Birmingham’s Crossley Buses

Birmingham City Transport’s association with Crossley Motors came about after 1945, when BCT required a large number of buses to be delivered quickly, with many manufacturers unable to fulfil orders in the aftermath of the war. There was a pressing need for additional vehicles, and 1,760 buses were acquired between 1947 and 1954. Crossley Motors had the spare capacity at their Errwood Park factory to build a complete bus, chassis, engine and bodywork and to quickly supply large numbers of a product designed to BCT’s stringent specification.

This book reveals their pioneering status, exploring the six major variations in the Crossley order, as well as the takeover of Crossley Motors by ACV and its impact on the Birmingham order. It also looks at the Crossley bodywork built for BCT on Daimler CVG6 chassis between 1952 and 1954.