, instead of a front radiator it had two Cave-Browne-Cave heat exchangers on the upper deck front face to provide passenger heating and ventilation as well as engine cooling. The front wheels had double wishbone independent suspension and like the rear axle had a self-levelling air suspension system, the foundation braking was by disc brakes on all four wheels with a drum brake on the driveshaft providing the parking brake and the fluid flywheel adapted to serve as an integral retarder. At a time when only Jaguar and Ferrari road cars had front discs this was a technological adventure, like the Routemaster and Midland Red’s motorway coach it was shown with its Roe body in a cutaway-centre spread of boy’s comicThe Eagle where it took its place alongside V-Bombers, Nuclear Submarines and Deltic Locomotives. Roe bodied 131 out of the 137 Wulfruninans built from 1959 to 1965.

1940 AEC Regent with Roe bodywork

The Wulfrunian body was lower built as this chassis was designed as a low height bus with stepless entrance and centre gangways on both decks. Roe also softened the outline of the body with a subtly curved rear dome; the use of equal-depth windows on both decks produced a much more balanced look.

1941 Leyland TD7 with a Roe L24-24R body

Other oddities at the dawn of the 1960s included single-deck buses on the double-deck AEC Regent V chassis, most of these were built for South Wales Transport for a route with a very low railway bridge in Llanelli under which underfloor engined single decks could not work but there were also one each for the Leeds Council Welfare department (with a rear ramp for wheelchair access) and for the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation.

1942 Guy Arab I with Roe L24-26R

1942 Leyland Titan TD7 with Roe H26-32C bodywork

In 1962 ACV merged with Leyland Motors to form the Leyland Motor Corporation. In 1965 LMC sold a 30% shareholding in Park Royal and Roe to the state-owned Transport Holding Company in return for a 25% stake in Bristol Commercial Vehicles and Eastern Coach Works. Charles H Roe retired as company chairman in 1962 and died in 1965.

1943 Guy Arab II with a Roe B38C body

1943 Guy Arab II with Roe L27-26R body

1943 Guy Arab II with Roe L27-28R body

1943 Sunbeam W with Roe H62R body

The mixed economy

The original outline of the body for rear-engined double deckers was widely considered unsatisfactory and Sunderland Corporation took a heavily revised version on Daimler Fleetline from 1962-6 featuring a prominent peak at the front dome and a reverse rake to the upper-deck rear in the style of the contemporary Ford Anglia saloon car. Great Yarmouth Corporation instead specified double curvature windscreens of Alexander design on its Atlanteans (including a unique short-wheelbase batch in 1967) and on the last three Daimler Freeline single deckers. This then became a standard option at Roe who also optionally fitted the Alexander style double-curvature upper-deck front window on rear engined chassis, curving the line of the foremost upper deck side windows down to meet this, producing an elegant style which suited the Fleetline and the post 1964 low height Atlantean. Also in 1964 for that year’s Commercial Motor show Roe built its first body to the 36 ft length permissible since 1961, it was an early Leyland Panther for the Kingston upon Hull Corporation Transport fleet. Unlike the Coronation trolleybuses they were to replace, the Hull Panthers were allowed to be one man operated. Roe then built versions of this body for Leeds on the similar AEC Swift from 1967 to 1972 and also built standee single decks on Daimler Roadliner and Fleetline for Darlington and on Seddon Pennine RU for Doncaster.

1944 Daimler CWA6 with a Roe H30-26R body

1944 Guy Arab II with body by Roe

1944 Sunbeam W with Roe body

In 1964 Leeds, the last provincial bastion of the rear-open platform double decker took a batch of Fleetlines to Great Yarmouth outline and the first of these was also shown at the 1964 show, Leeds continually revised this design over the next few years, in 1966 it was extended to 33 ft long rather than the previous 30 ft 10in, both decks had double curvature screens and side glazing became panoramic, with double-width window glasses. In 1968 angled flat glass at the front and a glass-fibre dash was added and a centre exit was fitted whilst the rear dome reverted to a square outline. This made the appearance similar to the Oldham Corporation variant supplied with conventional side glazing on standard wheelbase Atlanteans since 1965. The Leeds design was produced until 1975 with a few going to independent operators in England and Scotland. The Leeds and Oldham designs in turn led to the Park Royal–Roe standard design for Atlantean and Fleetline built from 1969 to 1981, which had a deeper front screen optionally to Alexander layout or flat-glazed and wider pillar spacing than the previous standard but not as long as that fitted to the Leeds style or the Manchester Corporation Mancunian. Roe built one batch of 34 Mancunians on long Fleetlines in 1972. These buses had been due to be bodied by East Lancashire Coachbuilders in 1970, but they suffered a fire destroying their works in Blackburn, so the contract was transferred to Park Royal, who in turn transferred it to Roe (shades of that Teesside Tilling-Stevens).

1945 Sunbeam W with Roe 62 seat coachwork

The standard design was adopted by West Yorkshire PTE (successor to the Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield Halifax and Calderdale fleets) and many municipals and also (from 1972) on the AN68 Atlantean became the National Bus Company’s second-choice double decker, being especially associated with ‘Leyland’ fleets such as Ribble, Northern General and Southdown but it also became the standard double decker with London Country who had over 300.

1946 AEC Regent IIIs with Roe H31-25R body

1946 Leyland PD1-Roe H31-25R

1946 Roe B35R bodied Guy Arab III

Nearing the end

In 1982 Leyland Vehicles, the truck and bus division of the by now state-owned British Leyland bought out the National Bus Company’s 50% shareholding in the joint-venture Bus Manufacturers Holdings Ltd which had not only owned Bristol, ECW, Park Royal and Roe but also the Leyland National factory at Workington.

1947 AEC Regals with Roe B32F body

1947 AEC Regent III with Roe H28-22C body

1947 AEC Regent III with Roe H31-25R body

1947 AEC Regent III-Roe H31-25R

1947 Daimler CVD6’s coaches rebodied by Roe in the mid-1950s

1947 Leyland Tiger PS1 with Roe B35R bodywork

1947 Leyland Titan PD1-3 with Roe bodywork

1947 Roe B35R bodywork was fitted to this Leyland PS1

1947 Sunbeam W new in 1947, rebodied by Roe H32-28R in 1960

1947 vintage Leyland PS1 with a Roe B32F body

In 1981 and 1982 Roe-bodied six 18-metre long articulated buses for British Airways, these employed Leyland National body sections on Leyland-DAB underfloor-engined chassis, Roe modifying the body for the higher frame height. They featured five entry-exit doors, two on the offside, and were used to transport passengers from their aircraft to the terminal at Heathrow airport.

1948

AEC-AEC-BUT-DAIMLER-SAUNDERS-LEYLANDx3-BUT

1981 had been a peak production year at Roe, with 182 bodies built, the highest total since 1966 (the year when double-decks were finally allowed to be operated without a conductor, the first bus to do so, on the day of the law change, being a Great Yarmouth Roe-bodied Atlantean). The standard body was phased out in 1981, as the Fleetline had been discontinued and the Atlantean could not be sold in the EEC after 1983 as it fell foul of noise-pollution laws. 1981 was also the year that the Park Royal coachworks were closed. The new body to take its place was for the new Leyland Olympian chassis and Roe produced 299 of these prior to closure, most went to three fleets, West Yorkshire PTE and NBC subsidiaries Bristol Omnibus Company and London Country, with one batch to Strathclyde PTE and a sole vehicle to the Scottish Arts Council which was equipped as a travelling art gallery.

1949

AECx4-DAIMLER-GUY-CROSSLEY-SUNBEAM

Production peaked at this point because the Government was phasing out the New Bus Grant which had provided up to 50% of the cost of a bus used on local services provided it met certain rules. In order to compensate for this drop in bus sales Leyland Bus (as it had now become) decided to produce a new flagship product for the booming deregulated coach market following the Transport Act 1980. This was the Royal Tiger underframe and the Roe Doyen body. This was a sophisticated product, as the Tiger coach chassis competed head on with the Volvo B10M the Royal Tiger Doyen was designed to provide a British alternative to the high-end Setra coach from Germany. Production got off to a slow start, not helped by overly centralised control from Leyland and a rigid set of body specifications which did not initially provide all the features more demanding coach customers wanted. In 1983, the year of launch only 10 complete Royal Tiger Doyens entered service, a further 13 underframes being supplied to Van Hool and Plaxton to receive versions of their standard coachwork. In 1983 production of the underframe was moved to Workington and 22 coaches were completed by Roe as well as 86 Olympians. The plant was not at that point viable for British Leyland who had been impoverished by the chronic failure of its Austin mass-production car division. Thus Roe followed Daimler, Guy, AEC, Park Royal and Bristol into oblivion.

1950

AECx2-Crossley-Daimler-Leylandx3-Albion-Sunbeamx2

Many Roe bodies survive in preservation and some on special tourist services, the earliest design being a replica of a 1929 body on a Leyland Lion at the Greater Manchester Museum of Transport.

1951

AECx3-GUYx3-Leyland-AEC

Three diecast model manufacturers produce 1:76 scale models of Roe vehicles, EFE have a pre-war Leyland Tiger bus, Corgi OOC produce the final style of rear entrance composite body as a half-cab or a trolleybus and Britbus make the NBC version of the standard Atlantean body in single or dual-door format.

