Plaxton Supreme

The Plaxton Supreme was a design of coach bodywork built by Plaxton. It was first built, on small chassis only, in 1974, replacing the Plaxton Panorama. On full-sized chassis, it replaced the Panorama Elite in 1975, and was superseded by the Paramount in 1982/3. However, the Supreme continued to be built on the small Bedford VAS chassis until 1986.

The most important change from the models it replaced was the introduction of all-steel construction, replacing the composite wood and steel framework of the Elite and Panorama.

Chassis
Supreme bodywork was fitted to a wide range of chassis, including:
 * AEC Reliance
 * Bedford SB, VAS and Y Series
 * Bristol LH
 * DAF MB200 and SB2005
 * Ford R-Series
 * Leyland Leopard and Tiger
 * MAN (export only)
 * Magirus-Deutz (export only)
 * Mercedes-Benz O303
 * Seddon Pennine 7
 * Volvo B10M, B58, B655 (export rebodies) and B755 (export rebodies)
 * Ward Dalesman

Supreme I, II and III
These were all badged as "Supreme" only, with no numerals to distinguish the different variants. As a result, the definitions are not clear. Plaxton's centenary website states that the Supreme I was built on the Bedford VAS chassis, and the Supreme II on the Bristol LHS. However the spare parts manuals state that the Supreme II was built with composite wooden/steel frames on full-size chassis, such as the Leyland Leopard, Bedford YLQ/YMT, Ford R1014/R1114, AEC and Volvo B58. The Supreme III was built with entirely steel framing. Wooden and steel framed examples were built in parallel during the 1976, 1977 and 1978 seasons, the difference being undetectable from the outside, but determined by the body number suffix AM (All Metal) or the letter M in the middle of the body number.

Its design features clearly echoed those of the Elite III but with subtly evolved shape and trim. The windscreen shape was altered to have a more heavily arched top, with vertical ridges above it where the Elite had had horizontal ridges. The grille surround was integrated with the front bumper, and the panel between the headlights was usually omitted resulting in a larger grille. Side trim generally included two chrome strips along the sides, the lower one having either one or two curved kinks in it. The rear end is less rounded than the Elite's.

Supreme IV
The design received a facelift in 1978, with the first examples of the new Supreme IV entering service towards the end of that year. The windscreen shape was altered again, this time to have a flatter top, and the ridged area above it was done away with. The grille and headlight area underwent a complete revision, with twin rectangular headlights flanking a grille of three chunky slats (although some vehicles had an optional rectangular chrome grille). The kink in the side trim was replaced by a parallelogram-shaped link between straight sections, and the window in the door was deeper.

Supreme V
A completely new rear end, superficially similar to that later used on the Paramount, was designed for the Supreme V. It had a flat rear window and large rectangular light clusters. The front and sides were unchanged from the Supreme IV.

Supreme VI
The Supreme VI, built alongside the Supreme V, had the same front and rear ends as the latter but with shallow, flat side windows. It was aimed at overnight express services.

Supreme Express
All of the larger Supremes were available to "express" or "grant" specification with wide doorway and two-piece doors. These variants were badged Supreme Express, Supreme IV Express, Supreme V Express and Supreme VI Express. (This was in contrast to the Elite series, where the numeral was placed after the word Express.)

Viewmaster and Viewmaster IV
The Viewmaster was a taller version of the Supreme III or IV, with the height increased by approximately 10 in. This did initially cause some problems as the initial models were too top heavy and were liable to fall over, so modifications was needed to the original design to lower the centre of gravity. The designers claimed that the original design would not fall over, but the engineers argued otherwise and were eventually proven right. The windscreen on the Viewmaster was a taller version of that used on the Supreme III, and was retained unaltered for the Viewmaster IV. Both were also available to "express" specification, as the Viewmaster Express and Viewmaster IV Express respectively.

