Leyland Comet and Leyland PD1 on Trade Plates

Odd Bodies! (Torque 63 & 64)

Torque 63

Here are two for the price of one. Both appear to be demonstrators with a third, Duple bodied coach, partially seen behind. The single-decker is obviously an export model since it has LH drive. The double-decker has some ‘Brush’ features but has an uncommon overall appearance and is unlike other Brush bodies of that time which I know of.

Torque 64

This turned out to be not two but three for the price of one and produced a big response. It seems that the photograph was taken outside Earls Court at the time of the 1948 Motor Show.

The Comet is thought to be an ECPO/1L with Harrington B--F body, chassis No. 484017 (Line No 2), which was bought by AJ Saad & Fils, Baghdad, Iraq,  entering service after the Show. This is noted as an experimental chassis. The picture (top left, opposite supplied by David Hurley) shows how a very imaginative artist thought it should be advertised to potential customers. I hope no-one was too disappointed when they saw the real thing.

Everyone agrees that the body of the PD1 was by Strachans and one of a batch of 9 which was supplied to Western SMT (registered CCS 403-11) or 6 which went to its subsidiary, Greenock Motor Services (registered VS 4366-8/4866-8, which no doubt caused endless confusion). The latter were later transferred to WSMT. On a better print of the photograph the end of “Services” can be seen on the lower deck panelling meaning that this was one of the Greenock MS batch. The construction of the Strachans bodies was not a success and they literally fell apart in less than four years, primarily because the metal framing was too lightweight causing body fl exing which manifested itself in rivets literally popping from the body panels.

This resulted in all of them being rebodied by Eastern Coachworks in 1952. The photographs show one of the Greenock batch, VS 4867, with its original body (from Allan Condie – note the rather crude application of the fleet name) and below that, similar VS 4367 after rebodying (Leyland Society Archive).

The third vehicle on the extreme right created a lot of interest, though not a Leyland! It had a Duple body on a genuine Maudslay chassis as can be seen from the “M” on the hub. (HHP 755 which was used as a Maudslay demonstrator at the time was actually an AEC Regal and had AEC hubs.) There were three genuine Maudslay/Duple demonstrators but only HHP 756 matches the one in the photograph since it was the only one to UK specification.

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