Duple Coachbuilders

The name Duple is intended to convey the principle of a single vehicle being suitable for a dual role, an idea Herbert White developed.

The 'convertible' body, as it was known internally, was built on Morris Cowley and Oxford chassis as well as the Ford T; as well as the standard van top there was a pick-up and even a version with raising sides and slide-out display shelves for use in markets, production ceasing around the end of the 1920s although Duple continued to repair and service examples for many years afterward.

By 1930, the total number of coach and bus bodies produced was 250, establishing Duple as an emerging bodybuilder of some stature, whose distinctive design features were able to influence national trends.

The depression of the 1930s coupled with the introduction of the 1930 Road Traffic Act brought about changes in the bodybuilding sector, which led to a stabilising of the transport industry, established operators feeling secure now that the threat of unregulated competition had been removed by the licensing system.

In 1930, Duple received the largest single order to date, for 50 bodies to be fitted to the AEC Regal chassis for Green Line Coaches, the newly established express service arm of the London General Omnibus Company.

By the middle of the 1930s, Duple was widely regarded as a coachbuilder, although bus bodies were still produced in quite large numbers.

[4] Also built in the 1930s was a special coupé on an Alvis speed 20 model for Lloyd Thompson of the Holdsworth Moquette company, a major supplier to Duple and many other coachbuilders.

[4] Export business had been developed early, based mainly on the travels of the Duple directors, including W. E. Brown, who had already been to the United States and Canada and now embarked on a Mediterranean tour, taking in Greece, Syria and Egypt.

Although car body production was coming to an end, major contracts for the GPO were obtained during the 1930s, for telephone repair vans in the main, on either Morris Minor or larger Morris Commercial Chassis, although two specials were BLB444 of 1934 the blue streamlined van designed to publicise the air mail service, which was modelled as a Dinky Toy.

[5] and GPO1 which was a Morris Commercial Leader tractive unit coupled to a Brockhouse semi-trailer upon which Duple built a travelling post office for use at agricultural shows, race meetings and other major public events.

The introduction of sloping pillars, curving roof- and waist-lines along with shaped mouldings on the side panels all contributed to a new 'aerodynamic' style that was increasing in popularity.

The passenger version was named the 'OB' and Duple modified the Hendonian body to fit the chassis, which at 14 ft 6 in, was longer than the WTB.

Duple also built double-deck highbridge and lowbridge buses to utility specifications, and the only new single-deck vehicle to be produced from 1942 to 1945, the Bedford OWB.

By 1948, Duple had developed a metal-framed double-deck body, examples of which were delivered to the Red & White group and Scottish Motor Traction.

The Vega was intended for the new production model of the Bedford SB, and the bodywork featured a gently curving waistline typical of Duple.

The 1950s brought a difficult time for the bodybuilding industry: the end of the increased postwar demand led to a rapid decline in orders, and competition for the remaining ones became intense.

Many of Duple's former customers were by then in the Tilling Group, which standardised on Bristol chassis and Eastern Coach Works bodywork.

The business of H. V. Burlingham, of Blackpool, best known for the 'Seagull' body of the 1950s, was taken over in August 1960, adding a northern arm to Duple's production.

Towards the end of 1961 Bedford introduced the VAS chassis and Duple produced a completely new design - the Bella Vista - for it.

For 1964, Duple introduced the Commander, initially built at Hendon but switched to Blackpool later, and in 1966 the Viceroy range replaced the Bella series on most Bedford or Ford chassis.

The style was cleaner than earlier models with rectangular headlamps in an integrated grille panel and a much deeper windscreen and driver's window.

The Dominant and Supreme body styles were the ubiquitous British coach of the period, with very little competition other than small numbers from Willowbrook.

In June 1983, Duple was sold to the Hestair Group, which had already acquired the long established business of Dennis Brothers of Guildford.

Duple displayed a bus body for the chassis, the Dartline, that was based on the 300-series but with a distinctive front design, featuring a stepped windscreen and curved lower panel.

In November 1988, Hestair announced that they were selling the Dennis and Duple businesses to a management buyout team, operating under the name Trinity Holdings.