Two Scottish Coachbuilders

The story of Scottish Commercial & Scottish Aviation

authors: Michael Eyre, Richard Gadsby & Peter Tulloch
softback 240mm x 285mm, 72 pages
ISBN 978 0 9565740 6 0

For many bus and coach operators in Britain, the Second World War had taken its toll on their fleets, which afterwards were in desperate need of renewal and updating. Five years of make-do-and-mend and an upsurge in demand for travel meant the need for new or rebodied buses was high.

Thus, a fair number of manufacturing companies who had never built bus or coach bodies in the past turned their factory floors into production lines for public service vehicle bodybuilding. For many, it was uncharted waters and quality could be variable. Some disappeared almost as quickly as they had begun; others lasted longer.

This beatifully illustrated book tells the compelling tale of two rather different companies in Scotland that jumped on this bandwagon, but by the early 1950s were no longer in this market.

Thoroughly researched, the story is told with authority and affection, and is redolent of that short-lived era when Britain's bus and coach operators were facting the post-war years with optimism, hope and determination.