The AEC Renown was a front-engined low-height

double-decker bus A double-decker bus or double-deck bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. They are used for mass transport in the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Europe, Asia and also in cities such as Sydney; the best-known example is the ...

chassis manufactured by AEC. It superseded the

AEC Bridgemaster The AEC Bridgemaster was a front-engined low-height double-decker bus chassis manufactured by AEC. History The AEC Bridgemaster was introduced by AEC in 1956 to meet the demand of low-height double-deckers from municipal and independent bus o ...

around 1962.

History

The low-height double-decker

was nearing the end of its production when AEC launched the Renown as its successor around 1962, not long before the acquisition of AEC by Leyland. The main difference between the Renown and its predecessor was the chassis design, the Renown was designed as a complete chassis, rather than integral construction adopted by the Bridgemaster, thus the Renown could be suited to different body designs. The design, like the

Bristol Lodekka The Bristol Lodekka was a half-cab low-height step-free double-decker bus built by Bristol Commercial Vehicles in England. It was the first production bus design to have no step up from the passenger entrance throughout the lower deck; alth ...

and the

Dennis Loline The Dennis Loline was a low-height double-decker bus manufactured by Dennis between 1958 and 1966. History The Dennis Loline was basically a license-built Bristol Lodekka, being primarily supplied to municipal, private sector British Electri ...

meant this double-decker could travel under low height bridges, whilst maintaining near-full-height standing room. After Leyland acquired a 25% stake of

Bristol Commercial Vehicles Bristol Commercial Vehicles was a vehicle manufacturer located in Bristol, England. Most production was of buses but trucks and railbus chassis were also built. The Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company started to build buses for its own use i ...

and

Eastern Coach Works Eastern Coach WorksCompanies House extract company no 318856
...

in late 1965, Leyland had three different front-engined low-height double-deck designs: AEC Renown, Bristol Lodekka and Albion Lowlander. Leyland quickly decided to cease taking orders for the Renown and Lowlander. The last AEC Renown was delivered in 1967, with a total of 251 buses built. File:AEC_Renown_chassis_1.jpg, AEC Renown chassis.A.E.C. Limited AEC Renown brochure No. 719.7.62

References

* Renown Double-decker buses Vehicles introduced in 1962 Half-cab buses {{bus-stub