Duple CoachbuildersCompanies House extract company no 252237 Burlingham Limited formerly Duple Limited formerly Duple Coach Builders Limited was a coach and bus bodybuilder in England from 1919 until 1989.
History Duple Bodies & Motors was formed in 1919 by Herbert White in Hornsey, London. Before World War I, he had briefly built cars under the Bifort name in Fareham, Hampshire.
Early days
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 first vehicle of this type was called the Bifort. Subsequently, former military Ford Model Ts were fitted with the newly designed dual-purpose bodywork. The bodies looked like a small touring car, but could be transformed into a van by removing the decking at the rear of the car and fitting a van top. This type of vehicle had enormous appeal to the owners of small businesses, who were able to obtain a working vehicle and private car for little extra, and soon bodywork of this type was being produced in substantial numbers. 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.
In 1926 a new factory was opened in Hendon to meet growing demand.
Coachwork had been built on occasions since the inception of the company, including a six-wheeled Lancia-Barton Charabanc. but in 1928 it was decided to make an effort to increase output of this body type substantially. As a result, the order book began to grow and within ten years the number of people employed had risen to around 800.
In 1928, Walter Ernest Brown, a former partner in the Strachan & Brown bodybuilding business, joined the firm, and he had a major influence on the company's future expansion.
Major clients of this period included the Great Western Railway, who ordered a number of bodies for its expanding bus fleet, and Elliott Brothers' Royal Blue fleet.
1930s 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. Accordingly, there was a trend towards vehicles with higher standards of finish and more comfortable interiors.
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.
In August 1931, two Bedford passenger chassis (the 14-seat WHB and 20-seat WLB) were announced. Duple had built early bodies on the WLB chassis for the Vauxhall Motors (the parent company of Bedford), and was listed in publicity material as one of the four bodybuilders recommended for the WLB chassis. As demand for the type rose, Duple's ability to produce in quantity set them apart from their competitors, and soon Duple-bodied Bedford WLBs were in service around the country. The association with Bedford was to last over 50 years.
In 1932, Duple acquired the business of London Lorries who, despite the name, were heavily involved in the manufacture of coach bodies.
By the middle of the 1930s, Duple was widely regarded as a coachbuilder, although bus bodies were still produced in quite large numbers. An order was received from Vauxhall Motors for special sports tourer bodies on Vauxhall 14 hp light six chassis and a stand was taken at the 1933 London Motor Show to display them. They were advertised by Vauxhall up to 1935 and may have been Duple's last car bodies made in quantity, although they also bodied Canadian-assembled Buick 8-50 cars for General Motors in the UK. 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.
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. Export orders were also received in quantity from East Africa and Argentina, and closer to home in Europe. This in part helped to compensate for the reduced demand for UK bodywork, which tended to be seasonal.
By 1934, the original site had become inadequate and 3½ acres of adjoining land were purchased for expansion. 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. 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 late 1930s saw the era of the classic coach design, with operators becoming increasingly conscious of the appearance of their coaches. Many coach bodies were of individual design, but readily identifiable as Duple. 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. Although coachwork continued to be Duple's main product, single-deck bus bodies formed a good part of the production from the mid-1930s, with one customer, Barton Transport, placing a bulk order for such bodies to be delivered over an extended period.
In 1936, Duple introduced the Vista design of bodywork, primarily for the Bedford WTB chassis. It had curved roof- and waist-lines, and featured a sliding roof as standard. In 1937 a revised design of the Vista, the Vista II, was introduced together with a new design - the Hendonian. Both of these remained in production until the end of the decade.
In 1939, Bedford introduced a new range of goods models, which included the 'O', with characteristic 'bullnose' grille. 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. With the advent of World War II, Bedford production was turned over to the war effort, with only 73 OB chassis produced, and it was not until after cessation of hostilities that the Bedford OB with Duple Vista bodywork was to become a familiar sight on British roads.
Wartime During World War II, as a member of the London Aircraft Production Group, Duple built fuselages for the Halifax bomber, along with a variety of military products. 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.
Postwar expansion In 1946 the name of the business was changed to Duple Motor Bodies Limited.
The first postwar production model to appear was the Duple Vista body on the Bedford OB chassis. The standard seating capacity soon became 29, although models with different capacities were still available. The Vista coachwork remained Duple's standard OB body until production of the OB chassis ceased in the early 1950s.
Deliveries of Duple bodywork on full-sized chassis (such as the AEC Regal) began in May 1946, and were known as the A-type, although its curved lines had their origin in the prewar period, so it was not strictly a new design. Before long the order book was filled for several years ahead. Postwar rebodying became common practice as new chassis were initially hard to obtain and Duple built many A-type bodies on different chassis that helped to make it, with its distinctive side 'flash', a familiar sight in postwar Britain. Alternative styles were available, all with alphabetic codes, such as the B-type and C-types, which differed in detail only and were regarded as 'dual-purpose' bodies, whilst the D-type was Duple's own design of bus body.
After the war, there was a move towards metal-framed bodies, partly because of their greater durability and partly because of a shortage of timber for traditional bodywork. Duple designed a metal-framed body (the Almet) for export models on the OB chassis, as well as producing a body design for the new SB chassis, then under development. 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.
1950s
In 1950, a range of full-fronted coach bodies named the 'Ambassador' was produced, but with the maximum permitted length for coaches increased to 30 ft and the maximum width to 8 ft, a series of new designs was prepared. Many were given names, such as the Roadmaster and Vega, all intended for use on specific chassis. The Roadmaster particularly was unlike anything Duple had previously produced, with its high, straight waistline and small windows. It earned the nickname 'Iron Duke' and was intended for underfloor engined chassis, hence the higher waistline. 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. Disputes among union labour resulted in a 36-week strike that was catastrophic for Duple. It began to lose significant amounts of business to other companies and a move out of London was considered.
In 1952, Duple acquired Nudd Brothers & Lockyer Limited, based in Kegworth. The newly acquired firm was used to produce metal-framed bodies in the Duple standard range.
Further premises were acquired in Loughborough in 1955, and in 1956 the Kegworth and Loughborough factories were renamed Duple Motor Bodies (Midland) Limited. In 1958, the business of Willowbrook of Loughborough was acquired, although the business continued to operate under its own name for some time.
Throughout that period, Duple continued to produce new body designs: the Elizabethan, for underfloor-engined chassis, was introduced in 1953; the Britannia, based on the Elizabethan but with vertical pillars, was introduced in 1955, and the Loughborough-built Donington, for dual-purpose use, was added to the range in 1956. The designs for Bedford chassis had continued to be produced, now known as Super Vista (modified C series goods chassis) and Super Vega (SB).
Sixties Moves
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. The Burlingham name was retained until 1962, when it was changed to Duple Motor Bodies (Northern) Limited.