1952

Guy-Leylandx3

1953

Daimler-Guy-AEC-Railcar ROE 2x

1954

Guy-AECx2-Guy-Leyland-Roe ad

1955

Guyx2-Leylandx2-Sunbeam

1956

AECx3-Daimlerx2-Guy

1957

AECx4-Guyx2-Leylandx2-Guy-Aec

1958

AECx3-Leylandx5-AEC

1959

AEC-Daimler-Guy-Leylandx3-AEC

1960

AECx2-Daimler-Leylandx3

1961

AEC-Daimler-Leyland-Guy-AEC

1962

AECx2-Daimlerx2-Leylandx3-AEC-Guy

1963

AEC-Daimlerx3-Guy-Leyland-AECx3

1964

AECx3-Daimlerx3-Leylandx2-Daimler-AEC

1965

AECx2-Leylandx2-GUY

1966

AEC-Daimler-Leylandx3-AEC

1967

AEC-Daimler-Leylandx4-AEC

1968

AEC-Daimlerx2-Leyland

1969

Leyland x 2

1970

Daimler + Leyland

1971

AEC- Leyland x 3

1972

Daimler x 3 + Leyland

1973

Daimler and Leyland

1978

Leyland

Finish

RENAULT Buses, Cars and Trucks France Part VII Restructuring (1981–1995)

RENAULT

Buses, Cars and Trucks France

Part VII – Restructuring (1981–1995)

1981

1982

1983

1983 Renault 25

1984

1985

Although its cars were somewhat successful both on the road and on the track, including the 1984 launch of the Espace – Europe’s first multi-purpose vehicle – Renault was losing a billion francs a month and reported a deficit of 12.5 billion in 1984. The government intervened and Georges Besse was installed as chairman; he set about cutting costs dramatically, selling off many of Renault’s non-core assets (including a minority Volvo stake, Gitane, Eurocar and Renix), withdrawing almost entirely from motorsports, and laying off many employees. This succeeded in halving the deficit by 1986, but he was murdered by the communist terrorist group Action Directe in November 1986. He was replaced by Raymond Lévy, who continued along the same lines as Besse, slimming down the company considerably with the result that by the end of 1987 it was more or less financially stable.

1986

1987

1988

1989

1989 Renault G-290, 6x6

1989 RENAULT S 130

1989 Renault R series

1990

1991

In 1990 Renault strengthened its collaboration with Volvo by signing an agreement which allowed both companies to reduce vehicle conception costs and purchasing expenses. Renault had access to Volvo expertise in upper market segments and in return Volvo could take advantage of Renault designs for low and medium segments. In 1993 the two companies announced their intention to merge operations by 1 January 1994 and both increased their cross-shareholding. While in France the idea of merging was reluctantly accepted, in Sweden the opposition was outspoken and the Volvo shareholders rejected it.

1992

1993

1994

A revitalised Renault launched several successful new cars in the early 1990s, including the 5 replacement, the Clio in 1990. The Clio is the first new model of a generation which will see the numeric models replaced by new cars with traditional nameplates. Other important launches included the second-generation Espace and the innovative Twingo in 1992. The launches were aligned with an improved marketing effort on European markets. In the mid-1990s the successor to the R19, the Renault Mégane, was one of the first cars to achieve a 4-star rating, the highest at the time, in EuroNCAP crash test in passenger safety.

1995

That was

Part VII – Restructuring (1981–1995)

only one left

Part IX

till now

RENAULT Buses, Cars and Trucks France Part II Between the world wars (1919–1938)

RENAULT

Part II

Between the world wars (1919–1938)

1919 Renault dávant guerre

1919 Renault FU

1919 Renault GR Tourer

1919 Renault Type EU ‘torpedo’

1919 Renault

1919 renault-1919-1940

1919 renault type eu

1919 Taxi Renault tipo AG en Paris

1919 renault-cars-atelier

1920 renault 1920 typeE

1920 Renault by Coulon

1920 renault de luxe

1920 Renault FT-17

1920 Renault KZ

1920 Renault Monoquatre

1920 Renault Musle Power Car

1920 Renault Type GS

1920 renault

1920 renault-cars-factory-truck-tractor

1920 renault

1920 renault-central

1920 Renault-Scemia buses in New York

Louis Renault enlarged the scope of his company after 1918, producing agricultural and industrial machinery. A number of the new products emerged from war developments. The first Renault’s tractor, the Type GP produced between 1919 and 1930, was based on the FT tank. However, Renault struggled to compete with the increasingly popular small, affordable “people’s cars”, while problems with the stock market and the workforce also adversely affected the company’s growth. Renault also had to find a way to distribute its vehicles more efficiently. In 1920, he signed one of its first distribution contracts with Gustave Gueudet, an entrepreneur from northern France.

1920 Renault-Type-GR

1921 renault-cars

1921 Renault type IO

1921 Renault type-ii–torpedo

1921 renault-elegant-parisienne

1922 Renault Model 40 Kellner Town Car

1922 Renault Charabanc Bus Paulette

The pre-First World War cars had a distinctive front shape caused by positioning the radiator behind the engine to give a so-called “coalscuttle” bonnet. This continued through the 1920s and it was not until 1930 that all models had the radiator at the front. The bonnet badge changed from circular to the familiar and continuing diamond shape in 1925. Renault models were introduced at the Paris Motor Show which was held in September or October of the year. This has led to a slight confusion as to vehicle identification. For example a “1927” model was mostly produced in 1928.

1922 Renault mt-torpedo-6cv torpedo

1922 renault-haarlemsche

1922 renault Type

1922 Renault NN 002 Cabriolet

1922 RENAULT PR

1922 renault-torpedo-sport

1923 renault

1923 renault-cars

1923 renault-cars-sphinx-egypt

1924 renault

1924 renault type nn

1924 Renault camions-anciens-renault-plateau-bache-big

1924 Renault GZ1

1924 Renault mit Schreiner GmbH Aufbau

1924 Renault MT torpedo skiff

1924 Renault NN Bestel

1924 Renault torpedo KZ

1924 Renault type MV 25 cv

1924 renault-cars

1924-30 Renault Type NN Town Car 1926

Renault produced a range of cars from small to very large. For example in 1928, when Renault produced 45,809 cars, the range of seven models started with a 6cv, a 10cv, the Monasix, 15cv, the Vivasix, the 18/22cv and the 40cv. There was a range of factory bodies, of up to eight styles, and the larger chassis were available to coachbuilders. The number of a model produced varied with size. The smaller were the most popular with the least produced being the 18/24cv. The most expensive factory body style in each range was the closed car. Roadsters and tourers (torpedoes) were the cheapest.

1925 Fourgon Renault type OS de 10 cv

1925 Renault 6 CV NN

1925 Renault Model 45 Kellner Phaeton

1925 RENAULT MZ

1925 renault taxi russia

1925 Renault Torpedo

1925 Renault type (NN) caisse

1925 Renault type MY

1925 Renault Type NM 40 CV Coupe de Ville

1925 renault-cars-robert-falcucci

1925 renault-falcucci

1925-29 renault NN DCDA

1926 Renault MU St Sernin

1926 Renault 6CV Torpédo [Type NN]

1926 Renault à benne basculante

1926 Renault NN 6cv 951cm

1926 Renault Scemia Turkije © otolist.blogspot.com

1926 renault-cars-la-40-cv

1927 Camion léger plateau bâché Renault type PD

1927 Renault 6CV Landaulet [Type NN] Taxi

1927 Renault 6CV Torpédo [Type NN]

1927 Renault 6CV Torpédo 4 Places [Type NN]

1927 Renault 6CV Torpédo Luxe [Type NN]

1927 Renault de type PR

1927 RENAULT NN II

The London operation was very important to Renault in 1928. The UK market was quite large and from there “colonial” modified vehicles were dispatched. Lifted suspensions, enhanced cooling and special bodies were common on vehicles sold to the colonies. Exports to the USA by 1928 had almost reduced to zero from their high point prior to WW1 when to ship back a Grand Renault or similar high class European manufactured car was common. A NM 40cv Tourer had a USA list price of over $4,600 being about the same as a Cadillac V-12. Closed 7-seat limousines started at $6,000 which was more expensive than a Cadillac V-16.

1927 Renault PN Nr 1347 der RATP

1927 Renault PN n° 1347 Paris F

1927 Renault PN type Paris, Chelles

1927 Renault PN

1927 Renault PNa

1927 Renault PNb

1927 Renault PNc

1927 Renault PNd

1927 Renault type PN Bus

1927 Renault Type NN

1927 Renault type PR

The whole range was conservatively engineered and built. The newly introduced 1927 Vivasix, model PG1, was sold as the “executive sports” model. Lighter weight factory steel bodies powered by a 3180 cc six-cylinder motor provided a formula that went through to the Second World War.

1927 Renault type pr

1927 Renault type PY

1928 Renault 3-asser van de Trammij. Groningen-Paterswolde-Eelde

1928 Renault MT 8 CV in Vilnius Energy and Technology Museum

1928 Renault NN 3

1928 renault type py trolley

1928 renault-cars-rene-vincent

The “de Grand Luxe Renaults”, that is any with over 12-foot (3.7 m) wheelbase, were produced in very small numbers in two major types – six- and eight-cylinder. The 1927 six-cylinder Grand Renault models NM, PI and PZ introduced the new three spring rear suspension that considerably aided road holding that was needed as with some body styles over 90 mph (140 km/h) was possible. The 8-cylinder Reinastella was introduced in 1929. This model led on to a range culminating in the 1939 Suprastella. Coachbuilders included Kellner, Labourdette, J. Rothschild et Fils and Renault bodies. Closed car Renault bodies were often trimmed and interior wood work completed by Rothschild.

1928 renault-vivasix

1929 Renault e.a.

1929 Renault Monastella RY1

1929 renault-c-rene-vincent-n-3-vivastella

Renault also introduced in 1928 an upgraded specification to the larger cars designated “Stella”. The Vivastella‘s and Grand Renaults had upgraded interior fittings and had a small star fitted above the front hood Renault diamond. This proved to be a winning marketing differentiator and in the 1930s all cars changed to the Stella suffix from the previous two alpha character model identifiers.

1929 renault-a-rene-vincent

1929 renault-vehicles-renault-6-nn

1929 renault-d-rene-vincent-n-8-monastella

1929 Tracteur Renault type SY

1930 Camion Renault type SZ 15 cv

1930 renault c

py trolleThe Grand Renaults were built using a considerable amount of aluminium. Engines, brakes, transmissions, floor and running boards and all external body panels were aluminium. Of the few that were built, many went to scrap to aid the war effort.

