Grand National – 1

It’s hard to believe that next year will see the 35th anniversary of the first production Leyland National hitting the streets.

It’s debatable whether or not the National was a classic. It was, though, a redefinition in the way buses were manufactured and marketed, built as an integral from brought-in parts in a cost-cutting assembly plant. In fact, its defining properties were the same features that made the bus initially unpopular with traditionally conservative operators.

Like the specifications which came initially in lengths of two, 10.3 or 11.3m, but with the same body design. You could order dual or single door. Seating layout for the 11.3m was 49-52 (single door) or 44-46 (dual door) depending on luggage capacity. The somewhat utilitarian internal trim was never varied. The vehicle as a city bus was what was then termed "low floor" but something that is now best described as “low frame”, because of the entrance step. There was no high floor option, which meant that the dual-purpose seated vehicles were unsatisfactorily on a low frame.

That was all. Nothing else was offered. Compare that to the flexibility of traditional chassis and jig-built body and the flexible options this created.

Yet, the bus was durable and popular. Nearly 8,000 were built. There are many reasons for its popularity, not least Leyland killing off all internal competition. After the initial shock and early reliability problems, there is still a certain fondness for the beast among the hard hearts of the bus operating industry. And it’s the reasons for this - the quirks, even - we hope to explore in the following days or weeks. At some point, at any rate.

Happy birthday, Leyland National!

The new front page picture shows a Leyalnd National in typical NBC poppy red.