Coventry Corporation Buses

Coventry Corporation Transport had long and lasting relationships with several suppliers.  The most notable was Daimler, which has been allocated a section of its own.  The other was Maudslay, which has also been allocated a separate section.  Other relationships were with Metropolitan Cammell, who built many of the bodies and Brush, who had built the majority of the trams and likewise built bodies particularly in the earlier days.  The Foreigners section is devoted to those buses that were shipped in after the air raids to supplement the fleet after the abandonment of the tram services and damage to buses.

The first all-metal bodied buses were the three Daimler COA6 models delivered in 1934.  All subsequent COA6 buses, together with all later marks, were of all-metal construction.  All preceding marks, up to and including the Daimler CP6, were not of all-metal construction.  It is not known whether the three Leyland Cub single-deckers delivered in 1936 had all-metal bodies, but it is likely that the Daimler COG5 single-decker delivered at the same time did have an all-metal body.

Unless otherwise stated, all buses had a low chassis, pneumatic tyres, a diesel engine and a half cab.  Single deckers had a front entrance with a fully enclosed body.  Double deckers had a semi-enclosed rear platform for boarding and alighting but, otherwise, were fully enclosed.  The term low chassis implies that the wheel arches intruded significantly into the coachwork, as opposed to a high chassis, which had virtually no wheel arches.  Where bus designs differed from these specifications, the details are included in the listings.