Southdown was
rightly famous for its extended “Coach Cruises”, and it is
perhaps inevitable that vehicles built to the company’s touring specification have shared most of the limelight and are well represented
in preservation, even though they formed a relatively small part of
Southdown's coaching fleet. For example, all four coaches in the Southcoast
Motor Services collection were originally touring coaches, and
although all were downgraded and upseated for general work later in
their service lives, we are restoring them to their original
luxurious specification.
A much rarer bird
visited our depot recently, in the form of XUF 141, a Southdown Leyland Tiger
Cub with Weymann “Fanfare” body, built in 1960 (fleet number 1141). This vehicle is
believed to be the sole survivor of a batch of no less than 155
coaches built between 1955 and 1962 on Tiger Cub chassis, with bodies
by Beadle (130) and Weymann (25).
Designed for
“Beacon” Tours, Day Excursions, private hires and general
coaching work, these coaches were a familiar sight throughout
Southdown's home territory, and further afield. 1141 has been
authentically restored externally and internally, and features the
“Cirrus” pattern of seat covering, which was also used on
contemporary batches of Leyland PD3 “Queen Mary” double deckers.
www.southcoastmotorservices.co.uk