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68-476: The Dennis Dominator was Dennis's first rear-engined double-decker bus chassis, it was launched in 1977. Dennis had been absent from the bus manufacturing market since the last Lolines were produced in 1967. The Dominator was described as bespoke, with numerous options. To some extent it was considered a successor to the Daimler/Leyland Fleetline . The Dominator was different from

136-731: A double-decker bus from the United Kingdom , and convert it to an open top bus. This is to give the impression of an archetypal British bus, such as the AEC Routemaster London bus, although often the bus actually purchased is not a Routemaster. Modern open top bus designs are available, nowadays with long multiple axle and low floor easy access features as seen on conventional closed-top buses. Many more have been converted from conventional buses which were no longer required for regular service and so may not have such features. The open deck in an open top bus may have

204-515: A 6-cylinder Cummins engine mounted forward of the axle. Previous models had used Gardner engines. The fire engineering division was closed and requirements contracted out to Carmichael in Worcester. At this time Dennis claimed 65 per cent of the fire engine market. John Dennis of the founders' family, previously coach and truck sales manager, left and set up John Dennis Coachbuilders to build complete fire engine bodies. The remaining business

272-489: A batch of Metro-Scanias . Hartlepools single-deck Dominators had its first East Lancs bodies, Merthyr Tydfil's their first Marshall bodies. Their six (coded SD116) had single-door 50 seat Camair 80 coachwork. Like Hartlepool Leyland National 2s followed. Later in life, these buses were sold to the City of Chester , whose General Manager had previously worked at Darlington. The penultimate customer took their single-deck Dominator,

340-549: A batch of ten double-deck Dennis Arrows . London Pride Sightseeing were a considerable user for second-hand Dennis Dominators, operating 24 Dominators, all but four converted to open top buses . These were withdrawn in 2005. Some were transferred to The Original Tour during the transition in 2001. The Dominator was conceived as a competitor to the Daimler Fleetline and initially customers were generally those who had previously taken double-deck Fleetlines, however

408-408: A control and communications centre for major incidents. The body was low and angular, looking to be over the bus maximum width of 2.5m. It had two outward-opening doors on the nearside and a single 'passenger' window in mid wheelbase. It was liveried in fire-engine red, the grille was an unadorned mesh affair in an otherwise flat front, featuring a divided flat-glazed windscreen. The final customer for

476-537: A double-deck Lance and single-deck Lancet. The Dennis Ace, a smaller twenty-seater bus was brought into production in 1933 using the chassis of Dennis's small lorry. The Arrow Minor followed in 1935 and a new Falcon chassis in 1938. John and Raymond Dennis built 223 houses for their workers, 102 of them on a 20 acres estate in Woodbridge Hill for their Coventry motor workers who brought production of White & Poppe engines to Guildford in 1933. The area took on

544-806: A former Minister of Aviation, joined the board as did a new CEO and a new finance director. The workforce of 1,300 was cut by 150, mostly white-collar workers. A banker was added to the directorate. At King's suggestion Dennis Motor Holdings , was formed on 15 January 1970 as a holding company with all part-time directors. In June the chairman announced much greater losses in the subsequent half year but he remained optimistic. They listed their products as: commercial vehicles, fire engines, refuse collection vehicles and aircraft tractors. In 1971/72, Dennis sold 101 houses in Slyfield 's Woking Road and in Midleton Road, Dennisville . In March 1972 Hestair made

612-485: A horizontally mounted diesel engine and Paxit all-enclosed mechanical rear-loading refuse-collection vehicles. Rolls-Royce diesel engines replaced Dennis petrol engines in the fire engines during 1951. New show vehicles in 1952 included a 5½ litre Centaur chassis with platform body, a Pax chassis with tipping gear and a lightweight body and the Stork chassis. The AV1, a new diesel ambulance chassis, returned ambulances to

