Dennis Buses and Other Vehicles

Book excerpt: The Dennis company has been building vehicles since 1895, making it the oldest continuously producing British manufacturer. From its origins in a small Guildford shop, the company has grown to become a major bus manufacturer with its products selling around the world. This book discusses the company's highs and lows, through two world wars, challenging markets and ownership changes. It documents the vehicles produced and their innovative design features, from early cars and street-cleaning machines to vans, buses, trucks, fire engines and ambulances. First-hand descriptions of how, and why, some of the company's most successful products such as the Dart, Trident and Enviro buses evolved. It explains why their once market-leading fire engines are no longer made. It also analyses the reasons why some products were less successful and explores what happened to parts of the company that were sold over the years. Finally, the company's future opportunities and challenges are considered. The author, Andy Goundry, has not only drawn on his own personal experience of almost twenty years of employment with the company but he has drawn on what is left of the company archives, private collections and first-hand accounts, to produce this book as a salutation of over 125 years of continuous manufacturing.