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Bodyless chassis on public roads

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delt1c

delt1c

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Does anyone else remember chassis ( minus bodies) been driven on public roads being delivered to the body builders? Remember well new Atlantean and Fleetline chassis being driven to Alexanders in Falkirk, the drivers with oil skins and goggles driving these strange beasts
 
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Busaholic

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Not quite, but I do remember AEC Routemaster test rigs, which were chassis fitted with makeship cabs and tested on public roads: my memory is of them tailing service buses in London on route 11, which were all Leyland Titans. This would have been about 1957/8. I believe there's a photo of one on Flickr. This was prior to mass entry into service of Routemasters, all nearly 3,000 of them!
 
delt1c

delt1c

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worked on the 11 from 78 till 84 we had 2 RT engineering spares which unfortunately never worked in service as they were not radio fitted
 
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37114

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In the Bristol Industrial Museum there is an RE chassis complete with fake driver, temporary headlights, plywood mudguards etc as they were when the chassis were driven from Bristol to ECW at Lowestoft although the actual chassis was one from Ireland and originally had an Alexander body
 
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37114

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I don't think that it happens anymore now, it seems that the Dennis chassis made at Guilford are trailered to Scarborough/Falkirk on a bespoke trailer by A.D.Boyes
 
delt1c

delt1c

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37114 said:
I don't think that it happens anymore now, it seems that the Dennis chassis made at Guilford are trailered to Scarborough/Falkirk on a bespoke trailer by A.D.Boyes
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Have seen that, never heard of a injury or accident in the past when they were driven , but just progress and increased costs
 
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37114

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delt1c said:
Have seen that, never heard of a injury or accident in the past when they were driven , but just progress and increased costs
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I think it is more to do with the fact that the chassis rely on the body for rigidity so driving them on the road as opposed to a trailer puts more stress on the chassis.
 
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Welly

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I do remember bus and truck chassis being driven on the road in the 1980s - the drivers wore motorbike leathers and helmet.
 
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ilkestonian

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Often saw these back in the sixties on the A449 between Stafford and Wolverhampton, probably before the M6 was built. Leathers and goggles yes, can't recall if they wore helmets. I always assumed they were lorry chassis, but guess they could easily have been buses.
 
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randyrippley

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used to be a daily sight on the M6 into the 1970's at least, while Leyland was still building bus chassis at Leyland
 
GusB

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37114 said:
I think it is more to do with the fact that the chassis rely on the body for rigidity so driving them on the road as opposed to a trailer puts more stress on the chassis.
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I recall seeing a photo of a Leyland Lynx "chassis" awaiting bodywork (perhaps one of the ones that was bodied by Alexander (Belfast), and it had some kind of bracing added to it in order to give it more rigidity. I'm not sure if other manufacturers did this.

In his book Blue Triangle, Alan Townsin describes driving an unbodied AEC Reliance chassis:
The standard coach transmission was the ZF six-speed synchromesh gearbox, and its highest overdrive ratio gave a 70mph capability. I vividly recall carrying out a "Commercial Motor" road test on a laden but open chassis and driving up the M1 at this speed - an exhilarating and delightful experience on a warm day, particularly as the vehicle provided to be particularly stable in its handling characteristics.
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I'm not sure if I'd describe cruising up the M1 at 70mph with no protection whatsoever as "delightful", but I suppose times have changed!
 
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ChrisPJ

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There was an article in BUSES magazine a few years ago where the author was invited to deliver a Javelin chassis from the Dennis factory in Guildford down to the relatively nearby Wadham Stringer body plant. Not sure it handled quite as adeptly as it did once the coachwork had been built on top.
 
Cowley

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ilkestonian said:
Often saw these back in the sixties on the A449 between Stafford and Wolverhampton, probably before the M6 was built. Leathers and goggles yes, can't recall if they wore helmets. I always assumed they were lorry chassis, but guess they could easily have been buses.
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Yes exactly that!
A friend of mine delivered a couple of Dennis Javelin coach chassis’ like this in the late 1980s.
He turned up (to Guildford?), examined the precariously strapped down wooden seat, popped his German aviator style goggles on and hit the motorway.
I think they were Cummins engined and he said that they absolutely flew.
We used to repair them at BRS and they were fast enough with a body on!

Edit - Reading what CrisPJ posted while I was writing mine out makes me think that my memories weren’t too far off.
 
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neilmc

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I used to live on Cross Gates Road in Leeds in the 1960s/1970s and saw a lot of chassis being driven up and down to/from the Roe factory nearby.
 
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52290

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randyrippley said:
used to be a daily sight on the M6 into the 1970's at least, while Leyland was still building bus chassis at Leyland
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When I was a boy in the 1950's in Leyland it was a common sight in the town. The chassis were weighted down with concrete blocks and the drivers wore shorts, overcoats and goggles in all weathers.
 
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APT618S

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Not the UK, but there is a longish Youtube vid of new Merc chassis OH1526 being driven on public roads:
 
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