680-506: A midibus chassis which was a scaled down Dominator, it could be fitted with Perkins T6.354 and Avon Maxwell transmission. It was only sold to two customers, Greater Manchester Transport and South Yorkshire Transport . The Dominos for Greater Manchester Transport were Northern Counties bodied, and South Yorkshire Transport ones were bodied by Optare . [REDACTED] Media related to Dennis Dominator at Wikimedia Commons Dennis Specialist Vehicles Dennis Specialist Vehicles

748-689: A new 125,000 square foot Dennis Eagle plant on the Heathcote Industrial Estate in Warwick opened, taking over the building of Dennis municipal vehicle chassis and the matching Eagle bodies. Construction of chassis for buses and coaches as well as fire appliances remained at Guildford but that factory lost 600 jobs. Building of fire appliance bodies was moved to Carmichael Fire in Worcester and all cabs to Duple at Blackpool . The re-organisation cost around £4 million covered by

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816-558: A number of Dennis Falcons and in a unique demountable-body version on Dodge Commando, again for Strathclyde PTE. G.G. Hillditch, who had been one of the inspirations behind the Dominator and, at the time as General Manager of Leicester City Transport, was the launch customer for the type, had earlier (when General Manager of the Halifax Corporation, Halifax Joint Committee and Todmorden Joint Committee fleets) been one of

884-518: A number of hands. The Woodbridge site was sold and a new small factory built in Slyfield remains in use by lineal business descendant, bus-maker Alexander Dennis . No Dennis haulage trucks have been built since 1985. The last Dennis fire engine left the Guildford factory in 2007. The Dennis brand is still used on Alexander Dennis buses, Dennis Eagle dustcarts and Dennis mowers. Dennis Brothers

952-477: A parade to ensure maximum visibility; this may be a security concern as with open-top cars; in 2009 an open-top bus carrying the Dutch royal family was attacked by an assailant. The traditional tour bus open topper was usually either a restored heritage bus, or a converted standard bus. Sometimes the bus is converted if its top has been damaged by hitting a low obstacle e.g. a bridge. Tour operators sometimes export

1020-404: A rather tunnel-like aspect, and offered his ideas on a tidier layout, but praised the principle of using the same chassis for double and single-deck applications. Darlington took a further nine in the following year. Dennis designated all ten of these SD103A. They were the only customer to place a repeat order (in 1981) for eight outwardly identical vehicles coded SD128A. Darlington's next purchase

1088-482: A significant block of shareholders dissatisfied with the performance of their business asked that Dennis Brothers cease production and liquidate its assets. The disputes ended when the rebels were unable to find a buyer for the Dennis business at an acceptable price. Major changes were made to management and to the directorate. The following year turnover grew again and profits seemed to have made improvement. New capital

1156-576: A successful takeover bid for Dennis Motor Holdings. It took effect in May 1972. With Dennis came 35 acres of sprawling red brick factory on the Guildford by-pass. Hestair announced it intended to sell surplus land. Hestair was a new industrial investment vehicle managed by David Hargreaves. It had purchased street sweeper bodybuilder Yorkshire Vehicles and dustcart bodybuilder Eagle Engineering in 1971. Hestair's other interests were agricultural engineering, toys and employment bureaux. Dennis Motor Holdings

1224-646: The Rodboro Buildings . This was the first purpose-built motor vehicle factory in Britain. Their range of cars was quickly extended to 12 hp, 14 hp, 16 and 20 hp chassis fitted with tourer, town car and limousine bodies. From the Dennis Brothers stand at the 1903 Crystal Palace Motor Show the brothers sold almost £30,000 worth of cars and took many more orders. Larger models followed their first light cars. A 35 hp model in 1906

1292-659: The 300 series and 425 Integral followed parts and service to Plaxton later. Plaxton took the Duple sites in London, Blackpool and Glasgow to enlarge their spares and repairs network. Dennis and Duple had developed the Dart , a midibus bought by London Transport as a one-man operated bus to replace their AEC Routemasters . At the end of 1989 Dart bodywork production moved from the closed Duple to Carlyle Works in Birmingham. The Dart

