The East Lancs 1984-style double-deck body is a type of bus body built on different chassis by East Lancashire Coachbuilders

East Lancashire Coachbuilders

East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited was a manufacturer of bus bodies and carriages founded in 1934 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England.In 1994 the company expanded in to new premises and commenced a programme of development that resulted in a range of single and double deck buses which was the...

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Chassis

Several different chassis types were bodied with this style of bodywork. These include:

• Dennis Dominator
  Dennis Dominator
  The Dennis Dominator was Dennis's first rear-engined double-decker bus chassis, it was launched in 1977. Dennis had been absent from the bus manufacturing market since the last Lolines were produced in 1967. The Dominator was described as bespoke, with numerous options...
  
  
• Volvo B10M
  Volvo B10M
  The Volvo B10M is a popular mid-engined bus and coach chassis built by Volvo between 1978 and 2001. It was built as the successor of the B58 and was equipped with a 9.6-litre horizontally-mounted Volvo THD100/THD101/THD102/THD103/THD104/DH10A diesel engine mounted under the floor, near the middle...
  
  
• Leyland Olympian
  Leyland Olympian
  The Leyland Olympian was a double-decker bus built by British Leyland/Leyland Bus in the United Kingdom from 1980 to 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production before the demise of Leyland Bus.-Construction:...
  
  
• Scania N112
  Scania N112
  The Scania N112 was a transverse-engined bus chassis built by the Scania division of Saab-Scania AB of Sweden between 1978 and 1987, mainly for the Nordic and the UK markets.-BR112DH:...
  
   and N113
  Scania N113
  The Scania N113 was a transverse-engined bus chassis built by Scania AB of Sweden between 1988 and 2000.Like its predecessor, the N112, the N113 had an 11-litre engine mounted at the rear, coupled to either a Scania or Voith gearbox...
  
  
• Volvo B58
  Volvo B58
  The Volvo B58 is a mid-engined bus chassis built by Volvo of Sweden from 1966 until early 1982. It was the forerunner to the highly successful B10M....
  
   (rebody)

Description

This distinctive style of bodywork has a downward-sloping front window bay on the upper deck, with both top and bottom edges angled downwards. The side windows are square-cornered. A large double-curvature upper deck windscreen (either single-piece or two-piece) is one of the most distinctive features.

Originally a tall, wrap-around lower deck windscreen was fitted, but some batches were fitted with a double-curvature windscreen, with either a straight or an arched top.

A batch of Dennis Dominators built for Southampton City Transport have bodywork which is mostly to this style, including the downswept front upper deck window bay, but with a divided flat upper deck windscreen in place of the distinctive double-curvature screen.

History

This design was introduced in 1984. Early examples included Dennis Dominators for Leicester CityBus

First Leicester

First in Leicester is the trading name of Leicester Citybus Ltd., a bus company owned by the First Group. It runs buses in the city of Leicester, England...

. At first it was often specified for coach use, sometimes by operators who at the same time specified one of the plainer designs for bus use. This has sometimes earned it the misnomer "coach body", but in fact a majority were buses.

Later orders came from Drawlane subsidiaries London & Country, North Western and Midland Red North.

Naming

This design had no official name that was used publicly, however it has been referred to as the Droop Nose Design.