Adelaide's Denning Beverley Factory: History Wanted.

[Denv12]

Update:

I'm using my old post now edited as the post for anything Adelaide Denning related.If you can contribute please do.It would be nice to get some history of this former Adelaide company.

Does anyone have any idea of what the production numbers were for the Denning Adelaide factory? What about any differences between Brisbane built buses and coaches and the Adelaide built buses and coaches? I know the factory consisted of premisis in Pope st Beverley.(Deluxe Coachlines had their depot in one of them until they shut down.)And in Charles road was the end of the assembly line.

What year did they open and when did they shut down? At one stage Mazda Australia were there then a paint supplier I think.
What bus models did they build and what coach models were built? Does anyone have a production list? I know they built the local MTT/STA buses at the time.Then there were the buses as per the posted photos here.I think I remember seeing a single axle coach on the end of the line.As we used to drive along Port Road a lot (we had cousins live nearby) it was always interesting to see what was going on. What about "Truck & Bus" adverts at the time?

[Denv12]

Update:

I'm using this post,now edited as the post for anything Adelaide Denning related.If you can contribute please do.It would be nice to get some history of this former Adelaide company.

What bus models did they build and what coach models were built? Does anyone have a production list? I know they built the local MTT/STA buses at the time.Then there were the buses as per the posted photos here.I think I remember seeing a single axle coach on the end of the production line. What about "Truck & Bus" adverts at the time? What years was the factory opened? How did Denning and MTT/STA meet? Denning was based in Brisbane.Whats the story with starting a factory in Adelaide? It would be an interesting story.

Did Denning in Brisbane also build the same model? What was the model name?

[B59 Volvo]

Topic of Denning history was discussed in this thread from a decade ago http://www.busaustralia.com/forum/viewt ... =2&t=26915

Of particular interest, I quote this reply from system improver :

A (Alan) B Denning & Co commenced bus body building in 1958 in Brisbane. It built a number of coaches for Queensland companies such as Redline and Skennars. In 1966, it built the Leyland Panther prototype for BCC tram replacement and supplied 136 of the order for 340 Panthers delivered 1968-1970 (Athol Hedges had the bulk of the contract).

However, it was in the area of coach design that Denning made its name. Also, in 1966, it supplied its first “Monocoach” to Redline, based on an AEC lorry chassis. A number of body builders had tried the monocoque or chassisless approach to body building (rather than the traditional body on chassis, almost always imported), but Denning developed it far further and with greater success. Over the next two years, the GM 6V53 or GM 6V71 became more or less standard and brought a standard of coach construction only previously seen in Australia on imported vehicles for Ansett Pioneer from the USA. In 1968, the first raised deck version of the monocoach appeared.

Also during 1968, A B Denning became part of the British Leyland Group. This came about because PMC had, by this time, a major shareholding in A B Denning and on 1/10/68, British Leyland acquired PMC.

Denning vehicles were constructed in the Brisbane suburb of Acacia Ridge from 1966, but they opened a plant at Beverley in South Australia in 1970 when they won a large contract to supply 291 AEC Swifts to the MTT, delivered over the period 1970-1973. Monocoaches were also constructed in SA but the plant closed in August 1974.

This is only part of the first part of the Denning saga, which as a previous post has noted, is a bit complicated, because the Denning family established and sold a number of businesses over the years.

Perhaps someone else can take up, add to or correct the story.

[Denv12]

Thank you for your reply B59 Volvo. Thats some history there.

If anyone has any knowledge of Adelaide built Denning monocoaches can you add some information here?

I'd buy a book on the history of Denning if it was written.

[LB608]

Simple you write it, then you don't have to buy it

[CCCC]

was it the same factory that built the PMC denning mono's for state rail down there ???

[Denv12]

was it the same factory that built the PMC denning mono's for state rail down there ???

I think those state rail Denning's were built by Presses Metal in Sydney not PMC Adelaide.

[1whoknows]

Denning history including info and pics on the Adelaide plant was published in Australian Bus Panorama Vol 28.6 in May-June 2013.

Please contact system improver if you wish to purchase a copy.