Least successful production chassis

[delt1c]

Wondering what was the least successful production chasis. For my mind it would be close between the Guy Wulfarian and the Daimler Roadliner. Both models went into production but neither survived long in service, Wullfarians being replaced by older Loddeka LD's.

 

[37114]

Dennis have had a few;
- Enviro 350H
- Arrow
- Falcon Coach
- Falcon Double decker

 

[TB]

Are we classing chassing from the likes of ACE, Quest and Ward as production chassis? If so...

Also, the Foden NC. Only 7 were built, i think.

 

[David 90825]

The Ward Dalesman springs to mind. Darlington Transport bought 6 of these with Wadham Stringer bodywork back in 1983. Another 6 were ordered for delivery in 1984 but were cancelled. I believe a 7th chassis was constructed and fitted with a coach body.

 

[cnjb8]

You could say the Volvo B7L. It's predecessor, the B10BLE was popular with a large range of operators, whereas the B7L was only popular with First. It's replacement, the B7RLE was infinitely more successful.

 

[DunsBus]

The Quest VM coaches ordered by Excelsior certainly merit a mention. Out of 20 ordered, only 17 were delivered and one then burnt itself out just a few weeks after entering service.

 

[KevinTurvey]

In Liverpool during the mid-late 70's there was a reasonable sized fleet of Metrobus which used to monopolise the 12/18/75 routes. They were all gone after about 5 years, in a time when most buses here seemed to last 15-20 years.

Anyone on here know why they had such a short life?

 

[KendalKing]

The Plaxton Primo, a nippy little bus to drive, but an engineering nightmare.

 

[Hophead]

Optare Metrodecker (diesel version) ?

 

[awsnews]

Irisbus Agoraline
Iveco Turbocity
Iveco Eurorider bus variant
Renault Pr100
Otokar Navigo T
Cspel 844
Temsa Avenue
Wright Streetair

 

[busesrusuk]

Marshall Minibus...

 

[Busaholic]

The so-called New Routemaster built by Wrights has to be up there, considering it was offered to any bus company to buy long before its London orders ordained by Boris Johnson when Mayor had been completed. Total sales = nil, and Wrights couldn't even be bothered to provide a 'neutral' demonstrator, leaving TfL to loan one of theirs to any company insane enough to contemplate buying any e.g. First West Yorkshire.

 

[Man of Kent]

I'm with you on the Wulfrunian. Effectively it bankrupted the company. At least most, if not all, of the other examples mentioned still left the manufacturer in business.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Wrights couldn't even be bothered to provide a 'neutral' demonstrator, leaving TfL to loan one of theirs to any company insane enough to contemplate buying any e.g. First West Yorkshire.

I don't think for a second that First were serious about buying them. It was a classic spoiler tactic to ensure the death of the trolleybus project IMHO

 

[Busaholic]

I don't think for a second that First were serious about buying them. It was a classic spoiler tactic to ensure the death of the trolleybus project IMHO

Totally agree, and I don't think First fooled anyone for a second other than the gullible. I can only imagine Peter Hendy at TfL was doing an old friend at First a favour, possibly with tongue firmly in cheek.

 

[Snow1964]

The so-called New Routemaster built by Wrights has to be up there, considering it was offered to any bus company to buy long before its London orders ordained by Boris Johnson when Mayor had been completed. Total sales = nil, and Wrights couldn't even be bothered to provide a 'neutral' demonstrator, leaving TfL to loan one of theirs to any company insane enough to contemplate buying any e.g. First West Yorkshire.

The short version had a single example (Bus 812) not sure if that counts as a production run, or if purists will say it was a prototype.

 

[scosutsut]

Dennis Dorchester and to a lessor degree the Dennis Javelin. Not in comparison to some of the production numbers here - more in the context of their market share compared to their direct competitors (Leyland Tiger and Volvo B10M respectively)

 

[rcro]

Dennis Dorchester and to a lessor degree the Dennis Javelin. Not in comparison to some of the production numbers here - more in the context of their market share compared to their direct competitors (Leyland Tiger and Volvo B10M respectively)

The Javelin was fairly widespread and a lot more successful once you add the MoD ones!

It’s replacement in the R series never sold well - and was outlived by the Javelin which carried on for another 8 years or so after. Whittles had a few after buying Javelins, recall they were nice coaches to be on but sold on and replaced by Euroriders after only a few years. Similarly the Euroriders didn’t stay very long with them either!

