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of
Guildford. Duple was renamed Hestair Duple, and rather than persisting with semi-integrals built on third party running gear it was decided to develop a fully integral coach with running units from sister company Hestair Dennis. As a result the Duple 425 was developed, and production commenced in
83:
usually carried Duple or
Plaxton coachwork. However, the 1980s saw a move away from lightweights towards heavier and more sophisticated designs, increasingly supplied by foreign chassis and bodywork manufacturers. Some of the foreign coaches now selling in Britain were of integral construction, and
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Sales of the 425 were limited with only about 130 vehicles being completed, although many of them enjoyed unusually long service lives. Most of Duple's output continued to be conventional bodies on third-party chassis, but overall sales volumes continued to decline leading to financial pressures.
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In the early 1980s the
British coach market underwent considerable change, putting pressure on the established British coachbuilding firms which had previously dominated the market. In the 1970s the great majority of coaches sold in the UK had comprised a British-built chassis with separately
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It was a fully integral coach, unlike most contemporary
British designs which had a separate body and chassis, and was notable for its streamlined design with a sloping upper windscreen and a drag coefficient
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Duple wished to produce an integral design of its own to compete more effectively with these. The first attempts were a pair of prototypes built in 1983, one of which was a semi-integral variant of the
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or DAF engine with automatic transmission, and a typical layout seated 57 passengers (or 53 with a toilet fitted), which was a relatively high capacity for a 12 metre coach at the time.
135:, which was assembled by Plaxton's French subsidiary Carrosserie Lorraine. However the Lorraine factory closed in 1992 after only 12 further 425 models had been built.
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N716 running gear, which remained a one-off. The other prototype employed Dutch BOVA Europa running gear within a unique style of semi-integral body known as the
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However, in June 1983 Duple had been sold to the
Hestair Group, which had previously acquired the British chassis manufacturer
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factory was closed down, and the manufacturing rights and jigs for Duple coach products sold to its main domestic competitor,
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In
November 1988, the coachbuilding business was sold and renamed Duple International. In July 1989 the
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The 425 design was modified by
Plaxton and re-entered production in 1991 as the
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assembled bodywork by one of the two dominant domestic coachbuilders, Duple and
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71:. The highest sales volumes were achieved by lightweight chassis such as the
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154:
British
Coaching: Chassis Manufacturers, Coachbuilders and Operators
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Coach design built by
Hestair Duple in the late 1980s
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222:Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
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79:, and even imported chassis such as the
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58:=0.425, hence the model designation.
7:
104:1985. The 425 had a rear-mounted
39:in the late 1980s, and briefly by
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1:
193:"Duple - 1985-1989 Seasons"
168:"Duple - 1983-1985 Seasons"
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152:Hymans, Michael (2016).
35:design built by Hestair
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24:
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88:body built on German
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197:Bus Lists on the Web
172:Bus Lists on the Web
43:in the early 1990s.
128:, for £4 million.
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90:Auwärter Neoplan
73:Bedford Y series
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86:Duple Caribbean
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225:. Retrieved
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227:29 November
218:"Plaxton's"
202:29 November
177:29 November
133:Plaxton 425
115:Plaxton 425
139:References
122:Blackpool
81:Volvo B58
29:Duple 425
23:Duple 425
243:Category
47:of
126:Plaxton
106:Cummins
69:Plaxton
62:History
41:Plaxton
31:was a
37:Duple
33:coach
229:2016
204:2016
179:2016
75:and
27:The
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54:d
50:C
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