1930 renault diesel studebaker benzine

1930 Renault Monasix RY

1930 Renault PN

1930 Renault Monastella RY2

1930 Renault Type NN Town Car

1930 Renault Monastella

1930 Renault Vivasix Tourer

1930 Renault Vivasix

1930 Renault

1930 Renault Vivastella PG3

1930 renault

1930 renault-a-la-riviera-nervastella-cannes

1930 renault-cars-b-modele-cabriolet-vivastella

In 1930/31, Renault introduced diesel engines for its commercial vehicles.

1931 Camion Renault tout terrain VTD

1931 Renault Monaquatre UY

1931 Renault bus Exposition Coloniale Paris 1931, Nouvelle Calédonie

1931 Renault Nervahuit TG1

1931 Renault Vivastella Conduite Intérieure 7 Places [Type PG4 L]

1931 Renault Reinastella Décapotable

1931 Renault Reinastella [Type RM]

1931 Renault Reinastella

1931 Renault Vivasix KZ5

1931 renault-b-nervastella

Between 1936 and 1938, a series of labour disputes, strikes, and worker unrest spread throughout the French automobile industry. The disputes were eventually quashed by Renault in a particularly intransigent way, and over 2,000 people lost their job.

1931 renault-a-truck-van

1932 Camion Renault citerne type TI 25 cv 6.5 tonnes

1932 Camion Renault de type UDD 25 cv

1932 Camion Renault laitier type TI 25 cv 6.5 tonnes

1932 Camionnette Renault 10 cv type PRB bétaillère

1932 Renault Celtaquatre

1932 renault

1932 Renault 01 1000 Sahara

1932 Camions légers Renault type SX5 à plateau et OS4 citerne

1932 RENAULT GRUMIER

1932 Renault Heller TN6 b

1932 Renault Mission Transsaharienne

1932 Renault NervaSport typeZC4

1932 RENAULT OS4 Autopompe Premier Secours

1932 Renault Primaquatre Berline [Type KZ8]

1931 renault TN4 A2

1931 Latil/Renault VAN GOG 03 NL

1931 Renault-Scemia

1932 Renault-TN6-C2-02

1932 Renault VT6, 6×6

1932 Renault

1932 renault-b-reinastella-nerva-sport

1932 Tracteur Renault semi-remorque type SZ

1932 Tracteur Renault semi-remorque type YG

1933 Renault TN6A du PC n° 2408 et 2251

1933 Autorail Renault VH2211 Mulhouse FRA

1933 Autorail VH Renault

1933 Renault Taxi

1933 Renault-avion-Cie-Saharienne

1933 renault tn4f

1933 renault type osb

1933 RENAULT TNa

1933 renault type sxb

1933 Renault YFB

1933 renault type tib

1933 Renault TN6A du PC n° 2408 et 2251

1933 renault type umb

1933 renault-stella

1933 renault type yfb

1933 renault-yfb

1933 TN4 HP

1933 renault type umb ?

1934 Renault TN6C2 n° 2728 Paris

1934 Renault modèle SZ4

1934 Camion plateau Renault type ZJ 43 chevaux 2 tonnes

1934 Renault type UDD 25 cv 7.5 tonnes

1934 Renault UDB

1934 Renault divers

1934 Camion militaire Renault type TF 70 cv

1934 Camion Renault de type ABF 85 cv 5.5 tonnes

1934 Camion Renault ty ZF6DC 130 cv 18 tonnes

1935

1935 Renault Celtaquate Berline

1936

1936 renault TN4B -Prairie Renault, sur fond de TN4B n° 1883 du 177 en un lieu à déterminer

1937

1938

Next Part

Part III World War II and aftermath (1939–1944)

RAMSEIER, STREUN and CO. JENZER WORBLAUFEN Switserland

RAMSEIER, STREUN & CO.// WORBLAUFEN

Bern 1929-1958

Worblaufen Citroën TA 15/6

In 1948 “Carrosserie Worblaufen” started to convert Citroëns TA 15/6 into Convertibles.
At the 1949 Geneva Salon Sir Fritz Ramseier presented his 15/6 Cabriolet with four seats, the two doors hinged at the front and four windows.
At the end of the Salon several orders were signed.

There are 16 Tractions converted, all differ in details and it seems only two still remain.

Bentley Mark-VI-Ramseier Front-view

CARROSSERIE WORBLAUFEN
F. RAMSEIER & CO. Worblaufen
1929 – 1958

One of the most important SchweizerCarrosseriebau-company for passenger cars. Production of outstandingly elegant Cabriolets and roadsters on Isotta – Fraschini, Mercedes – Benz, Alfa-Romeo and Bugatti chassis. After the second world war mostly on Talbot – Lago, Delahaye, Citroën and Lancia chassis. Making some pieces on Jaguar, BMW and Bentley basis.

Traditionell gehaltenes Talbot T26 Record (1947) Cabriolet von Carrosserie Worblaufen

RAMSEIER + JENZER
Biel
1919 – 1989

Initially, touring and city cars light production. In the 1920s also producing luxury cars on expensive chassis. In addition to cars, the company always also commercial vehicles and buses produced for private and municipal companies, as well as for the Swiss Post (PTT). In 1933 the production was hired by car bodies. After the acquisition of Lauber in Nyon, the company became the most important Carrosserie company of Switzerland.

1934 Worblaufen Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 Cabriolet

1935 Worblaufen Bugatti T57 Grand Raid Roadster #57246

1937 Talbot Lago T26 Baby Worblaufen

1937 Worblaufen Bugatti T57 Convertible #57629

1937 Worblaufen Graham Paige Supercharger

1938 Worblaufen Bentley 4 1-4 ltr Allweather Cabriolet

1938 Worblaufen Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 B Cabriolet

1946 Worblaufen Delahaye 135M Drophead Coupe

1947 Worblaufen Bentley Mk VI

1947 Worblaufen Delahaye 135MS

1947 Worblaufen Talbot Lago T26 Record

1948 Berna 1UP138-H 23 pas 5320cc Ramseier&Jenzer

1948 Berna 1 UP 138 R1H Ramseier & Jenzer 5300cc 4cyl

1948 Berna 1UP138-H 5320cc R&J

1948 Berna-R&J (ex M+79’502) CH

1948 Oldtimer Bus am Saurer Treff R&J

1949 FBW Ramseier&Jenzer AN40

1950 Berna 3, Zwitsers, chassis en motor Saurer carrosserie van Ramseier & Jenzer

1950 Saurer, L4CT 2D Ramseier & Jenzer

1951 Berna with a Ramseier & Jenzer body and was 11 metres (36 ft) long. Trolleybus.

1951 Berna-Ramseier & Jenzer, 4 UPO 463 T1

1951 SAURER 3 C H R&J 310

1951 Saurer 3 C-H with Ramseier & Jenzer coachwork

1951 Worblaufen Hotchkiss 20-50 Anjou Cabriolet

1952-54 Worblaufen Lancia Aurelia B52

1953 Saurer, L4CT 2D R&J

1954 FBW-R&J-SAAS

1955 Worblaufen Alfa Romeo 1900 SS Cabriolet

1957 FBW TL627 R&J

1957 FBW Trolleybus Valparaiso R&J Chili

1957 FBW R&J Valparaiso 00 Trolleybus Chili

That was it!

Carrozzeria PORTESI Brescia Italy

PARK ROYAL Vehicles London England UK

Park Royal Vehicles

A Park Royal bodied Leyland Titan (B15).

Dating its origins back to 1889, Park Royal Vehicles along with its Leeds-based subsidiary Charles H. Roe was one of Britain’s leading coachbuilders and bus manufacturers based at Park Royal, west London, UK.

Associated Commercial Vehicles

In 1949 it became part of Associated Commercial Vehicles Ltd., which included AEC (the chassis manufacturer). This formidable combination of AEC and PRV supported the demanding requirements of London Transport and many other major fleet owners and operators. The famous Routemaster bus was built at Park Royal.

Leyland Motors

In 1962, the ACV Group merged with the Leyland Motors group to form Leyland Motor Corporation, in 1968 Leyland Motor Corporation and British Motor Holdings merged, becoming the British Leyland Motor Corporation. BL (British Leyland) was nationalised by the Labour Government in 1975, following which many subsidiaries were closed: AEC in 1979 and Park Royal in July 1980.

Other vehicles

Park Royal was also responsible for many other coachworks besides London buses. It had a vast array of vehicles to its name including the first

diesel London Taxi, a number of railcars and railbuses (e.g. the British Rail Class 103 and one of the British Rail Railbuses) and World War II vehicles. During World War II it also played a part in the production of Halifax bombers as the outer wings and engine cowlings were built at the Park Royal site. Park Royal built 150 Green Goddesses during the period November 1954 to January 1955 with PRV body numbers B37444 – B37593 and registrations PGW51 – PGW200.

External links

– Some pictures of Park Royal-bodied vehicles

ÖAF Wien Austria

ÖAF

Logo ÖAF

Buses AUSTRO FIAT Austria

Austro FIAT

Austro Fiat Omnibus AFN 11-42 um 1930

Austro Fiat in Wenen werd in 1925 al overgenomen door MAN en werd toen de Östereichisches Auto Fabric ÖAF. Het merk heeft dus maar kort bestaan. ÖAF behandelen we een stuk later.

Austro Fiat Omnibus AFN Langversion für Post

Austro Fiat O25 der Oberösterreichischen Kfz.AG

Austro Fiat 3 achsiger Omnibus um 1925

Austro Fiat 3 ton

Austro Fiat 5 DN 120 A der Post & Telekom Austria

Austro Fiat Omnibus Sonerausführung für die Gemeinde Wien um 1925

Austro-Fiat, Bussen, MAN, Oostenrijk, Verleden, ÖAF

Gräf & Stift was an Austrian manufacturer of automobiles, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, from 1902 until 2001, latterly as a subsidiary of MAN. Founded in 1902 by the brothers Franz, Heinrich and Karl Gräf, and the investor, Wilhelm Stift. Before the Second World War, the company was a well-known manufacturer of luxury automobiles, including the one that famously took part in the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. By the 1930s Gräf & Stift had begun making trucks and buses, and it ceased car manufacturing in 1938. The company merged with Österreichische Automobil Fabriks-AG (ÖAF) in 1971, becoming ÖAF-Gräf & Stift AG, and later the same year was taken over by MAN AG. It continued in business as a subsidiary of MAN, and the Gräf & Stift name remained in use as an MAN brand for the Austrian market and for trolleybuses until 2001, when ÖAF-Gräf & Stift AG was renamed MAN Sonderfahrzeuge AG. It was located in Vienna, and the production facilities continue in use there, but no longer using the Gräf & Stift name.

