East Lancashire Coachbuilders

**East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited** was a maker of bus bodies, They was founded in 1934 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England.

## History

East Lancashire Coachbuilders was founded in 1934 by Walter Smith at Brookhouse Mill in Blackburn.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, the company changed owners many times after Smith's death,

In 1988, it was sold to the Drawlane Transport Group (later called British Bus).

In 1994, East Lancashire Coachbuilders had moved to a new building on the Whitebirk Industrial Estate, they started making lots of single and double deck buses.

In August 1996, British Bus was brought by the Cowie Group, all orders by British Bus for buses with East Lancashire Coachbuilders bodywork was cancelled by Cowie. The company nearly went into administration but Blackburn Member of Parliament Jack Straw and chassis maker Dennis Specialist Vehicles helped East Lancashire Coachbuilders by sending Dennis Specialist Vehicles buses to be bodied.

On 17 August 2007, East Lancashire Coachbuilders went into administration, the next day it was bought out from administration by the Darwen Group. After the purchase, the Darwen Group changed the company name from East Lancashire Coachbuilders to Darwen East Lancs.

In 2008, Jamesstan Investments, an investment company owned by the Darwen Group, brought another bus maker called Optare.

In June 2008, Optare did a £15.95 million reverse takeover and the names _Darwen East Lancs_ and _Darwen Group_ was changed to Optare.

In 2011, all East Lancs bodies was stopped being made.

On 31 March 2012, the factory in Blackburn was closed.

### Past

East Lancs had many different types of bodywork. They misspelled names on pupose, replacing the letter i with a letter y.

#### East Lancs (1934–2007)

- Greenway
- EL2000
- Cityzen
- Pyoneer
- Single-decker
- Myllennium for DAF SB220, MAN 14.220, Scania N94UB and Alexander Dennis Dart
- Hyline, a high-floor variant of the standard Myllennium single-decker body but used to re-body older chassis

- Double-decker
- Lolyne for Dennis Trident
- Vyking for Volvo B7TL
- Lowlander for DAF/VDL DB250
- Nordic for 3-axle Volvo B7L/B9TL
- Myllennium Lolyne for Dennis Trident
- Myllennium Vyking for Volvo B7TL
- Myllennium Lowlander for DAF/VDL DB250LF
- Nordic for 3-axle Volvo B7L/Volvo B9TL

- Single-decker
- Spryte for Dennis Dart and Volvo B6BLE chassis
- Flyte for longer step-entrance and high-floor buses.

#### Darwen Darwen East Lancs (2007–2008)

- Single-decker
- OmniTown for Scania N94UB chassis

- Double-decker
- OmniDekka for Scania N94UD/N230UD/N270UD chassis

#### Optare (2008–2012)

- Single-decker
- Esteem for Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart, MAN 12.240, Scania N230UB, Scania N94UB and Alexander Dennis Enviro300 chassis
- Kinetec

- Double-decker
- Olympus for Alexander Dennis Enviro400, VDL DB250, Volvo B9TL and Scania N230UD chassis
- Visionaire open-top body for Volvo B9TL chassis

#### Kinetec series

The Kinetec was made in 2006. They are low-floor bodies for MAN chassis. They have the Esteem/Olympus body but with MAN's own Lion's City design front and rear.
- Kinetec+

## Other websites

- Official website

## Infobox (company)

- **name**: East Lancashire Coachbuilders Ltd.
- **type**: Private
- **industry**: Bus building
- **fate**: Dissolved after parent company Darwen Group performed a reverse takeover
- **successor**: Optare
- **founder**: Walter Smith
- **location**: Blackburn, Lancashire, England
- **products**: Bus bodies
- **homepage**: [https://web.archive.org/web/20060207132451/http://www.elcb.co.uk/ Official website]