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Best of British Buses Number 11 Post War Daimlers 1942-1981 by Alan Townsin HC
The Best of British Buses Number 11 Post War Daimlers 1942-1981 by Alan Townsin
Hard Cover
96 pages
Copyright 1986
Contents
Introduction4
1. Origins and the wartime models, 1942-47 6
2. The early CV-series models, 1946-5021
3. The CD650, 1948-5436
4. New Look Daimlers, 1950-56 41
5. The Freeline, 1951-64 49
6. The 30ft. CVG6, and a change of face53
7. The Fleetline sets new standards, 1960-6865
8. Rear-engined single-deckers, 1962-7473
9. Fleetlines of the Leyland era, 1968-8183
Daimlers in retrospect92
Acknowledgements and Photocredits 96
Introduction
When considering the scope of this book, it was particularly difficult to decide just when the story should begin, as so much of the design of the post-war and wartime models was based on what had gone before.
This sense of continuity is unusually strong in Daimler's history and there was much in common between the final home-market CVG6 models of 1968 and not only those of over 20 years earlier but also the first Gardner-engined Daimler buses of the mid2thirties. Yet there was much continuous detailed development as well as a responsiveness to operators' individual preferences that went a long way in accounting for the Company's success with municipal operators in particular.
Daimler had been a much-respected name from the early days at Coventry, establishing its independence from the original connection with Gottlieb Daimler by the turn of the century. Royal patronage played a considerable part in this and, although the bus business was mainly based on more commercial considerations, the idea of operating the same make of vehicle as the Royal family's car fleet probably appealed to municipal pride right up to the 'thirties.
The refinement of the sleeve-valve petrol engine had tended to put the emphasis on coach applications in the late 'twenties, but two key developments were to set a fresh course, to remain dominant as long as buses bearing the Daimler name continued to be built. One was the inspired marriage in 1930 of the fluid flywheel to the preselective epicyclic gearbox- two previously unconnected inventions brought together by Daimler to form the most effective bus transmission for city service available at the time and later developed into the same semi- and fully-automatic forms still familiar on most British buses in service today.
Then, in 1933, the search for a suitable oil (diesel) engine led to the combination of the proprietary Gardner unit with the Daimler fluid transmission. The result was a bus that was economical on fuel, reliable and relatively easy to drive, virtues that enabled Daimler to capture a major share of the municipal bus market. Several of the customers thereby attracted in the 'thirties were to remain loyal to Daimler until the 'seventies.
Wartime brought large-scale use of AEC engines and Daimler's ambition to produce its own diesel engine was fulfilled from 1945, with much of the refinement that might have been expected from a name still associated with official limousines. It brought a fair degree of commercial success and a revival of Daimler's fortunes as a maker of coach chassis for a time. Yet the sheer efficiency and longevity of the Gardner engine maintained its following and again became dominant in the more competitive days of the 'fifties.
Any idea that all Daimler buses were worthy but unadventurous in design, however, does not take into account a series of more radical ventures. The CD650 of 1948 was the bus that had power assistance for almost all the driver's controls, far ahead of its time in specification and yet it managed to miss the immediate post-war adventurous spirit that might have given it a foothold in the market. The underfloor-engined Freeline also failed to lift off at home and yet did quite well abroad, while the Roadliner of 1964 was a little like a rocket- exciting with its rear-mounted vee-form engine but soon fizzling out.
The Fleetline was totally different, becoming the market leader among rear-engined double-deckers and outnumbering all other post-war Daimler models added together. Had it not been in the pipeline when Jaguar took over Daimler in 1960, bus production might well have faded out quite quickly. It offered the traditional Daimler-Gardner qualities and an ingenious yet neat transmission layout that enabled the model to be in the low-floor category where this was desired. The numbers sold built up rapidly, orders coming in not only from traditional Daimler customers but including many, notably several BET-group companies, that had rarely, if ever, chosen the make. Output rose to 28 chassis per week for a time, an unprecedented rate.
Most impressive of all was London Transport's choice of the Fleetline as the basis of its standard double-decker of the early and mid2seventies, thereby becoming the largest customer of all. Sadly this taste of supreme success was to turn sour when LT became disenchanted with the model, at least partly because it would not or could not make the adjustments to its maintenance methods that other operators had accepted earlier. Meanwhile there was more trouble when the transfer of production to Leyland in 1973 led to ill-considered design changes which put many new vehicles off the road until matters could be put right.
So the closing years of Daimler bus manufacture were to end on a rather subdued note. Latterly, the corporate-image men, oblivious to goodwill, sentiment or logic, decided to call the transplanted model the Leyland Fl. But to many in the industry, Daimler will remain an honoured name, to which this book is intended as a salute.
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