1961-75 A Gräf & Stift double-decker bus in service in Vienna

The beginnings

The Gräf brothers started a bicycle service workshop in Vienna in 1893, quickly branching out into bicycle manufacturing. Their bicycles sold well, requiring the company to relocate to be able to increase capacity. While the bicycle business in Europe was booming, the brothers also saw potential in the fledgling automobile, and commissioned Josef Kainz to design one. The result was an unusual voiturette with by a one-cylinder De Dion-Bouton engine fitted in front of the vehicle, powering the front axle, built sometime between 1895 and 1898, according to various sources. It was thus arguably the world’s first front-wheel drive automobile, but it never saw mass production, with only one copy ever made, even though the technology was eventually patented in 1900. However, the voiturette remained in regular use until 1914 and was in working condition yet at the dawn of the 1970s.

Partnership with Willy Stift

In 1901, the brothers started cooperating with the Austrian businessman Wilhelm (Willy) Stift, an automobile importer who had already ventured into automobile manufacturing under the marque Celeritas. Celeritas automobiles were then assembled using French engines at the Gräf workshops, and in 1904 the gentlemen founded a joint company, named Gräf & Stift. Later, the company manufactured automobiles for the Spitz brand, owned by the automobile vendor Arnold Spitz. When Spitz went bankrupt in 1907, Gräf & Stift started building automobiles under their own brand.

The company concentrated on large, sophisticated and luxurious cars, which became popular with the Austrian aristocracy and even the Habsburg royal family. Apart from luxury cars, Gräf & Stift also became an important manufacturer of buses as well as tram bodies.

Assassination in Sarajevo

The 1911 Gräf & Stift Double Phaeton in which the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was riding at the time of his assassination on June 28, 1914

Main article: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

One of the Gräf & Stift luxury limousines, a Double Phaeton (engine no. 287), was bought by Count Franz von Harrach on 15 December 1910. Harrach’s car was fitted with a four-cylinder engine delivering 32 PS. In 1914 in Sarajevo, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife rode together with Harrach in this car, whenGavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke. The assassination provoked a series of diplomatic manoeuvres that quickly led to declarations of war and the onset of the First World War.

Between the wars

1928 Gräf & Stift.

As the war broke out, Gräf & Stift started manufacturing trucks in order to meet wartime demand, which, together with buses and special vehicles, became the company’s main business and enabled it to flourish in a rather difficult time. Manufacturing of passenger cars was resumed only in 1920, with a 2-litre intermediate-size model, Typ VK. The VK remained in production until 1928 (since 1926 as the modernized VK 2), but already in 1921 Gräf & Stift returned to making luxury cars, with a range of large six-cylinder models available through the 1920s and early 1930s. In 1930, the company presented its first eight-cylinder car, the sumptuous Typ Sp 8, in 1937 superseded by the Sp 9.

To acquire necessary volume to assure the profitability of carmaking business, Gräf & Stift also launched smaller models, badged G 35, G 36 and G 8, powered by a 4.6-litre eight-cylinder engine. To cater for lower segments of the market, the company entered an agreement with Citroën, assembling one of the French automaker’s models as the MF 6 in 1935-36 (it had a 2.65-litre six-cylinder engine, with Gräf & Stift having had ceased the manufacturing of their own six-cylinders in 1935). Later, a joint-venture was started with Ford of Cologne, which provided for eight-cylinder Ford-licensed vehicles, badged Gräf-Ford V8, to be assembled by Gräf & Stift.

Neither of those ventures proved successful enough to assure the profitability of the passenger car business of Gräf & Stift, so the company decided to pull out of it. Its last own model was the rather modern C 12, fitted with a new twelve-cylinder engine, which was only made in very limited numbers in 1938, when the company ceased automobile production to concentrate on truck and bus manufacturing.

After World War II

Gräf & Stift remained in the truck and bus manufacturing business after 1945, continuing as a family-owned enterprise, being run by members of the Gräf family. The company built its first trolleybuses in 1948.

MAN subsidiary

A 1980-built Gräf & Stift trolleybus in service in 2003 in Romania

In 1971 the company merged with Österreichische Automobil Fabriks-AG (ÖAF) to form ÖAF-Gräf & Stift AG, which in turn was taken over by MAN AG the same year. ÖAF-Gräf & Stift AG continued manufacturing under that name, as a subsidiary of MAN. Still based in Vienna, it was focused on supplying trucks and buses for the Austrian market, mostly based on MAN designs, and additionally specialised in trolleybuses. It was MAN’s main trolleybus producer in the 1980s and 1990s, and these were sold under the Gräf & Stift name, with trolleybuses’ being supplied to several European cities, including Salzburg, Solingen and Bergen(Norway), among others.

As of 31 December 2000, ÖAF-Gräf & Stift AG had 897 employees, and its sales for the six-month period from 1 July 2000 through 31 December 2000 (the company’s “Short Fiscal Year 2000”) totalled €111 million.

Use of the longstanding Gräf & Stift name ended in 2001, when MAN renamed the company MAN Sonderfahrzeuge AG, as part of reorganizations following its June 2001 acquisition of Neoplan. This in turn became MAN Nutzfahrzeuge Österreich AG in 2004. In that year, MAN built a new plant on Gräf & Stift’s original site in the Liesing district of Vienna and continues to be the biggest employer in the area.

ÖAF

ÖAF Logo

Österreichische Automobil-Fabrik
Type	Subsidiary of MAN SE
Industry	Automotive
Founded	1907
Headquarters	Floridsdorf, Austria
Products	vehicles
Website	Official Website

ÖAF is an initialism for Österreichische Automobil-Fabrik, previously known as Österreichische Austro-Fiat, an Austrian (Austro-Hungarian) car and truck manufacturer.

Austro-Fiat

ÖAF was created by FIAT in 1907 and is now part of the German MAN group. The manufacture of automobiles began in the new plant built for the occasion in Vienna in 1908, while the number was only 50 employees. A truck of 4 tonnes, similar to the Italian Fiat model was manufactured from 1911. It was originally Austro-Fiat, which during the First World War began to develop their own products.

In 1925 the Austro-Fiat brand expired and the company became Osterreichische Automobil Fabrik AG, under the abbreviation ÖAF, with preservation of the trademark filed earlier. Also in 1925, a separate company took over sales of Italian FIAT cars, and Austro-Fiat became affiliated with Austro-Daimler and Puch. The last private car, Type 1001A, was different from the earlier Type 1001, having 34 bhp (25 kW) engines and conventional rear axles.

The latest model Fiat’s truck was TS 1924, equipped with a 45 hp (34 kW) Fiat engine. The company began production of other models in Austria, which has enabled the company to begin developing its own models. The most popular submitted in 1925 was the AFN light truck AFN with 1.75 tons of payload. This truck used a 42 hp 4 Cylinder Fiat engine 2850 cc, it also used gimbals and real tires, not solid tires, which allowed for a speed of 65 km/h. In 1928, the AF2 appeared and the following year a bus called the Austro-Fiat-1001. It is from this time that the company discontinued the manufacture of passenger cars to concentrate on commercial vehicles, trucks, vans and buses. This allowed the AFL/AFY to be manufactured from 1930 to 1937.

MAN acquisition

Austrian Army ÖAF-sLKW truck

In 1938, when Austria was annexed by the Third Reich, German MAN obtained the majority of shares owned by Fiat in ÖAF, reducing the Italian firm’s share to 15%. ÖAF had begun equipping some of its trucks with diesel engines from MAN in 1934.

1955 ÖAF

After the Second World War, the Floridsdorf factory was in the Russian zone and the plants were used for Russian reparations. In 1955, ÖAF was released from these payments and the factory began producing trucks again. They went to Austria to build military trucks but the Austrian army eventually selected rival Steyr for its famous Pinzgauer. The Tornado was ÖAF’ s challenger, best-selling truck in Austria.

In 1970, the company was privatized again; MAN then let it merge with Gräf & Stift, out of which ÖAF Gräf & Stift arose which in 1971 was fully taken over by MAN.

