article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message type subsidiary industry automotive founded 1907 headquarters scarborough england products bus and coach bodies owner alexander dennis number of employees 530 website www.plaxtonlimited.co.uk plaxton is an english builder of bus and coach vehicle bodies based in scarborough . the plaxton of today is the successor to a business founded in scarborough in 1907 by frederick william plaxton . it became a subsidiary of alexander dennis in may 2007 . contents 1 history 1.1 beginnings 1.2 coaches of the 1930s 1.3 1950s 1.4 1960s and 1970s 1.5 the paramount era 1.6 henlys and a new beginning 1.7 independent again 1.8 purchase by alexander dennis 2 products 2.1 past 2.2 current 2.2.1 coaches 2.2.2 buses 3 see also 4 references 5 image links 6 external links history edit g line holidays plaxton elite bodied volvo b9r in june 2011 beginnings edit the business was founded as a joinery workshop and expanded into building contracting . as a building contractor plaxtons built a number of notable buildings in scarborough . soon after world war i plaxtons diversified and began to build charabanc bodies on ford model t chassis . of more importance at the time was the construction of automobile bodywork . this included bodywork for rolls royce sunbeam and daimler but principally for crossley car chassis . this activity continued through the 1920s but the depression of 1929 1933 created difficulties for manufacture of luxury automobiles . as a result the manufacture of charabanc and later coach bodies became more important through the late 1920s and early 1930s . customers during this time tended to be local to the scarborough area scarborough being a popular seaside resort . coaches of the 1930s edit by 1936 the company felt justified in construction of a large new manufacturing facility in seamer road scarborough . this allowed increased production and plaxtons became popular with many independent operators throughout northern england . many of these operators purchased their vehicles through independent dealers rather than directly from the factory . in this regard plaxton s sales were through lancashire motor traders ltd of manchester and arlington motor co ltd of london . the company became known as fw plaxton & son by 1937 as the founder s son also named frederick william joined the company at the age of 18 . fw plaxton junior was to be known as eric to avoid confusion with his father . plaxtons built a number of different coach designs through the 1930s until settling on a distinctive house style . the style typically consisted of a very rounded front profile at the windscreen area with side windows that sloped backwards at the front were upright at the centre and sloped forward at the back . bodywork for the bedford wtb chassis was particularly distinctive sloping severally from the bottom of the front wheel arch to the roofline leaving the bullnose radiator grille protruding . the rear also sloped prominently . the wtb chassis was very popular choice for operators at that time together with the dodge rbf and sbf . leyland and aec chassis were also popular for larger coaches notably the leyland tiger and aec regal . on the outbreak of world war ii in 1939 coach production halted and the factory was turned into a munitions factory under the control of the ministry of aircraft production . many records from the early years were lost when an incendiary bomb set fire to the seamer road factory in 1943 causing much damage . as the factory was under control of the ministry of works production continued in the open air whilst a replacement was constructed . some adjacent land was loaned by a market gardener who subsequently joined the board years later . 1950s edit production restarted at the end of 1945 and in 1951 the business was registered for the first time as a private company plaxtons scarborough limited . 1 two new models were exhibited at the 1950 commercial motor show with names instead of model codes for the first time . the envoy was for traditional front engined chassis and featured a full front cab with a vee pattern windscreen and aluminium trim across the lower part of the radiator grill extending round squared off front corners to the wheel arches . image 1 the crusader which could be built on front engined or the new underfloor engined chassis had a more upright front profile with curved glass panels at the windscreen corners and in most cases an enlarged side window with sloping pillars between this and the entrance . image 2 on front engined chassis the crusader employed the envoy s front trim . both envoy and crusader were produced to the new maximum dimensions of 30 ft 9.1 m by 8 ft 2.4 m and many examples were originally fitted with rear wheel spats . the envoy was short lived perhaps partly because of the obsolescence of most of the chassis types for which it was intended while the crusader was rapidly overtaken by a further new underfloor engined model the venturer . the venturer combined the front of the crusader with more restrained and conservative styling image 3 and proved so popular that it wasn t long before a version was produced for front engined chassis mostly lightweight bedfords and commers with a rather more raked frontal appearance . by the time the mark ii version appeared at the 1952 show the venturer was plaxton s standard model . the venturer ii had a common front profile for all models together with a standard dash panel featuring a four part radiator grille with a central cross within an oval outline which also embraced the headlamps . image 4 a rear end revision marked