1360-678: The Dennis Dominator was South Yorkshire PTE , with a total of 318 buses being delivered to the company. These included one trolleybus which was built in 1985 for test and evaluation. Many had Rolls-Royce Eagle engines and hub-reduction axles. Most of the SYPTE vehicles received Alexander RH bodywork, these being delivered from 1981 to 1987, though some were bodied by East Lancs and Northern Counties . The SYPTE Dominators were delivered in phases to replace Daimler Fleetlines , Leyland Atlanteans , Volvo Ailsa B55s , some of which dated to

1428-590: The Dennis Dragon which was sold to Kowloon Motor Bus . The same model was sold to China Motor Bus , but was known as the Condor. They were usually bodied by Duple Metsec . Some were purchased by Stagecoach for its Kenyan and Malawi operations. Some of these were repatriated to the UK through dealer Ensignbus . They are used for school runs and sightseeing since they have high-capacity. In 1984, Dennis introduced

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1496-416: The Dennis product line-up during 1954. The next year an updated heavy fire engine chassis received Rolls-Royce fully automatic gearboxes. They were not yet in production but Dennis revealed their plans for new Loline model doubledeck buses at the end of 1956. Built with Dennis components they used a patented Bristol Lodekka chassis. The Dennis version was for the independent section of the market Bristol

1564-512: The Dennis stand at the 1978 Motor Show at the National Exhibition Centre was named Camair 80. David Cox, then Engineering Director of Merseyside PTE , reviewed it under his alias Midlander for Buses. He commented that the design was nothing like as stylish, but probably cheaper to produce than the original Marshall Camair. He felt that the side-facing bench seats over the front wheel arches, with their deep footstools, gave

1632-631: The Falcon single-deck bus with longitudinally-mounted rear engine. The Falcon H variant had a horizontal Gardner engine with the Voith gearbox mounted ahead of the rear axle, the later Falcon HC had the Voith transmission mounted behind the rear axle and close-coupled to the Gardner engine. The Falcon V variant had vertical engines. In 1982, a tri-axle version was developed for the Hong Kong market, known as

1700-695: The Fleetline in that the radiator was located at the front instead of the offside of the engine compartment. It was intended to be sold mainly with the Gardner 6LXB engine coupled up to a Voith DIWA transmission and a drop-centre rear axle, but hub-reduction rear axle and other engine options including the Rolls-Royce Eagle, the Cummins L10, the turbocharged Gardner 6LXCT and DAF engines were also available. The largest British customer of

1768-470: The Hartlepool buses sat only 43. Hartlepool had never operated Fleetlines of any sort, and had reluctantly switched from Leyland-engined Bristol REs with dual-door Eastern Coach Works bodies to Leyland Nationals before these buses, their first since the 1950s with Gardner engines. They were later to take Leyland National 2s and Dennis Falcons . A number of chief engineers working for operators in

1836-427: The Hartlepool buses, but with only a front entry/exit door and 46 seats. These two batches shared the same SD115 type code, and chassis numbers for the two batches comprised a single series. Barrow had a batch of five East Lancs bodied single-deck Fleetlines delivered in 1971, which were 50 seaters with seating above the engine, but since those Barrow Borough Transport had switched to the locally-built Leyland National, it

1904-464: The Iraqis with him were hanged. He was not released until February 1988. Phoenix was added as a brand name to all Dennis Eagle refuse collectors during 1978. The Delta 1600 series trucks were launched, middleweight 16 tonne vehicles for tipper and haulage applications. In February 1983, Hestair Dennis purchased Duple Coachbuilders . Between the two Hestair could produce complete vehicles with

1972-551: The National Cycle Show this car was never put into production. After incorporating Dennis Brothers Limited, in which they were given generous financial support by local cyclists and potential motorists, the brothers began car production around 1901. John Dennis built a 30,000 square foot three storey plus basement building in Onslow Street in the centre of Guildford with a lift between floors later known as