Vehicles

ÖAF Tornado 19-230

ÖAF Tornado 16-192 with Trilex-Felgen
ÖAF Tornado 19-186
ÖAF Tornado 19-192
ÖAF Tornado 9256
ÖAF Husar
1982 MAN with ÖAF-Grille
1977 ÖAF light wheeled tank

100 jahre ÖAF

ÖAF Tornado Racing Team

Futher wit Gräf & STift

1907 Gräf und Stift 18-32 PS

1911 Gräf & Stift 40 HP Bois de Boulogne Tourer France

1911 Gräf & Stift Double Phaeton in which the Archduke Franz Ferdinand

was riding at the time of his assassination on June 28, 1914

1913 Graf und Stift

1916 Graf und Stift М16

1918 Gräf & Stift Dolomitenwagen-bus

1921 Gräf & Stift Model

1922 Gräf und Stift 7.7 Litre 110 bhp SR4

1923 Gräf & Stift, Brandweer

1923 graf-stift-spoormaker

1924 Gräf & Stift SP

1926 Gräf und Stift S3 Coupe de Ville

1927 Gräf & Stift VK

1928 gräf & stift feuerwehr mannschaftswagen

1931 Gräf & Stift SP 5

1931 Gräf und Stift SP8 Pullman Limousine

1932 Gräf und Stift SP8 Sport Coupe

1935 Gräf & Stift SP 8 Sport-Phaeton 4 portes

1935 Gräf & Stift

1936 Gräf & Stift SP 8

1936 Gräf und Stift SP8, the Rolls-Royce of Austria 5,9ltr motor

1936 Graf und Stift V6M

1938 Gräf & Stift Omnibus

1938 Gräf & Stift V 6 D 4×2 bus, 39k WW2 photo

1939 ÖAF Bus 3ton

1939-gräf & Stift-c-12

1939 Gräf & Stift LKW 2

1940 Gräf & Stift model, 76k photo?

AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR

1948 (Gräf & Stift-BBC) mit Gräf & Stift-Anhänger

1948 Gräf & Stift

1949 Gräf & Stift

1949 Gräf & Stift OGW-120 (M 649)

1949 Gräf & Stift 120 OGW 6cyl 7220cc

1949 Gräf & Stift 120 OGW

1950 Gräf und Stift 7860

1951 Gräf & Stift SP8

1951 Gräf & Stift Feuerwehr

1952 Gräf & Stift LKW

1953 Gräf & Stift 145FON

1953 Gräf & Stift Österreichische Post

1954 Gräf & Stift LZT 4

1955 Öaf busse

1955 Öaf busse Nostalgie Reisen

1956 Gräf & Stift Fahrzeuge

1956 Gräf & Stift KVT 9

1956 Gräf & Stift ZAFD-240, Hiab 1

1956 gräf-stift-busse-oldtimer

1956 ÖAF Tornado 19-192 a

1956 ÖAF Tornado an die arbeit

1956 ÖAF HA 2-90 Husar

1957 ÖAF 6 D 135

1958 ÖAF in Montenegro

1958 ÖAF Tornado Truck

1958 Gräf en Stift

1958 Graf und Stift LAVT-9F 1, 4×4

1958 Gräf&Stift L200 6×6

1958 Graf und Stift ZAFD-240 36, 6×6

1958 gräf & stift tanker

1959 ÖAF Tornado 19-186

1959 Graf und Stift ZA-200 1, 6×6

1960 Gräf & Stift Doppeldecker Type DD-2FU

1960 Gräf & Stift Tanker

1960 gräf-stift-busse-oldtimer

1961-75 A Gräf & Stift double-decker bus in service in Vienna

1962 graef-und-stift-niger-africa

1962 Gräf & Stift 145-FON 37 sitze

1962 Gräf-stift-busse-oldtimer

1963 ÖAF bus-met-bak

1965 Gräf & Stift KF230-36 met Mercedes motor

1966 Gräf en Stift

1967 Gräf & Stift

1968 Gräf & Stift K230

1968 ÖAF Husar in Tatra Rally

1968 ÖAF НА-2-90 Husar, 4×4

1968 ÖAF Husar Expeditionsmobil

1969 Gräf & Stift OSU-155-46

1969 Gräf & Stift U7-OSU 155-46 (M 797)

1970 Graf und Stift OLA-210 54, 4×4

1970 MAN with ÖAF-Grille

1970 ÖAF Österreichische Automobil Fabriks-AG

1970 ÖaF-FE32460thelen

1904-71 Gräf & Stift

1972 ÖAF Tornado 19-192

1972 ÖAF

1973 Gräf & Stift Steyr LU 200 M11

1976 ÖAF swehrtransport silvretta

1977 ÖAF 26.240FDA bowser , 6×6

1977 ÖAF light wheeled tank

1980 Austrian Army ÖAF-sLKW truck

1980 Gräf & Stift Steyr LU 200 M11 (M 1431)

1980 Gräf & Stift trolleybus in service in 2003 in Romania

1982 ÖAF 20.320G1 (20.320VFAE), 6×6

1984 Gräf & Stift ÜH 270 M 10

1986 Graf and Stift Oostenrijk

1988 Gräf & Stift GS GE 152 M18

1999 Gräf & Stift Austria

1999 Graf and Steyr NL205 Oostenrijk

2000 Graf&Stift and Steyr NG235 M18 Oostenrijk

2001 ÖAF 32.403VFAEG (SX2000), 8×8 Bridge builder

ÖAF Logo on ÖAF Tornado 16-192

2002 Graf and Siemens NL243 Oostenrijk

2005 ÖAF Gräf & Stift MAN NGE 152 M17

ENNND

Carrocerias Augusto Bruno Nielson and Eugênio NIELSON 1946-1990 BUSSCAR ÔNIBUS Brasil

1955 Nielson Diplomata 350 Plataforma Mercedes Benz O-371RS. Viação Caprioli 16 Chevrolet Coach GMC Gasolina

Carrocerias NIELSON

Busscar

Busscar Ônibus S.A.
Industry	Automotive
Founded	September 17, 1946
Defunct	September 27, 2012
Headquarters	Joinville, Brazil
Products	Buses, coaches, trolleybuses
Website	http://www.busscar.com.br

Urbanuss Pluss trolleybus made by Busscar, in operation on the São Paulo trolleybus system.

Urbanuss Pluss operating in Santiago under Transantiago project

Busscar Ônibus S.A. was a Brazilian bus manufacturer that was building coaches, trolleybuses, charter and tour buses. The company was based in Joinville in the south of Brazil, where it was industrial premises that cover 1,000,000 m², including a building of 84,000 m².

1981, mostra o pátio da Carrocerias Nielson, atual Busscar

History

The business has its origins in a firm created on September 17, 1946, when two brothers of Swedish descent, Augusto Bruno Nielson and Eugênio Nielson, opened a carpentry shop in Joinville, where they made wooden furniture, window frames and desks. One year later, Nielson & Brother remodeled the first bus body. In 1949 they built a bus body entirely in wood, attached to a large Chevrolet chassis.

This was the starting point of a business that in a few decades would turn into an important bus manufacturing company in the worldwide market.

When Harold Nielson (Augusto’s elder son) joined the company in 1956 it was en route to becoming the segment leader in Brazil, with innovative and revolutionary products, as the Diplomata model in 1961, the Urbanuss in 1987, the Panorâmico DD in 1998, and many others.

In 1990, the business, by then called Carrocerias Nielson, launched a new family of vehicles and changed its name to Busscar Ônibus, creating the mark that is known today in international and Brazilian markets.

On 27 September 2012, the Brazilian Justice declared bankruptcy of Busscar due to the effects from economic crisis of 2008.

Models

Transit buses:

Busscar Urbanuss Mercedes-Benz OF-1721 Busscar Urbanuss

2012 Busscar Urbanuss Ecoss Volkswagen 17-230 EOD Busscar Urbanuss Ecoss II

Busscar Urbanuss Pluss Mercedes Benz Busscar Urbanuss Pluss

2012 Ônibus híbrido Busscar Urbanus Pluss Pluss Híbrido

Busscar Urbanuss es uno de los tres modelos articulados traídos en 2005 Pluss Low Floor

Busscar Pluss Troley

Busscar Urbanuss Pluss Tour Pluss Tour

Busscar Articulado Low Floor Volvo

Coaches:

Busscar Panoramico DD Panorâmico DD

2005 BUSSCAR JUM BUSS 400 Jum Buss 400

2010 Busscar Jum Buss 380 Mercedes Benz Jum Buss 380

Busscar Jum Buss 360 Scania K380 Jum Buss 360

Busscar Vissta Buss Elegance 360 Volvo B12 R Vissta Buss Elegance 360

Busscar Vissta Buss Elegance 380 Mercedes Benz O-500RS-1836 Vissta Buss Elegance 380

Vissta Buss HI

Vissta Buss LO

busscar el buss 340 Mercedes Benz El Buss 340

Busscar El Buss 320, chassi Volkswagen 17.210 OD El Buss 320

Busscar Interbus JNS Mercedes Benz Interbuss

Former models

Transit buses:

1989 Nielson Urbanus MB OF 1115 Nielson Urbanus

Nielson Urbanus Scânia S112

Busscar Urbanus Volkswagen Busscar Urbanus I

BusscarUrbanussVolvoLinea816Stgo Busscar Urbanus II

Busscar Urbanus SS Volvo B10M

Busscar Urbanus II SS

Coaches:

carroceria Nielson Diplomata 2.40, Mercedes-Benz OH-131 Nielson Diplomata 2.40

Nielson Diplomata 2.50. Volvo B58 Nielson Diplomata 2.50

1980 Nielson Diplomata 2.60 Scania K112CL Nielson Diplomata 2.60

NielsonDiplomata310MBenzBusesJotaBe Nielson Diplomata 310

Nielson Diplomata 330 Scania S112 Nielson Diplomata 330

catalogo nielson diplomata 350 Nielson Diplomata 350

Nielson Diplomata 380 Scania K112CL Nielson Diplomata 380

Busscar El Buss 320 El Buss 320 I

Busscar El Buss 340 I

busscar-el-buss-360-scania-k-113-turismo-del-rosario El Buss 360 I

Jum Buss 340 Série 1 Jum Buss 340 I

Busscar Jum Buss 360 Jum Buss 360 I

Catalogo Busscar Jum Buss 380 Jum Buss 380 I

Busscar Jum Buss 340 T Volvo Buses Golondrina

Jum Buss 360T I Jum Buss 360T I

Jum Buss 380T, chassi Volvo B10M Jum Buss 380T I

Busscar El Buss 320 II Volkswagen El Buss 320 II

busscar-el-buss-340 II

Scania Busscar Jum Buss 360 II Jum Buss 360 II

Busscar Jum Buss 380 II Jum Buss 380 II

Busscar Jumbuss 400P privilegia vista panorâmica Jum Buss 400 Panorâmico

Interbus

Busscar Interbus

2009 Busscar Vissta Buss Lo

Buses NEOPLAN 1935 – 2008 Stuttgart Germany

Neoplan

1936 Neoplan-den Oudsten KLM Rondleiding in de 30-er jaren NL

http://myntransportblog.com/2013/10/29/buses-auwarter-germany/

NEOPLAN Bus GmbH
VIP Class
Type	Private company with limited liability – GmbH, subsidiary of MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG
Industry	Automotive
Founded	1 July 1935
Founder(s)	Gottlob Auwärter
Headquarters	Stuttgart, Germany
Number of locations	Plauen, Saxony, Germany
Key people	Joachim Reinmuth, Chairman of the Board of Management former designers: Albrecht Auwärter, Bob Lee, Konrad Auwärter
Products	Buses Coaches Trolleybuses
Employees	1,300
Parent	MAN SE
Website	neoplan-bus.com

NEOPLAN Bus GmbH is a German automotive company that manufactures buses, trolleybuses and coaches. NEOPLAN is now a subsidiary of MAN SE.

