LUXURY IN TRAVEL

Timaru Herald, Volume CXL, Issue 20282, 4 December 1935, Page 13

LUXURY IN TRAVEL

LATEST MOTOR COACHES LONDON, November 9. Two years of progress in a rapidly expanding industry are epitomised in the 12th Commercial Motor Show which opened at Olympia this week. Many new types of vehicle have been evolved, and almost every old type has been developed and improved. They are all shown, from the three-wheeled £4-tax box van to great 12-wheeled monsters carrying 15-ton loads on tyres 20in.. in diameter. Buses and coaches are still more luxurious. They belong to a different age from the first motor-omnibus of 30 years ago. Their appearance is transformed with streamlined bodies and the engine and driver’s cabin merged in the shell. Sides apparently entirely of glass give passengers maximum visibility. In one coach part of the roof is glass, too. There are buses with sliding doors, buses with fluid flywheels like the Daimlers, and a bus with its engine in one side and a staircase at each end. There is the Leyland "torque converter” bus with no gears at all, the Crossley bus with automatic gears and no clutch, the Bristol bus with ninecylinder exial engine. The new taxis have much more restful occasional seats, and some have three screen-wipers working together. The new ambulances are the last word in comfort. The Vauxhall ambulance built for the St. John Ambulance Association is positively luxurious.