Longwell Green Coachworks
Newport Transport's vintage Leyland Titan bus with Longwell Green bodywork
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Formerly called
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W. J. Bence & Sons |
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| Limited company | |
| Industry | Vehicle manufacturing |
| Founded | 1919 |
| Founder | W. J. Bence |
| Headquarters | Longwell Green, Bristol, England |
| Products | Buses, lorries, vans |
Longwell Green Coachworks, formerly W. J. Bence & Sons and then Bence Motor Bodies Ltd, was a vehicle manufacturer based in Longwell Green, Bristol, England. It built the bodies of buses, coaches, vans and lorries on chassis supplied by other manufacturers. The company was in business from 1919 until 1983.
William J. Bence, a wheelwright, started a horse-drawn carriage business in 1891, connected many of the outlying villages with Bristol. He transported goods and was also glad to take passengers, particularly on market days. Bence moved into several other lines of business, including being an agent for chassis manufacturers such as Ford.
In 1919 Bence began a motor bus service from his base in Longwell Green. He began to build bus bodies on the chassis for his own service and for other bus operators. The chassis had been designed for military vehicles from World War I (1914–18). In 1922 Bence Motor Services was running 14-seat buses on a Ford Model T chassis. The W. J. Bence & Sons coachworks also built delivery vans. The company made Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) throughout the 1930s.
At the start of World War II (1939–45) Bence was asked to make vehicle bodies for the military, and the company was renamed Bence Motor Bodies Ltd. In 1941 W. J. Bence was the only firm willing to undertake conversion of a second-hand 50 hp Daimler car into an ambulance for city of Bath, at a cost of ₤325.
About 1944 the company was renamed Longwell Green Coachworks Ltd. By 1946 the company was offering bus, coach and commercial bodies. Coach bodies were built on chassis from Daimler and Maudslay, and 29- and 33-seat buses were built on the Leyland Comet chassis. The company built double-decker buses for the Bristol Omnibus Company on the Leyland Titan PD1 chassis. Longwell Green sold many bus bodies on chassis with underfloor engines to South Wales operators in the 1950s. For example, in 1957 Longwell Green supplied four single-deck motorbuses with Leyland Tiger Cub chassis to Cardiff Corporation. Between 1952 and 1957 Longwell Green was among the companies that built bodies for high-capacity Bedford pumping vehicles known as "Green Goddesses" for use by the Auxiliary Fire Service.
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