2040-669: The North of England met regularly at the time at gatherings sponsored by the Traffic Commissioner, as well as Tyne and Wear PTE , United Automobile Services , Northern General Transport Company , Trimdon Motor Services, Cleveland Transit , Darlington and Hartlepool these included Barrow in Furness Borough Transport. They also were all-single deck at the time, but contemplating future double deck orders. So their numbers 18 and 19 carried similar bodies to

2108-598: The Vehicle Division, led the management buyout and was appointed chairman and CEO. The stated intention was to relist the Dennis group back on the London Stock Exchange . Hestair Specialist Vehicles Limited was renamed Specialist Vehicles Limited on 7 March 1989. Duple Coachbuilders was closed down in July 1989 with 350 jobs lost. The parts and service business went to Plaxton , production of

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2176-430: The business may be gauged from the regular expansions on their new site at Woodbridge Hill on the outskirts of Guildford — in 1907, 1910, 1912 and 1913. In 1913 Dennis Brothers moved their main operations to a new much larger building of almost four acres on the twelve-acre site at Woodbridge leaving their purpose-built Onslow Street premises solely for repairs. In March 1913 the investing public learnt that Dennis Brothers

2244-465: The buyer to release the vehicle to the War Office in time of war. Materials had been ordered but no subvention lorries completed when the situation changed. After August 1914's outbreak of hostilities production was reduced to the subvention type 3-ton military lorries, now supplied directly to the War Office, and the Dennis turbine fire engine. The Ministry of Munitions took complete control of

2312-533: The clock and the number of workers doubled to 4,000. British Road Services , Britain's state-owned road haulage operator, didn't buy any trucks from Dennis. New products were developed but were not attractive to BRS. The suppliers to BRS were prospering, Leyland , AEC and Foden's technical advances and greater truck experience let them build even better buses to compete with Dennis buses. Only Dennis's light Pax trucks sold well and they went to businesses still permitted to run their own short-distance transport. Yet

2380-414: The company's buses and fire engines remained in demand. The 1940s and 1950s still managed to be Dennis's best years. The 1950s saw the introduction of diesel engines and automatic transmissions and bus engines were moved below floors to increase carrying capacity. After the war bus production began again. 1950 introductions were a passenger chassis named Dominant with a semi-automatic transmission and

2448-704: The customers requesting the SRG6 Fleetline single-decker, but when Leicester required further single deckers from 1980 instead of ordering the Dominator he commissioned the Dennis Falcon H. The Dominator was also sold to Hong Kong. China Motor Bus put the first Dominator (with East Lancs body) into service in 1979, being followed by six with Alexander RL-type body in 1982, primarily for its route 15 ( Central - The Peak ). Kowloon Motor Bus bought 40 Duple Metsec bodied Dominators between 1983 and 1984. One Dominator with East Lancs body and DAF engine

2516-712: The early 1970s. The final batch of Dominators delivered to Sheffield included 20 vehicles fitted with coach seats and were allocated to regionwide express services with distinctive Fastline branding. The high standard of engineering led to the last Dominators in South Yorkshire remaining in service in Doncaster until July 2006. The Dominator also appealed to municipal operators such as Leicester City Transport who from 1977 to 1989 bought 123, mainly with East Lancs bodies although seven had Marshall bodies, all of which were withdrawn from public service by 2005. It

2584-456: The fluctuations of demand experienced by the overall economy. Buyers tend to replace them at fixed periods so there is an element of longer term planning. While it is a relatively small market it is stable. Motor mowers were added in 1922. White and Poppe in Coventry had always supplied engines for Dennis Brothers motor vehicles. A takeover had been under consideration before the war but it

2652-491: The industrial tractor manufacturer Mercury Truck & Tractor Company , also Mercury Airfield Equipment that manufactured airport tugs and later baggage trailers and ground units, and Mercury Snow Control. Potential passenger customers preferred their new vehicles front-entrance and rear-engined and Dennis had no bus in production to meet those requirements. Dennis chose to end bus manufacture in 1965 and concentrate on lorries which also faced declining demand. In late 1965

