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The
British UTIC AEC Coaches
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Portuguese manufacturer UTIC is well known for building vehicles based
on AEC running units over a considerable peiod of years, continuing
to do so even after the 1979 closure of Southall works. UTIC first
started building on AEC Monocoach (an integral design) underframes
in the 1950s, and then followed by importing large numbers of AEC
Reliance chassis to build on bodywork for local operators. They also
built an integral rear-engine coach using AEC Swift components and
ZF gearboxes. These latter are perhaps the most interesting as there
was no equivalent model for the British market. State owned Rodoviaria
Nacional was a major customer for both Reliances and the integrals.
The RN fleet passed to Arriva Portugal, who only withdrew the last
in 2005. Some have now been preserved (see AECs
in Europe page).
A small batch of nine UTIC U2043 integrals were imported into the
UK by Loughborough dealer Moseley's. The first was registered in August
1971 and was purchased by L F Bowen of Birmingham. Bowen's only kept
it for two months but then surprisingly purchased two others in 1974
which had previously been operated by Bonas of Coventry.
Chassis number |
Registration number |
Original owner |
Notes |
U2043 001 |
AOH 561K |
L F Bowen, Birmingham |
Sold on in 1971. |
U2043 002 |
GDU 65L |
Bonas (Supreme Coaches), Coventry |
Sold to Bowen, Birmingham 1974 |
U2043 003 |
GDU 66L |
Bonas (Supreme Coaches), Coventry |
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U2043 004 |
KNX 792L |
L S Court, Fillongley near Coventry |
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U2043 005 |
GHP 994L |
Bonas (Supreme Coaches), Coventry |
Sold to Bowen, Birmingham 1974 , then to Westbourne Travel,
Bournemouth 1975. |
U2043 006 |
OAG 214L |
Woods, Largs |
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U2043 007 |
RBM 426M |
Charles Cook, Dunstable |
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U2043 008 |
PSY 611L |
Ambassador, Edinburgh |
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U2043 009 |
UVY 765M |
Terra Nova, London W14 |
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Vehicle information supplied by Andrew Roberts, supplemented
by material from Alan Townsin's Blue
Triangle book.
UTIC U2043 integral GHP 994L ran with two other companies before
moving to Westbourne Travel of Bournemouth. It was often used
on feeder services between Bournemouth and Birmingham for Wallace
Arnold tours. In 1982, a boom year for National Express during
and after the national rail strike, it was seen running a National
Express relief at Victoria, still in the two tone blue livery
of original owner Supreme Tours.
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