Plaxton Supreme

Plaxton Supreme
Supreme IV Express bodywork on a Leyland Leopard chassis
Overview
Manufacturer	Plaxton
Production	1974 - 1986
Body and chassis
Doors	1 door
Floor type	Step entrance
Chassis	AEC Reliance Bedford SB Bedford VAS Bedford Y series Bristol LH DAF MB200 DAF SB2005 Ford R-Series Leyland Leopard Leyland Tiger Magirus-Deutz MAN Mercedes-Benz O303 Seddon Pennine 7 Volvo B10M Volvo B58 Volvo B655 Volvo B755 Ward Dalesman

The Plaxton Supreme was a design of coach bodywork built by Plaxton. It was first built, on small chassis only, in 1974, replacing the Plaxton Panorama. On full-sized chassis, it replaced the Panorama Elite in 1975, and was superseded by the Paramount in 1982/3. However, the Supreme continued to be built on the small Bedford VAS chassis until 1986.

The most important change from the models it replaced was the introduction of all-steel construction, replacing the composite wood and steel framework of the Elite and Panorama.

Supreme bodywork was fitted to a wide range of chassis, including:

• AEC Reliance
• Bedford SB, VAS and Y Series
• Bristol LH
• DAF MB200 and SB2005
• Ford R-Series
• Leyland Leopard and Tiger
• MAN (export only)
• Magirus-Deutz (export only)
• Mercedes-Benz O303
• Seddon Pennine 7
• Volvo B10M, B58, B655 (export rebodies) and B755 (export rebodies)
• Ward Dalesman

These were all badged as "Supreme" only, with no numerals to distinguish the different variants. As a result, the definitions are not clear. Plaxton's centenary website states that the Supreme I was built on the Bedford VAS chassis, and the Supreme II on the Bristol LHS.^[1] However the spare parts manuals state that the Supreme II was built with composite wooden/steel frames on full-size chassis, such as the Leyland Leopard, Bedford YLQ/YMT, Ford R1014/R1114, AEC and Volvo B58. The Supreme III was built with entirely steel framing. Wooden and steel framed examples were built in parallel during the 1976, 1977 and 1978 seasons, the difference being undetectable from the outside, but determined by the body number suffix AM (All Metal) or the letter M in the middle of the body number.

Its design features clearly echoed those of the Elite III but with subtly evolved shape and trim. The windscreen shape was altered to have a more heavily arched top, with vertical ridges above it where the Elite had had horizontal ridges. The grille surround was integrated with the front bumper, and the panel between the headlights was usually omitted resulting in a larger grille. Side trim generally included two chrome strips along the sides, the lower one having either one or two curved kinks in it. The rear end is less rounded than the Elite's.

The design received a facelift in 1978, with the first examples of the new Supreme IV entering service towards the end of that year. The windscreen shape was altered again, this time to have a flatter top, and the ridged area above it was done away with. The grille and headlight area underwent a complete revision, with twin rectangular headlights flanking a grille of three chunky slats (although some vehicles had an optional rectangular chrome grille). The kink in the side trim was replaced by a parallelogram-shaped link between straight sections, and the window in the door was deeper.

A completely new rear end, superficially similar to that later used on the Paramount, was designed for the Supreme V. It had a flat rear window and large rectangular light clusters. The front and sides were unchanged from the Supreme IV.

The Supreme VI, built alongside the Supreme V, had the same front and rear ends as the latter but with shallow, flat side windows. It was aimed at overnight express services.^{[citation needed]}

All of the larger Supremes were available to "express" or "grant" specification with wide doorway and two-piece doors. These variants were badged Supreme Express, Supreme IV Express, Supreme V Express and Supreme VI Express. (This was in contrast to the Elite series, where the numeral was placed after the word Express.)

The Viewmaster was a taller version of the Supreme III or IV, with the height increased by approximately 10 inches (250 mm). This did initially cause some problems as the initial models were too top heavy and were liable to fall over, so modifications was needed to the original design to lower the centre of gravity. The designers claimed that the original design would not fall over, but the engineers argued otherwise and were eventually proven right. The windscreen on the Viewmaster was a taller version of that used on the Supreme III, and was retained unaltered for the Viewmaster IV. Both were also available to "express" specification, as the Viewmaster Express and Viewmaster IV Express respectively.

This van-derived minicoach version of the Supreme was built at the Plaxton Scarborough Service Division and their Southern Service Centre in Ware, Hertfordshire, the former Thurgood Coachworks, on Bedford CF and Mercedes L608D chassis. As well as providing accident repair and rebuild or refurbishment functions, Ware was tasked with a lot of non-standard coach-building, including all Mini-Supremes and the sole mini-Paramount.

• 
  1977 Leyland Leopard / Plaxton Supreme Express (11-metre). The grille insert between the headlamps was an optional feature on early Supremes.
• 
  1978 DAF MB200 / Plaxton Supreme (12-metre)
• 
  1979 Bristol LH / Plaxton Supreme Express (10-metre). Non-standard narrow (7' 6" wide) body, wider two-piece Express door and "Bristol dome" destination/fleetname display above the windscreen.
• 
  1977 Volvo B58 / Plaxton Viewmaster (11-metre).
• 
  1978 Mercedes-Benz O303 / Plaxton Supreme (12-metre). Supreme bodies on such chassis incorporated standard Mercedes-Benz fronts, and in some cases also Mercedes-Benz rears. The outwardly hinged door was another non-standard feature.
• 
  1979 AEC Reliance / Plaxton Supreme IV (12-metre), with the original style of Supreme IV grille.
• 
  1981 Volvo B10M / Plaxton Viewmaster IV GT. The chrome grille was introduced as part of the GT option package on the Supreme IV and Viewmaster IV, but was later fitted as standard.
• 
  1983 Bedford VAS5 / Plaxton Supreme IV midicoach
• 
  1981 Leyland Leopard / Plaxton Supreme V (11-metre).
• 
  1982 Volvo B10M / Plaxton Supreme VI (12-metre), showing the shallow windows unique to the Supreme VI.
• 
  1979 Bedford CF / Plaxton Mini Supreme
• 
  The rear end of a Plaxton Supreme IV. Earlier versions of the Supreme had similar rears.
• 
  The Supreme V and VI used a revised rear end, as seen on this Supreme VI.
• 
  Supreme bodies built on Mercedes-Benz O303 chassis initially had standard Plaxton rear ends but later vehicles used Mercedes-Benz rear panels, as illustrated by this 1981 Supreme IV.