History

Foundations

1983 model year Neoplan Skylineroperated by Trathens Travel Services of Plymouth

02 Neoplan Doppelstockbus Viernheim 100 3625

A modern unliveried Neoplan Skyliner

NEOPLAN Bus used at Dubai Airport 2007

A current NEOPLAN Skyliner model

NEOPLAN Megaliner (Japan version)

The company was founded by Gottlob Auwärter in Stuttgart in 1935, and manufactured bodywork for bus and truck chassis. From the very beginning, the designs of the buses produced were considered stylish. After World War II, an all-steel body design was developed, a rarity at that time. By 1953, the company had moved away from manufacturing buses on truck chassis, to a partial monocoque design with a steel tube skeleton, providing the structural support, enhanced by welded side panels. The engine was moved to the rear, and the running gear and body functioned as one. In 1957, air suspension was made available, improving the ride of the bus for passengers.

Neoplan-Stammwerk

1960s

In 1961, a new bus design, the Hamburg, was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. At a time when most coaches were rounded, bulbous or streamlined, the new design had clear-cut lines with edges and large windows. Developed by the founder’s eldest son, Albrecht Auwärter, and another student, Swiss national Bob Lee, as part of their dissertation at Hamburg University. The design also allowed every passenger to regulate their fresh air supply through a nozzle from two air ducts, commonly seen today.

NeoPlanOosakaniponnkannkou MAN22.280HOCR

Both Albrecht and Lee joined NEOPLAN after graduating from the university. Albrecht took over management of the company in 1965, and Bob Lee later became head of Engineering and Design.

1947 Auwärter Mercedes Benz OP3750 v

In 1964, the founder’s second son, Konrad Auwärter, developed a double-deck bus design for a service bus as part of his dissertation. The ‘Do-Bus’ design had low weight, and could carry over 100 passengers. It also featured a low-frame front axle with forward-mounted steering gear that permitted a low flat floor. The double-deck principle was applied to the coach design, creating a high-capacity comfortable touring vehicle. This vehicle was known as the Skyliner.

1958 Auwärter Neoplan NH6-7

1970s

In 1971, the Cityliner was introduced to the public. This design had a passenger platform above the driver’s cab, and included an onboard toilet.The vehicle also made use, of glass-fibre reinforced plastic for certain areas of the body, this was the first instance when this technique was used. In 1973, the Jetliner was introduced, featuring a large one-piece windshield, with the driver and door windows sloping from the passenger window line down to the bottom of the windshield level.

1960 Neoplan typ hamburg

A second manufacturing facility opened in Pilsting in 1973, and a third opened in Kumasi, Ghana in December 1974 to support increasing orders.

1973 NeoPlan Jumbocruiser

In 1975, the Jumbocruiser was launched, a double-deck articulated coach 18 metres (59 ft 1 in) long and 4 metres (13 ft 1 in) high. The Spaceliner, introduced in 1979 took the Cityliner concept of passenger floor level above the driver, and extended the actual floor above the cab. This kept the height of the vehicle lower than a double-decker, at 3.65 metres (12 ft), but still allowed installation of toilets, kitchens or sleep cabins below the passenger compartment.

1973 Neoplan Cityliner N116

1980s

Airfield Shuttle, Domodedovo Airport

A new fourth plant was added in 1981 in Berlin, and Bob Lee led the establishment of a fifth plant in Lamar, Colorado. In 1984, a further plant was added in Honey Brook, Pennsylvania. The United States plants were later spun off into a separate, and now defunct, independent company (Neoplan USA) that used the NEOPLAN name under licence.

Neoplan erster niederflurbus (low floor bus)

In 1980, the United Kingdom deregulated services over 35 miles (56 km) in length. This led to intense competition on a variety of long-distance services, with operators looking to differentiate their service. NEOPLAN vehicles, with their futuristic design and high quality construction, began to be imported in greater numbers.

Neoplan metroliner carbon

The Metroliner was introduced in 1988. This vehicle was the first full monocoque bus in the world, requiring no separate chassis or skeleton.

K-VB 546+ Leuchterstraße

1990s

Basel Neoplan N 6021 Trolleybus

A manufacturing facility was opened in Ehrenhain in 1990.

1993 JR-Bus-Megaliner-Tsukuba

In 1992, the 15 metres (49 ft 3 in) four-axle Megaliner was introduced, prompting a change in European Union regulations to allow non-articulated vehicles greater than 12 metres (39 ft 4 in) in length. The Starliner was introduced in 1996, and would go on to win the Bus of the Year award for two consecutive years – in 1998 and 1999.

Neoplan Centroliner-Linienbus

2000s

FC KÖLN

In 2001, NEOPLAN, or correctly, “Gottlob Auwärter GmbH & Co KG” was acquired by MAN AG subsidy MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG to form NEOMAN Bus GmbH. The Starliner won the Bus of the Year award for two more consecutive years in 2001 and 2002.

Neoplan-de dietrich eurailbus modell

A new coach designed for touring was introduced in 2003 under the name Tourliner, and the Starliner was redesigned in 2004 and included the Electronic Stability Programme (ESP). The Trendliner was released in 2004, as a ‘dual purpose’ intercity and combination bus – which is designed to be used seven days a week.

Neoplan starliner und euroliner und centroliner modelle

In 2005, two new shorter 13 metres (42 ft 8 in) versions of the Tourliner and Trendliner were released. From 2006, Euro4 compliant engines from MAN began being fitted in the new generation Cityliner.

Neoplan N 4516 Zurich

In 2007, a new Auwärter Museum was opened in Landau/Isar.

On 1 February 2008, NEOMAN Bus GmbH was fully integrated into the Bus Division of the larger MAN Nutzfahrzeuge Group, and ceased to exist in its own right. NEOPLAN and MAN AG Buses now operate as two separate but integrated marques of MAN Nutzfahrzeuge Group. As a result of the reorganisation and restructuring of the Bus Division, NEOPLAN will concentrate on production at its Plauen and Pilsting sites, with Plauen being used for luxury coaches, whilst Pilsting will concentrate on customisations.

2011 Neoplan Skyliner

MENARINI Buses Italy 1919-1989 BREDAMENARINI

(BREDA)MENARINI

Company History

Menarini as a carbody maker was born in 1919 during the difficult afterwar period in which Italy, yielded by the damages suffered, delayed to recover itself and start up new activities.
At the beginning the Company had an artisan profile since the total lack of capitals, but the skillness and the untiring work of Ettore Menarini imprinted in it a so great activity so as to ensure a constant and increasing development.
After a first period aimed to the refurbishing of vehicles bodies, in 1925 as soon as it was possible to extend the plant and buy machinery, the Company started, with good results, also to build carbodies for cars and taxi.

In the new location, the production went through an evolution and a transformation: the manufacture of tourism vehicles was stopped and the production of industrial vehicles: vans, ambulances, lorries, truck cabins was started and later, also buses the most complex and difficult among the others.
In ten years the bus production tripled and increased further until the burst of the Second World War. At the beginning of the war the italian factories built many more buses than cars.

In the first years of war the Menarini plant produced special vans, ambulances, shop trucks for war purpose, but later bad times occurred: the big plant was mostly damaged by bombing raids and the manufacturing activity had to be definitely stopped in 1944. This situation continued also when the war ended because of the plant requisition by the Allied Army.
In 1946 E. Menarini could take again possession of his property. He started to restore the various sectors and damaged machinery and finally in 1952 the plant started to build only buses.
In 1952 after the death of Ettore Menarini, his three sons Dante, Giorgio, Eugenio, continued the industrial activity under the new name Carrozzeria Menarini Bologna s.n.c..
In 1954 the Menarini brothers started the construction of a wide and modern plant for the manufacturing of every type of modern bus carbodies, including the self bearing structures. The great plant was completed in 1960 on a total area of 50.000 sm. whose 25.000 sm. are covered.
With the starting of activity of the new plant, also the success of Carrozzeria Menarini on the bus italian market improved as well as with further plant enlargement and updating.
The carbody model named “Essediemme”, launched in 1961 represented a real milestone for all the bus manufacturing techniques. After that, more or less all the bus manufacturers have to update their models in order to conform to the new style launched by Menarini whose main points were: no more transparent tiles on the roof, no more descending panes in the wall sides, electrically operated doors on coaches, flat roofs and large windows. Furthermore many other technical improvements were introduced such as a better acoustic insulation, the curb weight reduction, the interchangeability of parts which can fail.
The sixties are for Italy a period of fast progress in every industrial activity during which Menarini grows and strengthens designing and realizing by itself also the chassis for citybus and coaches, thus leaving its past characteristic of simple body maker, and becoming in full a complete bus manufacturer.
In the following years Menarini continues to follow the path of innovation in its products playing the role of the “bus state of art ” among the competitors and reaching the leadership on the domestic citybus and coach market.

The disc brakes application appears on the beginning of the eighties, then the front wheel suspensions for coaches, and even a DE DION rear axle on the coach Monocar 101 and 102 SBH, state of art in the development of the modern coaches design as well as the first studies for the low floor lay out on the city bus families.

In the most recent years, we are in 1989, Menarini is purchased by Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie anticipating that process of industrial aggregation which would characterize also the bus sector as it occurred before among the car and industrial vehicles manufacturers.
The new trademark BredaMenarinibus is established; the red little horse will appear on all the buses produced by the Company based in Bologna.
The transfer of property to the Breda Group first, and later under the direct control of Finmeccanica (2001), the main industrial holding in Italy, allows Menarini to receive enough funding in order to renew its product range reducing the recurring difficulties due to the fall of the bus market following the cut in the state financing.