 

[Jordan Adam]

Dennis Dorchester and to a lessor degree the Dennis Javelin. Not in comparison to some of the production numbers here - more in the context of their market share compared to their direct competitors (Leyland Tiger and Volvo B10M respectively)

I wouldn't at all call the Javelin unsuccessful. They were unashamedly cheap but nearly 2.6K were built and they do have a reputation for being pretty bomb proof.

You could say the Volvo B7L. It's predecessor, the B10BLE was popular with a large range of operators, whereas the B7L was only popular with First. It's replacement, the B7RLE was infinitely more successful.

The Volvo B7L had quite stable sales given it only saw a short production run and there was some overlap with other products such as the B10BLE which stayed in production until 2002. There's no doubt the B7RLE and B10BLEs were more popular, but the B7L wasn't really unsuccessful. If anything it's done better than the B8RLE!

 

[cnjb8]

I wouldn't at all call the Javelin unsuccessful. They were unashamedly cheap but nearly 2.6K were built and they do have a reputation for being pretty bomb proof.



The Volvo B7L had quite stable sales given it only saw a short production run and there was some overlap with other products such as the B10BLE which stayed in production until 2002. There's no doubt the B7RLE and B10BLEs were more popular, but the B7L wasn't really unsuccessful. If anything it's done better than the B8RLE!

True, but I consider the B7L unsuccessful because it only appealed to First. The B10BLE and B7RLE appealed to a wider range of operators.

 

[carlberry]

True, but I consider the B7L unsuccessful because it only appealed to First. The B10BLE and B7RLE appealed to a wider range of operators.

If 'limited range of purchasers' becomes a criteria then the AEC Routemaster and the Borisbus suddenly become contenders.

 

[Jordan Adam]

True, but I consider the B7L unsuccessful because it only appealed to First. The B10BLE and B7RLE appealed to a wider range of operators.

That's true, they also saw some orders with Irish operators.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

The so-called New Routemaster built by Wrights has to be up there, considering it was offered to any bus company to buy long before its London orders ordained by Boris Johnson when Mayor had been completed. Total sales = nil, and Wrights couldn't even be bothered to provide a 'neutral' demonstrator, leaving TfL to loan one of theirs to any company insane enough to contemplate buying any e.g. First West Yorkshire.

IIRC the chassis of the New Routemaster went onto form the basis of Wright's integral Streetdeck. Whilst these have not been wthout their issues, they have sold in reasonable numbers. 1000 New Routemasters is not a bad producion run for what essentially is a bus built to pander to the 'inner anorak' of Boris Johnson.

 

[Pat1105]

Optare Alero could be a contender.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Optare Alero could be a contender.

329 built, not too bad for that type of vehicle, especially coming from Optare. The Optare Bonito on a Fiat Ducato chassis which was intended as it's replacement didn't get a single order and was quietly dropped in 2014.

 

[awsnews]

329 built, not too bad for that type of vehicle, especially coming from Optare. The Optare Bonito on a Fiat Ducato chassis which was intended as it's replacement didn't get a single order and was quietly dropped in 2014.

The Bonito wasn't really an Optare product, it was produced by Plastisol and after the Optare agreement ended it was marketed as the CM Mission. At a later time EVM also had an attempt at marketing it as well but apart from demonstrators it doesn't appear to gained any orders in any passenger incarnation.
Kronenburg Fire (what remains of the Plastisol business) still market a version as an incident control vehicle.

Incident Command Vehicle - Kronenburg B.V.

 

[Statto]

In Liverpool during the mid-late 70's there was a reasonable sized fleet of Metrobus which used to monopolise the 12/18/75 routes. They were all gone after about 5 years, in a time when most buses here seemed to last 15-20 years.

Anyone on here know why they had such a short life?

Think you're on about the MCW Metropolitans which MPTE brought a sizable batch of, they lasted quite well in Liverpool, but they were all gone by d-reg, mostly corrosion issues, & being quite thirsty too.

MPTE only brought a small batch of Metrobuses, 5 with MCW bodywork, & 15 Alexander bodywork.

 

[GusB]

The Dennis Javelin was a useful replacement for the Bedford Y series and probably the Ford R series which went out of production in the early to mid 1980s and were used by many private hire operators. Two local firms here, Maynes of Buckie and Keir of Dufftown, switched to the Javelin for a time.

The Lancet wasn't a particularly big seller, with only 87 produced. I rather liked the six we had with their Perkins V8s.

 

[Pat1105]

Speaking of Javelins, is 27057 still knocking about at Stagecoach? Absolute beast of a ZF!

 

[randyrippley]

Arguably the Jensen JLP1
maximum of ten built in various versions
and those are the only bus chassis they built

history at https://www.jensenmuseum.org/jensen-light-passenger-coach-1948-1951/