Wow, what a trip down memory lane! I remember well these being new to the Oxford City Link Fleet, and them looking SOOO modern at the time. These bodies were on the last batch of leopards that were acquired for the Oxford-London service before the switch to Leyland Tigers. I absolutely loved them! Something so nostalgic about the roar of those engines! I was far too young at the time to be aware of their reliability issues, but very disappointed when the next batch of new coaches for the Oxford City Link were back to Duple Dominant bodies, and Leyland Tiger engines....I missed that familiar roar! So good to see a photo featured, took me back!

I have fond memories of VHK177L, Eastern National 1404 which was featured in this vid, I had many happy hours and days driving it on various day tours and the old "Highwaynan" services around East Anglia, it was a lovely thing to drive, typical RE smooth and quiet and its nice to see that its still in good hands.

I was born in Beccles (in 1944) but I was raised in Lowestoft and Oulton Broad. ECW had their Works at the top of Denmark Road, where it turns into Rotterdam Road. These days it is part of an industrial estate. one of my uncles was a shop foreman! In the '50's and ''60''s the main production was single- and double- decker buses on Bristol chassis''. The chassis would be driven all the way from Bristol - with the driver in the open air, even in Winter. Some weeks later, that chassis would depart Lowestoft to some part of the UK as a brand new, shiny coloured bus, with the company or corporation name written along the side and a strange (to us collectors of registration numbers) number plate! For me (on my bike) it was possible to ride past the front of the Works on my way home from the town - quite often there would be a line of brand new buses lined up, ready for delivery to their respective operators. Sometime I would write down the name of the city or town on the side of the bus and then look at the road map in my dad''s AA book to see where the bus was going! And you could always tell an ECW bus - ECW was stamped on the rear of the clutch housing, just above the floor level , behind the driver''s cab on the lower deck! Sadly, I think the demise of ECW was not only because of Leyland but also because the unions became very bolshie ( a bit like the coal miners!). Anyway, thanks for the trip down Memory Lane!

That East Lancs body looks interesting in a so bad it's good kind of way. I like the front clip in particular and I immediately thought of the Greenway. That bus made me smile.

Would be great to see a video on Bedford Duple bodied coaches. I remember the Bella Vistas and Bella Vegas of my childhood. I was always fascinated by the Bedford VAL Chinese Sixes!

My late uncle Den pictured here outside Sunderland Central Bus station driving the Redby bus

Blackburn Transport had some of these but with Tiger chassis, they looked smart in the one tone green and cream livery.

The LCBS Greenline TL's suffered constantly with serious cracking around their rear windscreens. The coachmakers headache was trying to keep these vehicles serviceable by rivetting ally plates to the surrounds. This was no permanent solution to a fundemental error in their design, apart from a re-body. I worked for LCBS South West in the 1980's.

The East Lancs body looks like the less known version of the Greenway was it the earlier or later version? It wasn't the ones LT & LCBS had it sort of had a Slab Front

The Wessex Tigers were absolute work horses, doing the daily Bristol to Newcastle 730 service, I believe these examples were rebodied by Duple. Great video.

I must admit, I did like those coaches. I remember seeing them as a kid with United Counties. In managed to track two down, and had planned to buy one, but I was a week late

It’s nothing to do with the Leyland chassis, it was the ECW B51 body, initially designed for rear engined chassis, but adapted to fit mid-engined chassis like the Leopard and the Tiger

More videos please on different types of bodies and body builders, its a little covered subject. East lancs would be interesting to me as we used to charter an east lancs bodied volvo frequently and it aways struck me as a bit of a thrown together 'bitser'

After designing such perfectly balanced and well built bodywork throughout it's history - especially the RELH mk1 - it was sad to watch ECW be influenced by Plaxton and Duple in it's designs......as they were far better than their garish competitors!

such a shame

BMMO, or Midland Red, Carlyle Works would be horrified.

The biggest problem with Leyland in the 1970s-1980s was that Leyland Motors making trucks and buses had been lumped with the former British Motor Corporation manufacturing cars to form British Leyland Motor Corporation. The truck and bus operation should have been totally separate from the car operation, but they were starved of investment because the car factories needed it to improve their unreliable rust bucket products. The Conservative government of the 1980s hated manufacturing and public transport, so, despite in the 1980s still exporting buses even to places like Baghdad, Leyland stood no chance!

Always so much negativity towards the ECW B51 body 🙄. Much prefer a body with an aluminium alloy body frame. Anyone who’s had a go a preserving a Plaxton Supreme / Paramount or Duple Dominant will be familiar rot prone steel body frames and, not to mention the wood. It’s why so few survive today. At least the ECW body frame doesn’t have that issue 👍 Not to forget in the quest to maximise rear boot space the chassis extension behind the rear axle disappeared. Hence all the bodies of this period had structural issues. Indeed that why many Plaxton Supreme bodied leopards have droop after the rear axle, which is an expensive exercise to resolve.

personally i always thought the B51 was a nice looking coach . just a shame it was jerry-built

Typical British Leyland. They got far too big and overstretched themselves. Once proud motor vehicle producers destroyed by corporate greed.