2720-445: The largest component of the all-single deck Darlington Corporation fleet was the single-deck Fleetline SRG6, the rest of its parc in 1977 consisted of 1967 Daimler Roadliners , new Leyland Leopards and 1974 Seddon Pennine RU . So, in 1978, it ordered a single-deck version of the Dominator with an extended-wheelbase, designed for 11-metre coachwork, this was bodied by Marshall and the style, dual door with 46 seats, when exhibited on

2788-404: The mid-1980s. Production of the Dominator was less consistent after bus deregulation in 1986 with production being sporadic during the 1992–96 period. Eight were built in 1992; three in 1993 for a cancelled Strathclyde Buses order that was later sold to Mayne Coaches ; none in 1994 or 1995; and a final four built in 1996, delivered to London & Country with East Lancs bodywork alongside

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2856-719: The name Dennisville. Both brothers died in 1939 and they are commemorated in the names of Dennisville's St John's Road and Raymond Crescent. During the Second World War the Ministry of Supply restricted Dennis to lorries and allocated bus production to Daimler and Guy . Over that period Dennis built some 3,000 6/8 ton capacity Max and 1,500 Pax 3-ton lorries, assembled 700 Churchill tanks , 17,000 engines for landing craft, 7,000 fire pumps, 750,000 bombs and 3,000 infantry carriers . Meanwhile, 'municipal vehicles' were built for military bases. The plant operated around

2924-544: The new Duple-developed integrated body-chassis units. Duple owned Duple Metsec in Tipton , suppliers of bus body kits for assembly overseas. Hestair Duple 425 was displayed in October 1984 and in production a year later powered by Cummins engines. On 10 December 1985 Hestair Dennis Limited was renamed Dennis Specialist Vehicles Limited and again on 3 February 1986 to Hestair Specialist Vehicles Limited . In late 1985

2992-535: The new brand name for marketing the municipal vehicles built by Dennis Motors, Eagle Engineering and Yorkshire Vehicles. Non-specialist truck production for general haulage resumed in 1974 after a break of two years. New rear-engined single-decker and double-decker buses were announced in August 1977 after a bus-building break of eleven years. At the time of the announcement the workforce was 875 and Dennis Motors remained Guildford's largest employer. The first new bus

3060-441: The only short-wheelbase single-deck Dominators, type SD132B, they had 40 coach seats in 10-metre single-door Marshall Camair 80 bodies. Unlike the other customers, Thamesdown later took substantial numbers of double-deck Dominators. Only 37 single-deck Dominators were built, all but the show bus in 1979-81. None are known to survive. The Camair 80 body also went on four 1970 Fleetlines for Tayside, Strathclyde PTE's single deck Ailsa,

3128-523: The route. Open-top buses are used in some regions on regular public transport transit bus services, in warm climates, or as seasonal services in temperate climates. Seasonal services are often in seaside towns, or along rural or coastal routes of particular scenic quality. Open-top buses are often used for victory parades for sport teams, and as temporary viewing platforms at events such as The Derby . Vintage open-toppers can also be hired for events such as weddings. They may be used by notable people in

3196-414: The sale of part of the original Dennis site. The Guildford workforce dropped from 700 to 400. Still one of Europe's largest builders of fire appliance chassis Dennis Specialist Vehicles was running at a loss. In the 1980s bus engines stayed beneath the floor but were moved as far back as possible to release luggage space. At the October 1986 Commercial Motor Show Dennis introduced its Javelin design using

3264-516: The single-deck Dominator were a fleet who had Fleetlines, but only double-deckers, this was Swindon based Thamesdown Transport . A proportion of the fleet had to be single-deck because of railway bridges (like Darlington, Swindon was a town built on railways) and prior to 1980 the single deckers were five Weymann-bodied AEC Reliances , three Leyland Leopard PSU4 with Pennine Coachcraft bodies and five late-model coach-seated Eastern Coach Works Bodied Bristol RESL6G. Thamesdown's numbers 1-4 (FAM1-4W) were

