Thomas Harrington & Sons
Thomas Harrington & Sons was a coachbuilder in the county of Sussex from 1897 until 1966, initially at Brighton but from 1930 until the end in a purpose built Art Deco factory (an image of which was used on the builder's transfers) in Old Shoreham Road, Hove.
This appurtenance looked like a truncated aircraft tail and when applied to the rear of the vehicle allowed a rakishly curved rear-dome outline without compromising passenger access to the rear bench seat and was designed to act as an air-extractor as the vehicle moved, stale air exited the coach saloon due to the suction effect of the low pressure areas created behind the fin.
North Western had been transferred from Tilling to BET during World War II and took Wayfarers of Marks 1, 3 and 4 for its touring coaches but went elsewhere for express types, notably toward the end of the decade to Alexander.
From the early 1930s until the mid-1950s Harrington employee and former Southdown driver Ernie Johnstone constructed 63 quarter-scale road-legal coaches to give novelty rides to young children.
Harrington (like Beadle) employed units from the Avenger together with a mid-mounted TS3 engine in its Contender range of integral buses and coaches of the mid-1950s, some of these resembled the Wayfarer and others had the standard bus outline of the time, but there was a special design built for British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) this had a straight waistrail[clarification needed] and a multi-paned lantern-type windscreen.
An odd choice of propulsion in the fuel-economy obsessed 1950s but they were probably a lot lighter on petrol than a Boeing Stratocruiser or a Lockheed Super Constellation[citation needed]).
Duple was strong in the lightweight end of the market, being first choice for bodies on the market-leading Bedford but was facing competition in the premium underfloor engined class from Plaxton and HV Burlingham of Blackpool.
Like Harringtons, these were primarily builders of coach bodies who also did buses, Burlingham built double as well as single deck vehicles and had a respected if small list of customers for these.
[1] This combination of alloy frame, mainly aluminium panelling and GRP for coachwork features requiring complex compound curvature enabled stronger, lighter and more durable coach bodies.
Until 1957 Harrington designs for lightweight coaches such as the Bedford SB and the Commer Avenger had been unnamed, but in 1958 the Crusader was launched, it used large glass-fibre mouldings for the front and rear panels.
It was built on the above two chassis and the Ford Thames 570E, customers included Northern General Transport Company,[13] Garelochhead Coach Service and Southdown, who took a batch of 15 Commers in 1960.
In 1961, 3000RW was prepared in Seacrest Green for competition at the 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Rootes Works department with aluminum boot, door and bonnet panels and fared-in headlamps.
The Plaxton Panorama (launched in production guise in 1959) had a basically rather boxlike shape and a very flashy grille, but it did pioneer Smiths Instruments 'jet-vent' forced ventilation system allowing fixed windows and a cleaner side outline.
The Willowbrook Viscount (new for 1960) had puzzling trim lines stopping and starting in the middle of nowhere and an overly-bulky outline whilst the optional reverse-rake rear glass was a feature that was already dated at the time of its launch and today simply looks odd.
Alexander sold coaches south of the border to North Western and Barton Transport and had a pair of fairly conservative (though aluminium-alloy framed) designs.
Comparing the two the Seagull 70s detailing was crude and over-emphasised whereas that of the Cavallier was sharply delineated, making the whole coach look lean and sculpted by comparison with the Burlingham style.
The Yeates Europa (from 1958, on first facelift for 1960) combined a similarly dumpy volume to the Willowbrook, made in the same town, with deliberately tasteless detailing and riotous paint schemes in a way that operators and passengers either loved or loathed, but it was easily the brashest option.
By the time Lloyds of Nuneaton's 3857UE was shown at the 1960 Commercial Motor Show at Earls Court 68 Cavaliers had been sold to seven BET fleets, ten independents and local charity St Dunstan's Home for the Blind.
The largest repeat order was from Northern General who again took ten touring coaches, this time on Leopard, and independents adding further Cavaliers were Abbott of Blackpool, Ellen Smith of Rochdale, Flight of Birmingham and Harris of Greys.
In terms of chassis on which to build Harringtons fortune had definitely swung in the direction of Farington, with 86 Leopards and a Tiger Cub being bodied in contrast with only 26 Reliances, the Albion Aberdonian had been discontinued the previous year, so it would from now on be a straight fight between Lancashire and Middlesex.
Harrington's cleverness in construction was necessary for as well as three variants of the Cavalier Old Shoreham Road had to find space for car and minibus conversion work, production of Mark 2 Crusader and bus bodies on AEC Reliance and Albion Nimbus chassis.
Maidstone & District took ten, South Wales two and Trent Motor Traction, another BET subsidiary, took five, one of which was a replacement body on an accident-salvaged chassis built in 1958.
For the shorter AECs and Leylands the Britannia was finally replaced by the Hendon-built Commodore, which was a modification of the mass market Bella Vista body being 1 ft 10in longer with a front entrance and a maximum capacity of 45.
Another competitive body was Alexander Y Type, first shown in 1961, which in coach form had four trapezoid windows on each straight-waisted side and double curvature glazing front and rear.
The forced-ventilation set up was standard, intakes for it being fitted in the front peak rather than in Plaxton-style air-scoops on the roof, these changes adding further to the cleanliness of line, the bright trim was of a similar layout to that of the Cavalier, the skirt mouldings being carried over virtually unchanged.
The return of North Western was maybe a surprise as they were a major supporter of the 11m Alexander Y Type, but they obviously wanted something shorter (and a bit classier) for their extended tours, their two Leopard L2 had illuminated offside and nearside name badges under the second bay.
The independent buyers were Abbott of Blackpool, Barton Transport, Bermuda of Nuneaton, Gliderways, Hall Brothers of South Shields, Jones, Keith of Aylesbury and Motorways Overseas.
Private sector customers were, on Leopard, Grey Green (4) and Jones, Aberbeeg (1), Ekcersley of St Helens took a Grenadier body on a reconditioned 1954 Tiger Cub chassis whilst Gliderways had two new Tiger Cubs, the rest were on Reliance, Bowen of Birmingham had three, and one each went to the following: Green Luxury, Walton-on-Thames, Harris of Greys, Hutchings & Cornelius, South Petherton, Rickard of Brentford and Warburton of Bury The sole BET customer for the 36-foot Grenadier was Black & White Motorways of Cheltenham, taking five Leopard PSU3.
The Reliance list was headed by Barton Transport whose 1001-10 featured a destination box below the windscreen in lieu of the illuminated name badge, allowing the fitment of a standard Grenadier windscreen but they retained the power doors, they were registered BVO1-10C and featured Reliance 4U3RA air-suspended chassis, a very rare option on the home market; the only other air-sprung chassis to receive Harrington bodies were the initial Ribble and Southdown batches of Cavalier bodied Leopard L2T.
Steel-sprung Reliance 590s went to Valliant of Ealing (four with top-sliding windows in lieu of forced vents), Motorways Overseas, London, Surrey Motors of Sutton (3 each), Regent of Redditch (2), Beavis of Bussage, Gloucestershire (one), Bermuda of Nuneaton (one) and Hawkey of Newquay (one).
