Part 39 of our popular Southdown Fleet History series is now available for purchase. The book contains details about the events of 1972 and the affairs of the company, followed by details of the thirty-one new vehicles added to the Southdown fleet during 1972. The new intake was made up of sixteen Bristol VRTs with ECW standard (13′ 8″ height) bodywork, fifteen of which had dual-doorways for use in Brighton, and another fifteen Daimler Fleetlines with highbridge (14′ 6″ height) ECW single-doorway bodywork for use in Brighton, Chichester and Worthing.
These buses were the last vehicles delivered to the company in the traditional mid-green / cream livery and were set against the 95 vehicles that left the operational fleet. As usual there are summaries of the company’s premises and of the complete fleet at the end of the previous year (31/12/71), both by chassis and by bodywork, while a separate table lists the buses and coaches that left the fleet during 1971. The book is in the usual A5 format with one colour photograph on the front cover and two more on each of the inside and outside rear covers, and there is a four-page centre section with eight black and white photographs.