3332-454: The sole SD130A, some months after the final new customer's batch was delivered but this was no surprise as the job involved was a lot more complex than a bus body. EBB846W was to the bespoke specification of the Tyne and Wear Metropolitan Fire Brigade and the vehicle was constructed by fire-appliance specialists Angloco, it was the fire brigade's number 319, and it was comprehensively fitted-out as

3400-429: The whole business in 1915. New buildings were added to contain the manufacture of munitions. Following 1918's armistice there was a glut of war surplus vehicles and a consequent collapse in demand for new trucks. To try to compensate the Dennis product range was expanded into municipal vehicles — dustcarts (refuse collection), street cleaning vehicles, sewage tankers and pumps etc. Municipal vehicles do not suffer from

3468-490: Was spring drive , a torsional shock absorber mounted at the input end of the drive line. Commercial vehicle activity increased. Their first was a van for Harrods in London . Dennis made its first bus in 1903 and their first fire engine in 1908 — for Bradford Council Fire Department. The last car was made in 1913 after the Dennis brothers saw there was less competition in the commercial vehicle market. The rate of growth of

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3536-468: Was a manufacturer of motor-vans, motor-lorries, motor-fire-engines, motor-cars etc. The brothers' offer of shares to the public was substantially over-subscribed and Dennis Brothers Limited became a publicly listed company. Rising international tensions precipitated a major contract for supply of 1,000 3-ton "subsidy" lorries to private buyers on terms set by the War Office . Taking the subsidy obliged

3604-515: Was also sold in reasonable numbers to Central Scottish from 1981 with Alexander low-height RL-type bodywork. Other notable Dominator users included Greater Manchester Transport and its successor GM Buses , all of which had Northern Counties bodywork, Warrington Borough Transport with East Lancs bodies, Merseyside Transport with Willowbrook and Alexander RH bodies, and London Transport , who took three with Northern Counties bodywork for its Alternative Vehicle Evaluation (AVE) programme in

3672-565: Was an English manufacturer of commercial vehicles based in Guildford , building buses , fire engines , lorries (trucks) and municipal vehicles such as dustcarts . All vehicles were made to order to the customer's requirements and more strongly built than mass production equivalents. For most of the 20th century the Dennis company was Guildford's main employer. Following a decade of financial difficulties original shareholders sold out in 1972 and Dennis's ownership has since passed through quite

3740-493: Was complementary to the existing range. On 31 December 1977 Dennis Motors Limited was renamed Hestair Dennis Limited . The former Dennis Motors business was renamed Hestair Dennis by August 1977. A Queen's Award for Export was received in 1978. In February 1980 John Smith, the managing director of Hestair Dennis, was jailed for life in Baghdad for paying "huge amounts for commercial deals and secret information". Four of

3808-441: Was exported as demonstrator for Singapore Bus Service in 1982. It was shipped to Hong Kong after the trial and entered Kowloon Motor Bus' training fleet in 1986. After a production run of 1,007 examples for the UK and export markets, the Dominator was replaced by the short-lived longitudinal-engined Dennis Arrow in 1996, which itself was replaced by the more popular low-floor Dennis Trident 2 in 1997. In 1980, Dennis developed

3876-566: Was followed by the Lance which used independent front suspension to allow a low floor halfway down the vehicle. Open top bus Until the 1920s most, if not all, double-decker buses were constructed with no roof on the upper deck, and were the original "open-toppers". Open-top buses are now primarily used as tour buses for sightseeing in cities, or around rural monuments or areas of special interest. These often include specialist information equipment, and colourful liveries illustrating

3944-413: Was found for an expansion and modernisation programme and twelve months later the new chairman reported activities had been split into six clear-cut divisions and claimed they were "poised for recovery". The shareholders were faced with continuing losses. Responding to their invitation John King of Pollard Ball took up the challenge and accepted the position of chairman of the board. Julian Amery ,