Many new models of success are launched in the urban segment: the first low floor families such as M 221, M 321, M 230. The last one represents the first ultralow floor in Italy in the Midi size.

Starting on 1997 an entire new product range, ultralow floor, is launched: M 240, M 231, M 340 some of them currently on catalogue. These buses witness the evolution to a new generation of vehicles, featuring a relevant technical content (engines, chassis, electronics, etc) and design solutions aimed to achieve high reliability and low managing costs.

Anticipating the market demand towards low emission buses, BredaMenarinibus presents CNG buses (EXOBUS), a battery minibus (ZEUS) and a hybrid bus (ALTERECO).
Since 1989 about 7200 buses are produced by BredaMenarinibus, while the continuous improvement in the manufacturing process allows the achievement in 1997 of the ISO 2001 certification for the Quality Assurance System. In June 2003 BredaMenarinibus also gets the certification to the ISO 9001 ed. 2000 confirming its leading position among the competitors in the bus sector, and later upgraded the 2008 update.

In 2005 BredaMenarinibus began marketing new ranges of vehicles with EURO 4 diesel engines and CNG engines called Avancity (10.8m, 12m and 18m) and Vivacity (8m and 9m).
These vehicles were known for their eye-catching design, for the adoption of a front axle independent wheel that has further improved the handling, roadholding and comfort, and for the construction wheelhouse integrated into the structure that has allowed a widening of the interior corridors improving the livability.
The ongoing know-how evolution allowed to BredaMenarinibus to propose in 2007 the restyling of the entire range of vehicles presenting the Avancity +, the Vivacity+, the 2nd generation electric minibus Zeus with lithium-polymer batteries and the intercity bus Lander.

The trolleybus Avancity Plus HTB 18m hit the market in 2009.
At the end of 2011, the company obtained the ISO 14001 Environmental Certification, a way to prove, among other things, its commitment to reducing the environmental impact from industrial processes, products and services.

http://hottransport.blogspot.nl/2012/09/bussen-bredamenarini-bologna-italie.html

(Trolley)Buses + Trucks MAZ Minsk Belarus

Minsk Automobile Plant

**Minsk Automobile Plant**
Native name	Minski Automobilny Zavod
Type	Joint-stock company
Industry	Automotive
Founded	July 16, 1944
Headquarters	Minsk, Belarus
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Aliaksandr Barouski
Products	Trucks, buses, trolleybuses
Net income	US$ 167 million (2011)
Website	www.maz.by

Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ, Belarusian: Адкрытaе Акцыянэрнaе Таварыства «Мінскі аўтамабільны завод», Open JSC Minsky Automobilny Zavod) is a state-run automotive manufacturer association in Belarus, one of the largest in Eastern Europe.

History

Stamps of Belarus with MAZ trucks (1998)

It was built shortly after the Second World War. The first MAZ model (MAZ-200) used General Motors designed 2-stroke engines. Later on their own original engines were developed and implemented in the MAZ-500 series. Not only the plant itself, but the entire living infrastructure were built in a short time. Apartment buildings, shops, medical clinics, cinemas etc. were built in close proximity to the MAZ plant, providing plant workers with local (though limited) necessities. On many of the construction sites German prisoners of war were working together with Belarusian construction workers. The majority of these buildings are still in service today.

It manufactures heavy-duty trucks, buses, trolleybuses, road tractors and semi-trailers for semi-trailer trucks, and cranes. MAZ was, and possibly is, the worlds largest manufacturer of TELs (Transporter-Erector-Launchers) for many of the world’s mobile ballistic missiles, from the widely proliferated MAZ-543 used to carry and launch the Scud B through to the recent Topol M‘s impressive 8-axle TEL.

At the end of Soviet times, MAZ was the largest manufacturer of heavy trucks in the Soviet Union, and the only one for some truck categories. After the Soviet Union dissolved, MAZ production was reduced substantially, as has happened with many enterprises in the ultra-industrialized Belarus, oriented on the needs of a very big country. The previously mentioned production of public transport vehicles was a result of following diversification of the company.

Organisation

The association consists of the MAZ plant proper, located in Minsk, which is the main enterprise of the association, as well as several secondary enterprises:

РУП «БААЗ» (in Baranavichy)
РУП «ОЗАА» (in Asipovichy)
РУА «КЗТШ» (in Zhodino)
РУП «Літмаш» (in Minsk),
ПРУП «ДЭМЗ» (in Dzyarzhynsk)
РУП «СтройМАЗтрест» (in Minsk)

At some points of its history, MAZ was “united” with another heavy automobile company – BELAZ also located in Minsk area.

In 1991, a division specialising in heavy wheeled military vehicles was spun off into a separate business, MZKT.

Products

Among other recent products, MAZ city buses (see pictures below) are operating throughout Belarus, as well as in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Estonia.

In Serbia, working in cooperation with a local-based company BIK (Bus industries Kragujevac), a production of gas-powered buses named BIK-203 has been agreed, which are based on the platform of MAZ-203 model. These buses have been delivered at several Serbian towns to be in use in public transportation companies.

MAZ-MAN

In 1997, together with “MAN“, a joint Belarusian-German company JSC “MAZ-MAN”, Minsk was set up, which by 1998 had established full-scale production of heavy vehicles, using the F90 MAN cabs introduced 1986 and replaced 1994. Production of truck cabs involves huge, expensive tools, making this kind of recycling an existing design attractive. While production of tractors for international trade with 4×2 and 6×4 chassis layouts was a stated goal, development of exhaust gas regulations within the EU turned this into illusion. Based on the MAZ-MAN they have produced concrete mixers, fueling vehicles, flatbed trucks, dump trucks, front-end loaders etc.

Production of the Belarusian-German company demonstrated the advantage of technology created by combining the abilities and experience of auto makers of two countries. Compared to European models in the same class and quality range, MAZ-MAN products are on average 30% cheaper. Currently 98% of MAZ-MAN comply with Euro-3, while sale to the EU would require Euro-5 at least, Euro-6 by 2014.

In 2004, the joint venture made 272 vehicles, which is 45% higher than 2003. At the same time in 2003, output in comparison with 2002 increased by 50%.

28 November 2005 MAZ-MAN sold 1000 of the first MAZ-MAN tractor to customers.

Models

MAZ-203 and MAZ-206 buses

MAZ-447131

tipper, with the MAN F90 cab

Trucks:

MAZ-200 (1950, formerly built by YaAZ from 1947-1950)
МАZ-200V (1952, tractor-trailer version of MAZ-200)
МАZ-205 (1950, dump truck version of MAZ-200)
МАZ-500/MAZ-500A (1965)
MAZ-501 (1955, logging truck version of MAZ-200)
МАZ-501V (tractor-trailer version of MAZ-501)
МАZ-502 (1957, 4×4 version of MAZ-200)
МАZ-502V (tractor-trailer version of MAZ-502)
МАZ-503/MAZ-503A (1958, dump truck version of MAZ-500)
MAZ-504/MAZ-504A (1965)
МАZ-505 (1962, prototype 4×4 truck based on MAZ-500)
MAZ-506 (1954, prototype dump truck based on MAZ-205)
МАZ-509 (1969, logging truck version of MAZ-500)
MAZ-510 (1965, prototype dump truck based on MAZ-503)
МАZ-511 (dump truck version of MAZ-500)
MAZ-512/MAZ-500C (cold weather version of MAZ-500)
MAZ-513/MAZ-500YU (hot weather version of MAZ-500)
MAZ-514 (1969, prototype three-axle truck)
МАZ-515 (1965, prototype three-axle truck)
МАZ-516 (1969)
MAZ-520 (1972, prototype truck based on MAZ-504)
MAZ-525 (1951, later built by BelAZ)
МАZ-529 (1958)
MAZ-530 (1957, later built by BelAZ)
MAZ-532 (1957, prototype off-road vehicle)
MAZ-535 (1958)
MAZ-537 (1959)
MAZ-541 (1956, aircraft tug based on MAZ-525)
МАZ-543/МАZ-7310 (1962)
MAZ-547/MAZ-7916 (1972)
MAZ-2000 (1988, prototype truck)
МАZ-4370 (1999)
МАZ-4371 (2003)
МАZ-4380
МАZ-4471
МАZ-4570 (2002)
МАZ-5309 (2008)
MAZ-5335 (1977)
МАZ-5336 (1978)

МАZ-5337 (1978)
МАZ-5340
MAZ-5428 (1977)
MAZ-5429 (1978)
MAZ-5430 (1977)
МАZ-5432 (1981)
МАZ-5433
МАZ-5434 (1990)
МАZ-5440
МАZ-5442
МАZ-5516
MAZ-5549 (1978)
МАZ-5551 (1985)
МАZ-6303
МАZ-6310
МАZ-6312
МАZ-6317 (1991)
МАZ-6417
МАZ-6422 (1978)
МАZ-6425
МАZ-6430
MAZ-6440 (2011)
МАZ-6501
МАZ-6516
МАZ-6517
МАZ-7410 (based on MAZ-543)
MAZ-7904 (1982, prototype)
МАZ-7906 (1984, prototype)
MAZ-7907 (1985)
МАZ-7910 (based on MAZ-543)
МАZ-7912 (1977)
MAZ-7917 (1984)
MAZ-7922 (1990, prototype)
MAZ-79221 (1996, later built by MZKT)

Buses:

MAZ-101 (1993)
MAZ-103 Omnibus (1996)
MAZ-103T Trolleybus (1999)
MAZ-104
MAZ-105 Articulatedbus (1997)
MAZ-107
MAZ-152 Citybus (1999)
MAZ-171 Airportbus (2005)
MAZ-203 Omnibus (2005)
MAZ-205 (2009)
MAZ-206 Omnibus (2006)
MAZ-226
MAZ-231
MAZ-241
MAZ-251 (2006)
MAZ-256 Omnibus (2006)

Special models

MAZ-537

MAZ-543

MAZ-7917

MAZ-535/MAZ-537 – The MAZ-535 and the heavier version MAZ-537 were developed in the early 1960s and built to transport rockets and tanks of various types.
MAZ-543 – The MAZ-543 was also designed for the transport of medium-and long-range missiles and has the same specifications as the MAZ-537. The MAZ-543 is best known as mobile missile launch pad of Scud missiles. In addition, there are various modifications of the vehicle, such as the MAZ-547 as a mobile launch pad for SS-20 missiles or the MAZ-7917 as a launch pad of Topol intercontinental missile.
MAZ-7904 – The MAZ-7904 is the largest wheeled vehicle that was ever designed for military purposes in the USSR. The prototype was designed in 1982 as a support vehicle for intercontinental ballistic missiles, but never went into production. The vehicle was found in 2007 in a hangar at Baikonur.
MAZ-7907 – The MAZ-7907 is a 12-axled 24 wheel vehicle for transport of ICBMs, which was designed in 1985, and of which two prototypes were produced. At least one seems to have been used after the collapse of the USSR for transportation of bridge parts and ships. Their fate is unclear.

