Thornycroft

:"For the shipbuilder, see John I. Thornycroft & Company, for other uses, see Thornycroft (disambiguation)"

Thornycroft was a United Kingdom-based vehicle manufacturer which built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977.

History

Thornycroft started out with steam vans and lorries. John Isaac Thornycroft, the naval engineer, built his first steam lorry in 1896. Their first petrol vehicle was in 1902 and the company completed the move into internal combustion engine power in 1907.

Thereafter the vehicle building firm and the marine side (later to become Vosper Thornycroft) were separate companies.

From 1931, Thornycroft used names for their vehicle range - descriptive and colourful ones.

In 1948, the company name was changed to Transport Equipment (Thornycroft) Ltd to prevent confusion with the shipbuilding Thornycroft company. During the 1960s to the 1970s, the hit British sit com "Dad's Army", a Thornycroft van was used as Jones the butcher's van.

They were taken over by AEC, by then Associated Commercial Vehicles Ltd and production was limited to the Nubians, Big Bens and Antars. ACV was then taken over by Leyland who already had a specialist vehicle unit in Scammell, another manufacturer of large haulage vehicles. Thornycroft's Basingstoke factory was closed in 1969 and specialist vehicles transferred to Scammell at Watford.

Today, the Thornycroft name is used by a builder of marine diesel engines for private and light commercial use- the engines being based around small-capacity engines designed by Mitsubishi. Despite Thornycroft being effectively closed down by Leyland, the operation's parent company is now the main provider of spare parts for Leyland-built marine diesels, which for many years were highly popular for use in canal barges and narrowboats (now a market making increasing use of modern-day Thornycroft engines).

Models

Bus and coach

*Boudicea
*Patrician
*Lightning
*Cygnet
*Beautyride

Lorry

*Hardy
*Dandy
*Sturdy - 5/6 tonner
*Trusty - 8 ton forward control 4 wheeler
*Bullfinch
*Strenuous
*Mastiff
*Taurus
*Iron Duke
*Amazon
*Stag
*Bulldog
*Jupiter - 6.5 ton
*Big Ben
*Nubian
**3-ton vehicle.
**Available as 4 x 4, 6 x 4, 6 x 6
*Mighty Antar
**85-ton
**6 x 4 pipeline and tank transporter

Other

*Terrapin - design only, built by Morris Commercial
* Nubian airport crash tender

External links

* [http://www.hants.gov.uk/thornycroft/ 'Thornycroft of Basingstoke'] - (Hampshire County Council Museum Service) - extensive coverage of history and vehicles
* [http://www.thornycroft.org.uk/ Thornycroft vehicle preservation group]