Leyland Swift

Leyland Swift as a coach

Leyland Swift as a bus with 39 seats, body by Wright , built in 1991

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The Leyland Swift is a bus chassis for midibuses from the British commercial vehicle manufacturer Leyland Motors . The type was built from 1987 to 1992.

The construction of the chassis is based on the Leyland Roadrunner light truck . In contrast to the truck, however, the engine on the Swift was placed behind the front axle so that the entrance could be placed in the front overhang. The chassis was available with a wheelbase of 3.6 m or 4.4 m. Mainly a turbocharged six-cylinder diesel engine from Cummins was used together with synchronized transmissions, alternatively an automatic transmission from Allison was also available.

The chassis were completed with bodies from various manufacturers. Both coaches and city buses were produced. Wadham Stringer modified the Vanguard II body for the Swift and was able to secure a large number of orders. The Harrier design by Reeve Burgess was also popular . In addition to the Orion , the Elme 2001 company from Portugal also developed a special version for transporting the handicapped with an integrated wheelchair lift . Wright in Northern Ireland put on two different body styles. Some chassis were also completed as mobile libraries .

The Swift with the Orion or Vanguard II structure was particularly popular on the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey . It took full advantage of the local size restrictions for buses, offered space for 43 passengers and thus made it possible to replace the buses built on older Bedford self-service chassis. Overall, however, the bus was not a commercial success, only 345 units could be sold. The high floor, which was necessary because of the engine placed behind the front axle, proved to be particularly disadvantageous. The production numbers of the Swift collapsed when the conceptually similar Dennis Dart appeared in the low-floor version. After Leyland was taken over by Volvo , production was discontinued, especially since Volvo had a similar model on offer with the rear-engined B6 . A further development of the Swift was produced by Cannon Coaches in small numbers.

Web links

Commons : Leyland Swift  - collection of images, videos and audio files

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