Plaxton
Plaxton is a bus and coach bodybuilder based in Scarborough, England.
History
The Plaxton of today is the successor to a business founded in Scarborough in 1907 by Frederick William Plaxton.
Beginnings
The business was founded as a joinery workshop, and expanded into building contracting. As a building contractor, Plaxton built a number of notable buildings in Scarborough. Soon after World War I Plaxton diversified and began to build charabanc bodies on Ford Model T chassis. Of more importance at the time was the construction of automobile bodywork. This included bodwork for Rolls Royce, Sunbeam and Daimler, but principally for Crossley car chassis. This activity continued through the 1920s, but the depression of 1929-1933 created difficulties for manufacture of luxury automobiles. As a result, the manufacture of charabanc, and later coach bodies became more important through the late 1920s and early 1930s. Customers during this time tended to be local to the Scarborough area, Scarborough being a popular seaside resort.
Coaches of the 1930s
By 1936 the company felt justified in construction of a large new manufacturing facility in Seamer Road, Scarborough. This allowed increased production, and Plaxton became popular with many independant operators throughout Northern England. Many of these operators purchased their vehicles through independant dealers, rather than directly from the factory. In this regard, Plaxton's sales were through Lancashire Motor Traders Ltd of Manchester and Arlington Motor Co Ltd of London. The company became known as F.W. Plaxton & Son by 1937, as the founder's son, Eric, joined the company. Plaxton built a number of different coach designs through the 1930s, until settling on a distinctive house style. The style typically consisted of a very rounded front profile at the windscreen area with side windows that sloped backwards at the front, were upright at the center, and sloped forward at the back. Bodywork for the Bedford WTB chassis was particularly distinctive, sloping severally from the bottom of the front wheel arch to the roofline, leaving the "bullnose" radiator grille protruding. The rear also sloped prominantly. The WTB chassis was very popular choice for operators at that time, together with the Dodge RBF and SBF. Leyland and AEC chassis were also popular for larger coaches, notably the Leyland Tiger PS1 and AEC Regal III.
On the outbreak of World War II in 1939, coach production halted and the factory was turned into a munitions factory under the control of the Ministry of Aircraft Production.
Post-war Demand
Production restarted at the end of 1945.
In 1951 the business was registered for the first time as a private company, Plaxton (Scarborough) Ltd.
In 1957 the founder of the company, F.W. Plaxton Senior, died, and was succeeded as Chairman by his son Eric.
Plaxton became a public company in January 1961.
Henlys and a new beginning
In 1989 Plaxton bought Henlys, a company that included motor dealers and Coleman Milne, makers of funeral hearses. The name of the company was changed to Plaxton Group PLC. In May 1992, the company was renamed Henlys Group PLC.
Henlys pursued a strategy of diversification and expansion through the 1990s. The established bus bodybuilder Northern Counties was bought in 1995 for £10m. The UK bus and coach manufacturing business, trading under the Plaxton brand, continued to produce a range of bus and coach bodywork. It also owned one of the largest UK coach dealers, Kirkby, and provided after-sales services to coach and bus operators.
In August 2000 a joint venture was formed with Mayflower, owners of the Dennis and Alexander brands. The joint venture, known as TransBus International, included only the United Kingdom bus manufacturing operations of both companies, including Plaxton and Northern Counties. Henlys held a 30% stake in the joint venture, which employed 3,300 employees at seven locations. The traditional brands of Alexander, Dennis and Plaxton were replaced by TransBus International. In 2004 Mayflower Group failed, and Transbus International went into receivership. An initial offer from the Plaxton management to buy the coach segment of the company was rejected by the receiver, but was later accepted when a group of private investors agreed to buy the Alexander Dennis portion of the company.
Thus the new company, Plaxton Limited, has reemerged as an independant company, focused on its traditional coach product, and employing almost 300 people in Scarborough. A facility in Anston, which builds small buses and coaches, employs a further 59.
Products
Past products
(All coach bodies unless noted)
- Type A
- D Series
- Type F (full fronted)
- Type J (half cab)
- K Series
- L Series
- M Series
- Q2
- Envoy
- Venturer I, II
- Crusader Mk I, Mk II
- Consort Mk I, Mk II
- Highway - (single deck bus)
- Panorama, I, Elite, Elite II, Elite III
- Embassy
- Derwent - (single deck bus)
- Supreme, Supreme IV, V, VI
- Viewmaster
- Bustler - (single deck bus)
- Paramount 3200, 3500, 4000, Mk I, Mk II, Mk III
- Verde - for rear engined single deck chassis
- Excalibur - for Volvo B10M chassis
- Premiere - for Scania K93 chassis
- Prima - for DAF SB3000 chassis
- Prestige - single-deck bus based on remodelled Northern Counties design
- President - double-deck bus
- Beaver / Beaver 2 - for Mercedes-Benz van chassis
- Pointer / Pointer 2 - for Dennis Dart/Dart SLF and Volvo B6/B6LE chassis
Current products
Coaches
- Paragon - for Volvo B10M, B12B, Dennis R-Series, MAN 18.310 and Irisbus Eurorider
- Panther - for Volvo B10M, B12B, Dennis R-Series, MAN 18.310 and Irisbus Eurorider
- Profile - for Volvo B7R and Dennis Javelin chassis
- Cheetah - for Mercedes-Benz van chassis
Buses
- Pronto
- Beaver
Competitors
Current
- Beulas
- Irizar
- Jonckheere
- MAN / Neoplan
- Marcopolo
- Noge
- Salvador Caetano (UK) Ltd
- Setra
- Temsa
- Van Hool
Former
See also
References
Townsin, Alan (Editor) (1982). Plaxtons The Great British Coach Builder. Transport Publishing Company. ISBN 903839695