Daimler Freeline
| Daimler Freeline | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Daimler Company |
| Body and chassis | |
| Doors | 1 or 2 door |
| Floor type | Step entrance |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | Daimler D650H 10.5-litre Gardner 6HLW Gardner 5HLW |
| Transmission | Daimler/Self-Changing Gears 4 or 5 speed preselector Daimatic/Self-Changing Gears 4-speed direct-acting epicyclic |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 30ft (home) 33ft & 36ft options for export markets |
| Chronology | |
The Daimler Freeline is an underfloor-engined bus chassis built by Daimler between 1951 and 1964. It was a very poor seller in the UK market for an underfloor-engined bus and coach chassis, but became a substantial export success.
It was the first of only three Daimler PSV models to have a name, as well as an alphanumeric identity. The others were the Daimler Fleetline and the Daimler Roadliner.
The first underfloor-engined bus and coach chassis in Britain were built by Leyland Motors, Tilling-Stevens and the Associated Equipment Company in the years immediately prior to World War II. During wartime, the BMMO (Midland Red) company built prototypes for a substantial fleet of buses to this layout, which they built from 1946 for their own use: over 400 were in service by 1952.
The first manufacturer to offer this new, and more economic design, for general sale was Sentinel of Shrewsbury, from 1947, their models being of integral construction, as was the Leyland-MCW Olympic which followed, in 1948. In 1949, the Associated Equipment Company launched its Regal IV chassis. In 1950, Leyland Motors introduced the Leyland Royal Tiger, also a separate chassis.
The previous Daimler CVD6 half-cab single decker had sold well immediately after the war, particularly to coach operators and independent bus operators, neither of whom were previously core Daimler customers. When, in 1950, the permitted length of single deckers was relaxed, to a new maximum of 30 feet, the CVD6 was offered in a version for long bodies, but half-cabs were becoming obsolete on the home market.
In April 1950, Daimler announced that it would build an underfloor-engined bus and coach chassis. This was the Freeline. The first two were demonstrators. Chassis 25000 was a D650HS sent from Coventry to H. V. Burlingham for bodying to the Seagull coach style, in March 1951. It was later registered LKV218. The second demonstrator, chassis 25001 was sent to Duple Coachbuilders in Hendon and received a B30D+30 (standing) bus body. It was registered LRW377 and exhibited on the Daimler stand at the 1951 Scottish Motor Show at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, in the livery of Edinburgh Corporation, whose general manager was eager to trial standee single deckers on busier routes.
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Wikipedia