the launch of the venturer iii in 1954 and the following year a version was produced for underfloor engined chassis with the entrance ahead of the front axle . this required a return to a more vertical front profile and meant that there were now three variants of the venturer front engined image 5 underfloor engined with a centre entrance image 6 and underfloor engined with a front entrance . image 7 this three variant approach established with the venturer continued throughout the life of the succeeding consort model and into the embassy era although the relative importance of the three versions varied significantly over the years . the consort was first shown at the 1956 commercial motor show . it was a development of the venturer but in place of the previous oval the four part grill was now enclosed by a near trapezoidal outline though actually hexagonal wider at the top than the bottom with the headlamps outside . trim was revised to be much squarer in outline featuring ribbed brightwork and the curved rear quarter lights first standardised on the venturer iii were now incorporated into the main window line . image 8 however a year later the consort ii was announced re introducing the oval grill outline of the venturer but now surrounding a plainer grill with chrome flash across the middle while the trim lines so recently squared up were softened once again . image 9 the evident popularity of the oval shaped grill then ensured its survival as a plaxton hallmark for many years to come . in 1957 the founder of the company fw plaxton senior died and was succeeded as chairman by his son frederick jnr though known as eric . in 1958 plaxtons were approached by sheffield united tours sut with a requirement for a new crisper design of coach body . the result was the first panorama body . the main feature of the panorama design was the large fixed rectangular side windows . a vertical front from the contemporary consort ii design was used with the door ahead of the front axle . the 1958 panorama was entered into the british and the nice coach rallies winning top awards at both events . the first six panoramas designated panorama pioneer by sut were built on aec reliance chassis and seated 36 passengers . image 10 the production version of the panorama with 41 seats as standard was introduced at the 1958 commercial motor show as an addition to the existing range available in one form only on underfloor engined chassis with the entrance ahead of the front axle . in common with the new consort iii and iv it had a new silver effect dished oval grill with a chrome flash through the middle and a curved windscreen with a central division . the original panorama s short window immediately behind the entrance door was removed and encapsulated into the first bay and the difference in level between the waistline and the rear window was accommodated by a stylish kick up at the rear . image 11 the design then received minor modifications over the next two years . consort iv variants with the entrance further back together with the smaller consort iii were able use a windscreen with even greater curvature image 12 but it was the panorama which was the trend setter becoming a strong influence on the development of british coach styling for years to come . 1960s and 1970s edit preserved embassy bodied bedford vas in august 2010 plaxton became a public company in january 1961 . for the 1961 coaching season the consort iv evolved into the embassy the main change being that the windows now tapered inwards towards the roof rather than being vertical . at the same time a new version of the panorama was created using the same shell as the embassy but with fewer window pillars . the new panorama boasted a completely new front featuring a slight peak overhang above the windscreen which was now optionally undivided a small grill at the bottom of the front panel and for the first time double headlights . image 13 embassy bodies on underfloor engined chassis shared some or all of these features depending on the entrance position . image 14 however because the standard offering in the underfloor engined sector was now the panorama most embassy bodies were built on lightweight front engined chassis particularly the thames 570e and bedford sb . in this form with the entrance behind the front axle the embassy retained the dished oval grill and wrap around windscreen of the consort iv . image 15 the rear of both panorama and embassy comprised a two piece curved glass window that wrapped around to meet the rearmost side pillars and the lights were contained in a single unit with a fin like top rather like the rear of the ford anglia 105e saloon . image 16 36 foot 11 m versions of both models were introduced on leyland leopard and aec reliance chassis as soon as legislation allowed and were 8 feet 2.5 inches 2.502 m wide . the first 36 foot coach in britain was a panorama delivered to sut in 1961 . however while the extra length gave a real boost to the panorama s appearance with the falling roofline making the vehicle look even longer than it actually was image 17 the extension of the embassy by two additional window bays was less satisfactory . image 18 so much so that when a multi windowed embassy ii in the livery of bloomfields coaches of london appeared on the newly introduced bedford val 36 foot chassis at the 1962 commercial motor show the reaction was so negative than no more of this type were built . 2 alongside the bloomfields val on the plaxton stand was a further revised panorama . this was an altogether much larger looking vehicle than before with deeper windows all round the waistline