LEYLAND Nationals are extremely popular, it seems. Following my recent blog, I’ve received loads of feedback…
… including, via aronline, some more info. Mr. Kipling and Scott Hutchings have both put me right on a few points, and offered further insight on others. I felt it only right to share their comments here…
Mr. Kipling…
The National was only popular, he explained, because Leyland made it pretty much the only single deck city bus you could still buy. Bus companies then would never have considered buying ‘foreign’. It was the National or nothing. Also, the National Bus Company forced companies to buy it. Even if it was totally unsuitable.
The roof pod was actually standard during the whole production run. The podless variant was an option introduced in 1978 to make the National cheaper. It was called the ‘Series B’.
It seems the great promise of the National wasn’t fully realised at first. The bus may have been modular in construction, but during the first few years of production, Leyland would only offer it in one length, and inexplicably with dual doors only.
He even revealed some typical Leyland flexibility. To top it off, buses would only be painted in a single colour at the factory. The customer wants two colours? Tough, they’ll have to paint it themselves!
However, the National 2 was a well-sorted bus!
Scott Hutchings…
At the time the National was on the drawing board, explained Scott, one-man-operated single deckers were legalised and Leyland thought there would be a large swing towards single-deckers.
As it turned out, the National was unwisely influenced by the needs of London Transport and the large city operators. When one-man-operated double deckers became legalised, those same operators all rushed to stock up on these vehicles; the planned market for single deckers never materialised.
Meanwhile, the National Bus Company (NBC) had been formed, and so the Government threw the two together to form a new company to build NBC vehicles going forward. This company was called Leyland National Co. Ltd, with Leyland and NBC owing half. Happily, Leyland just happened to have a single decker on its books for NBC to buy. Hence the name of bus, the Leyland National.
Government meddling? Check. The Workington factory wasn’t wanted, as Leyland looked to build it in a new factory near its base in Lancashire. However, like Rootes at Linwood, the Government was pursuing a policy of persuading vehicle manufacturers to locate to areas where there was high unemployment and traditional industries were in decline.
Leyland still thrived despite this. Even in 1979, BL was the largest producer of bus and coach chassis in Western Europe. 15 years later, it had gone.
Hutchings saved the real killer fact until last, though. Get this: In 1973/74 Ron Ellis held tentative talks with his counterpart at Fiat, where there was discussions surrounding Leyland becoming one of the founder members of IVECO.
These talks came to nothing. Michael Edwards revived the talks in 1978 and they came so close to being signed off that Des Pitcher, who succeeded Ron Ellis, was halted at Milan Airport when on his was to sign an agreement…
It begs an interesting question as to what would have happened if it had been signed… would the co-operation have also extended to cars?
Thanks, chaps: cracking stuff… anyone got any more to add?
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