East Lancashire Coachbuilders

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, Competition Commission 31 October 1996Midland Red History: Timeline Menu MidlandRed.net 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.

 Products 
 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+

References

 Other websites 

 Official website

Category:East Lancashire Coachbuilders
Category:1930s establishments in England
Category:British transport companies