Sponsorship in football

1999-2002: Torpedo-MAZ Minsk

Gallery

Buses

MAZ-105 bus.
MAZ-103 city bus in Constanţa, Romania
MAZ-103 city bus in Constanţa, Romania
MAZ-103 city bus in Iaşi, Romania
MAZ-103T trolleybus in Minsk
MAZ-107 city bus inConstanţa, Romania
MAZ-203 and MAZ-206 bus
MAZ-251 in Munich

Trucks

MAZ-5551
9K72 Elbrus launcher (9P117)
MAZ-543 airport tender, airport in Kyrgyzstan
Fire truck ATs 5,0-50-4 on MAZ-5337A2 -01
MAZ-5337 Firetruck in Baranavichy, Belarus

That’s it.

Buses, Trucks, Armored Army and fire and Rescue MARMON-HERRINGTON U.S.A.

Marmon-Herrington

A 1949 Marmon-Herrington TC48 trolley bus on the Dayton, Ohio trolleybus system.

The Marmon-Herrington Company, Inc. is an American-based manufacturer of axles and transfer cases for trucks and other vehicles. Earlier, the company built military vehicles and some tanks during World War II, and until the late 1950s or early 1960s was a manufacturer of trucks and trolley buses. Marmon-Herrington had a partnership with Ford Motor Company, producing trucks and other commercial vehicles, such as buses. The company may be best known for its all-wheel-drive conversions to other truck maker’s units, especially to Ford ones. Based originally in Indianapolis, Indiana, with a plant in Windsor, Ontario, Marmon-Herrington is now based in Louisville, Kentucky.

History

Two Marmon-Herrington CTLS US tanks maneuvering in a mountain pass in Alaska in 1942.

The company was founded in 1931 by Walter C. Marmon and Arthur W. Herrington and focused on building all-wheel-drive trucks. It was the successor to the Marmon Motor Car Company, a maker of automobiles from 1902 to 1933. Marmon-Herrington (MH) got off to a successful start by procuring contracts for military aircraft refueling trucks, 4×4 chassis for towing light weaponry, commercial aircraft refueling trucks, and an order from the Iraqi Pipeline Company for what were the largest trucks ever built at the time. Construction of all-wheel-drive (AWD) vehicles and conversion of existing vehicles to AWD were among the company’s products. Marmon-Herrington also made multi-stop delivery vans and passenger vehicles. The company designed a military armoured vehicle which could be constructed on a commercial truck chassis. The design was taken-up by South Africa in 1938, the result of which became known as the Marmon-Herrington Armoured Car, which was used by British and Commonwealth armies in the North Africa Campaign.

1926 American Motor Body Nairn 6-Wheel

During World War II the British were looking for a purpose-built airborne light tank to replace the Tetrarch light tank, but decided not to produce the tank in Britain due to a lack of production capacity. Instead the American government was approached with a request that it produce a replacement for the Tetrarch. This request was made by the British Air Commission in Washington, D.C., with a proposal calling for a tank of between 9 t (8.9 long tons) and 10 t (9.8 long tons) to be developed, this being the maximum weight the War Office had decided could be carried by current glider technology. The United States Ordnance Department was given the task of developing the proposed tank, and in turn requested designs from three American companies: General Motors, J. Walter Christie and Marmon-Herrington. The design offered by Christie in mid-1941 was rejected as it failed to meet the specified size requirements, as was a modified design the company produced in November. At a conference in May 1941, the Ordnance Department chose the Marmon-Herrington design and requested that the company produce a prototype tank, which was completed in late 1941; it was designated the Light Tank T9 (Airborne) by the company and the Ordnance Department and later designated M22.

1932 Marmon-Herrington 1932 TH320-6 6×6 tractors Iraq

The company also manufactured airport fire trucks, like the Marmon Herrington MB-1 and Marmon Herrington MB-5. They were mainly used by the military, like the USAF and US Navy.

Trolley buses

The company’s foray into transit buses began in 1946, when it produced its first electric trolley bus. The end of World War II had brought a steep drop in the need for military vehicles, so Marmon-Herrington looked for another area of vehicle manufacturing in which it might find new business. Its first “trolley coaches”, the more common term for trolley buses at that time, introduced innovative features such as lightweight monocoque bodies and strong, double-girder sidewalls, which made the Marmon-Herrington trolley coach the best-selling trolley coach of the postwar era. Its trolley buses were successful in the fleets of many North American cities, most notably Chicago and San Francisco, which purchased large numbers; Chicago bought 349 in a single order (delivered in 1951–52), a record for the MH company. Marmon-Herrington supplied trolley buses to 16 different cities in the United States, among the buyers being the Cincinnati Street Railway Company, which purchased 214, and the Cleveland Railway, with 125; vehicles were also sold to two cities in Brazil. The principal models were the TC44, TC48, and TC49, with the number denoting the number of seats. A single order of the 40-seat TC40 model was produced for San Francisco, and likewise the TC46 was produced for only one customer, Philadelphia, before MH replaced it with the TC48 model.

Marmon-Herrington name plate on a Dayton trolley bus (below “City Transit”).

Trolley bus production lasted from 1946 until 1959; in total, 1,624 vehicles were produced. The last of San Francisco’s 260 MH trolley buses were retired in 1976 and Philadelphia’s last units in 1981. Some MH trolley buses withdrawn from service in the United States were sold secondhand to Mexico City‘s Servicio de Transportes Eléctricos (STE) between the late 1960s and late 1970s and continued in service for many more years on that city’s trolley bus network. Although the last Marmon-Herrington trolley buses in original form were retired by STE in 1988, many underwent a rebuilding of their bodies in the 1980s by the Mexican company Moyada and continued working; the last five of these Moyada-remodeled Marmon-Herrington trolley buses of STE survived in service until 2002. By the late 1950s the market for new trolley buses in North America had dried up, as some trolley bus systems were being abandoned while others had re-equipped with new MH vehicles. The company’s very last orders for transitvehicles were also its only export orders for trolley buses, to Recife and Belo Horizonte in Brazil, comprising 65 and 50 TC49s, respectively, delivered in 1958–59. Recife overhauled some of its TC49s in the 1980s, and several remained in service until 2001.

32 seater Motor Coach Damascus Bagdad

The Illinois Railway Museum has preserved two ex-Chicago Transit Authority Marmon-Herrington trolley coaches and one ex-Milwaukee unit.

1960s to present

In the early 1960s, the Pritzker family bought the company, and soon the focus on full vehicle manufacturing vanished, the truck designs being sold to a new company that traded under the Marmon brand. It became a member of an association of companies which in 1964 adopted the name Marmon Group. The MH company continues today as a converter of commercial trucks to all-wheel-drive (AWD) vehicles, as well as a maker of axles for heavy vehicles. Marmon-Herrington axles can still be found on even the newest military vehicles and commercial trucks. In addition to building installation kits for all-wheel-drive, the company has also become a front-drive-axle and transfer case manufacturer to the medium- and heavy-duty truck market.

1938 Marmon-Herrington Armoured Car Mk IV Mk IVF

In 2008, the holding company Berkshire Hathaway purchased a majority stake in Marmon Holdings, which includes the Marmon Group and Marmon-Herrington.

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Buses GUY Wolverhampton England UK

GUY

ZiU-5

ZiU-9

History and development

Production

ZiU-9

ZiU-9A

ZiU-682B

ZiU-682V (B00/B0A)

ZiU-682G

ZiU-682G-016, 017 and 018

ZiU-682G-016.02 and ZiU-682G-016.03

ZiU-682G-016.04 and ZiU-682G-016.05

Modifications as of 2012

Clones produced by other companies

Operators

Greek donation

ZiU-10

WEYMANN

MOTOR BODIES

List of Models

See Also

Viberti

History

See also

That was all Viberti

Vétra

History

Customers

Europe

Outside Europe

Last active examples

Preservation

By operators

At museums

Tatra (company)

Early years

Tatra concept

Prewar streamliners

Tatra and the conception of the Volkswagen Beetle

War years

Postwar management

The Tatra T603

1970s makeover—the Tatra T613

1990s Tatra T700

1990s Tatra MTX V8

Tatra in the West

Trucks

1898–1914 Beginning

1914–1922 Serial Production

1923–1938 Tatra Concept

1939–1956 The Legend Born

1957–1982 Eastern Block Finest

1982–2008 T815 and Beyond

Recent years

Current truck models

India

Israel

Future

Navistar & Tatra

Tatra aircraft[edit]

Buses

Trolleybuses

That’s it

BOND Brothers

BODYMANUFACTORS

Sylvain Floirat

SOMUA

BUSES

FRANCE

Solaris Bus & Coach

History

Products

Current models

Discontinued models

Gallery

City buses

Intercity buses and coaches

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