Winchester guns for midis
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• Wadham Stringer Coachbuilders has launched its Winchester midi-coach body on the Leyland Bus Swift chassis, following a preview for operators at the Southampton coach rally in April.
Designed to fill the niche between full-size and minicoaches, it will be sold through Leyland Bus dealer Arlington. Prices will range upwards from 249,000 for a 39-seater on the manual-gearbox Swift chassis, and from £48,000 for the 29seater short-wheelbase version.
The body is built on the same basic frame as the Vanguard Two bus — the two share about 50% of their parts — but styling and trim are to luxury standards on the Winchester with a deep front screen, forced-air ventilation, coach seating and Purmo convector heating.
Geoff Bailey, managing director of the Hampshirebased company, says the UK market for this type of coach is over 200 a year and he aims to take at least half of it.
The Winchester is 9.28m long, 2.4m wide and 2.96m high on the Swift chassis. The welded-steel tube framing has Mebon Coachguard anticorrosion treatment and a onepiece Zintec stretched steel side panel above floor level.
Radio, cassette and PA system are standard; options include an independent heater, reclining seats, courier seat and curtains.