18 Facts About Duple Coachbuilders

Duple Coachbuilders was a coach and bus bodybuilder in England from 1919 until 1989.

Name Duple Coachbuilders is intended to convey the principle of a single vehicle being suitable for a dual role, an idea Herbert White developed.

The 'convertible' body, as it was known internally, was built on Morris Cowley and Oxford chassis as well as the Ford T; as well as the standard van top there was a pick-up and even a version with raising sides and slide-out display shelves for use in markets, production ceasing around the end of the 1920s although Duple Coachbuilders continued to repair and service examples for many years afterward.

In 1930, Duple Coachbuilders received the largest single order to date, for 50 bodies to be fitted to the AEC Regal chassis for Green Line Coaches, the newly established express service arm of the London General Omnibus Company.

Duple Coachbuilders had built early bodies on the WLB chassis for the Vauxhall Motors, and was listed in publicity material as one of the four bodybuilders recommended for the WLB chassis.

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In 1932, Duple Coachbuilders acquired the business of London Lorries who, despite the name, were heavily involved in the manufacture of coach bodies.

Export business had been developed early, based mainly on the travels of the Duple directors, including W E Brown, who had already been to the United States and Canada and now embarked on a Mediterranean tour, taking in Greece, Syria and Egypt.

In 1936, Duple Coachbuilders introduced the Vista design of bodywork, primarily for the Bedford WTB chassis.

Duple Coachbuilders built double-deck highbridge and lowbridge buses to utility specifications, and the only new single-deck vehicle to be produced from 1942 to 1945, the Bedford OWB.

Duple Coachbuilders designed a metal-framed body for export models on the OB chassis, as well as producing a body design for the new SB chassis, then under development.

The Roadmaster particularly was unlike anything Duple Coachbuilders had previously produced, with its high, straight waistline and small windows.

Towards the end of 1961 Bedford introduced the VAS chassis and Duple Coachbuilders produced a completely new design - the Bella Vista - for it.

For 1964, Duple Coachbuilders introduced the Commander, initially built at Hendon but switched to Blackpool later, and in 1966 the Viceroy range replaced the Bella series on most Bedford or Ford chassis.

At the 1972 Commercial Motor Show, Duple Coachbuilders introduced a new range of bodies called the Dominant, which were similar in appearance to the Plaxton Panorama Elite, already in production since 1968.

The Plaxton Supreme range was introduced in 1974, and in response Duple Coachbuilders introduced the Dominant II in 1976 with a restyled front and rear end by Michelotti of Turin.

In June 1983, Duple Coachbuilders was sold to the Hestair Group, which had already acquired the long established business of Dennis Brothers of Guildford.

Duple Coachbuilders was renamed Hestair Duple Coachbuilders and the Laser and Caribbean were given a facelift to try to improve their popularity.

Duple Coachbuilders displayed a bus body for the chassis, the Dartline, that was based on the 300-series but with a distinctive front design, featuring a stepped windscreen and curved lower panel.