4012-467: Was founded in 1895 by brothers John Cawsey Dennis (1871–1939) and (Herbert) Raymond Dennis (1878–1939) who made Speed King bicycles. They built the bicycles, initially from bought-in parts, and sold them from their shop, The Universal Athletic Stores, in High Street, Guildford . They made their first motor vehicle in 1898, and in 1899, their first car, The Dennis Light Doctor's Car . Though shown at

4080-489: Was not until April 1919 that it was made public Dennis Brothers and White and Poppe had agreed to an exchange of shares in each other's business. The swap gave Dennis Brothers the controlling interest in White and Poppe. Alfred White and Peter Poppe joined the Dennis Brothers board but it was not until March 1933 in the midst of the 1930s depression that engine production was transferred from Coventry to Guildford. One chassis

4148-414: Was powered by a White and Poppe engine. This power unit was soon fitted to all their vehicles. Until well into the early years of the twentieth century the back wheels of most vehicles were driven by a chain from each side of a differential fixed to the chassis frame. Dennis Brothers developed and patented a reliable worm drive into a differential mounted on the back axle. Another feature of that period

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4216-565: Was problems with the Leyland 510 engines on these as well as standardisation with prospective double deckers that led to Barrow's purchase of Dominators. Barrow were to order double deckers in 1984, but these turned out to be Leyland Atlanteans. The fourth customer was Merthyr Tydfil Transport, another all single-deck fleet, like Hartlepool, no Fleetlines were operated. The fleet consisted of East Lancs-bodied Leopards, Bristol REs with East Lancs and Eastern Coach Works bodies, Leyland Nationals and

4284-407: Was renamed Dennis Motors Limited and with Eagle and Yorkshire Vehicles, managed as the Vehicle Division of Hestair Engineering. In June 1972 the manufacture of trucks for haulage ceased. In September Hestair sold Dennis' Mercury towing tractors and motor mowers to Marshalls (Halifax) and new plant was bought for the Guildford factory. Envec, an acronym for Environmental Vehicles, was chosen as

4352-470: Was the Dominator with a double-deck body followed by more new buses named Jubilant , Dorchester , Lancet and Falcon . The Falcon chassis took either single or double-deck bodies. All these names belonged to previous successful Dennis models. A new range of fire appliances, the R series, went into production in 1976. A single specialist fire engine chassis on which modular body units could be mounted it

4420-489: Was the manufacture of chassis for fire appliances and public service vehicles. Almost all the 35-acre Woodbridge Hill site was sold. At the October 1988 Motor Show Dennis and Duple displayed their new Dennis Dart midibus. At the end of 1988 the Vehicle Division of Hestair Engineering comprised: Trinity Holdings, the management of the Vehicle Division of Hestair Engineering with the backing of banking institutions, bought Dennis from Hestair. Geoff Hollyhead, former head of

4488-503: Was to be the only batch of Ward Motors Dalesman GRXI in 1984. The next customer was the borough of Hartlepool , a neighbouring fleet and another that was all single-deck, they chose East Lancashire Coachbuilders to body their six. Unlike Marshall, East Lancs did not build over the engine compartment, giving an effect reminiscent of Birmingham 's single-deck Fleetlines and Great Yarmouth 's single-deck Atlanteans, which had been bodied respectively in 1965 and 1967 by Marshall. With dual-doors

4556-536: Was unable to supply. During 1957 sales in both home and export markets fell. Demand for commercial vehicles did not recover after the Suez Crisis . The new Loline buses were in service and a variant new chassis was now available with front entry providing driver control of the door. In the 1960s engines moved to the back of the buses. In May 1962, Dennis bought the fire appliance division of Hawker Siddeley Group's Alfred Miles. In April 1964 Dennis purchased

4624-563: Was used for both lorries and buses. In the 1920s Dennis began to design and build separate chassis for their public service vehicles (buses) with a lower ride height. Pneumatic tyres were introduced. Forward control buses were added to their catalogue in the same decade. Export markets were developed between the wars, particularly vehicles for Hong Kong. The decade began with the Great Depression . Diesel engines were in demand for larger commercial vehicles. New Dennis buses were

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