This sofback landscape book is something a little different, on a less-well covered subject, with a novel twist. Of around 130 pictures, mainly one to a page, something like half of them are period photographs, digitally altered and coloured by Garry Luck. This adds an interesting element, with many long forgotten liveries shown, added to the range of bodywork to be seen, as well as the different Daimler chassis types.

Vintage Road Scene

The Daimler Company was one of the oldest established builders of PSV chassis in the United Kingdom and enjoyed a reputation for quality and innovation, particularly with the fluid flywheel. From the earliest charabancs on solid tyres, through the half-cab front-engined CVD6 and underfloor-engined Freelines to the rear-engined Roadliner, Daimler continued to prove their reputation was well earned. Ownership of the company changed several times over the years, until they were finally absorbed into the British Leyland empire, sealing their fate and eventual demise.

This book has a curiously old fashioned feel about it, with mostly one photo per page and explanatory text beneath. The coaches fill the page, with little background to confuse the eye, and allowing us to get a real feel for the coaches as they would have been at the time. There are over 100 photos, all in colour, as the earlier ones have been digitally enhanced and coloured.

As it says in the title, the book only looks at coaches, but there is a good selection from over the years, including a small section on exports. The digitally enhanced colour of the earlier photos is good and gives us a view of liveries we may not have seen before. This is a nice book and well worth looking at.

PSV Circle (Buses) - News Sheet No. 993, October 2022