Mini Supreme
This van-derived minicoach version of the Supreme was built at the Plaxton Scarborough Service Division and their Southern Service Centre in Ware, Hertfordshire, the former Thurgood Coachworks, on Bedford CF and Mercedes L608D chassis. As well as providing accident repair and rebuild or refurbishment functions, Ware was tasked with a lot of non-standard coach-building, including all Mini-Supremes and the sole mini-Paramount.

<!-- The first versions of Supreme were on Bedford PJK (a.k.a. VAS) chassis and also the diminutive version of the Bristol LH namely the LHS. The Bedford retained the door behind the front wheel although this was a pivot style door as used in the full sized coaches and not the sliding door as used on the previous Panotama IV. The Bristol LHS was mid-engined so a front pivot door was provided along with seating for 35 passengers. Two destination displays were provided below the front screen. The main new feature of Supreme was the side windows that were deeper than the Elite with a sharp curve inwards towards the top to catch the light and allow even better view from the passenger saloon. The front and rear domes had arches that over stated the curve. The front dome had a tiled effect on the 45 degree curve that swept across the width of the coach. The rear most vertical pillar was very wide and the side mouldings from both the lower and waste rails were almost brought together and extended up this piller and over the top of the dome with the same arrangement on the opposite side. The rear boot lid was power operated and was flanked each side by vertical lozenge style rear lights like the Elite III although they were chunkier and sat inside a stainless steel moulding. For safety the tail lights had a double bulb. Front and rear bumpers were no longer in aluminium but stainless steel with overiders that included the castle logo. The front grill was Elite like but with wider larger chrome plated slats and less of them, also twin headlights provided excellent night vision. THe interior was still similar to the Elite but the racks design was radically different. The passenger service units had been revised and now consisted of a flat lamp with two twist style flat air outlets for further crash protection. Each side of the rack that at this stage of the Supreme development was still attached to the cant rail were quite bulbous and made of crash protection foam. Imagine a capital "C" where the left hand side of the "C" was turned 90 degrees to the right, now picture the service unit at the base point. Each side of the "C" had a four pointed star embossed at intervals along the rack to break up the look. The finish was in a yellow tinged material and didn't have the appeal of the Elite rack. On the edge of the rack de-misting outlets were provided. The main interior change was the dash board that now consisted of two panels either side of the dials set in front of the steering wheel. The left panel contained the heating controls, the right wthe switch panels. Entertainment via media was by Radiomobile radio and cassette with optional amplifier and mic located to the drivers side of the front cabinet (by the drivers knee). The interior of the dome was still wood at this stage and had a clock in the centre. The Supreme models were known as....Bedford Supreme I, Bristol LHS, Supreme II with the first full size Supremes to be called Supreme III.

It isn't clear when the first full size Supremes were built but personally I think it was 1975 for the 1976 season. (R reg)The initial sales packs contained pictures of the Supreme on a Bedford chassis. The inside of this information showed interior pictures that portrayed the Supreme I and II style racks along with the over done front and rear domes. The top most side moulding had two kinks, one by each wheel arch, the front with one destination panel.It stated that "The new structure had been tested on some of the most demanding coach routes in Europe" Other pages showed development pictures, along with frame detail and also how the Supreme could be sold for export to Denmark etc now the construction was steel rather than composite. The Supreme III was sold on the usual large variety of chassis, Bedford, Ford, AEC, Leyland, Bristol, Seddon and Volvo to name just a few!

Supreme IV followed in 1978, this was of the same side profile but the front had been dramatically improved by the use of 4 rectangular headlights that included both sidelights and indicators within a chrome moulding. These headlights were placed above each other, obviously two per side. The centre grill was now of GRP with fewer slats, front radiators were still common at this stage. There was an option of a better equipped Sopreme IV GT that had a higher specification that included curtains and an improved chrome covered grill among many other refinements. The express glider style doore were still available so operators could purchase a new vehicle for 50% of the usual price so long as a large percentage of it's work was stage carriage.

Supreme V followed circa 1980 showing the way for more diverse squarer styling as the rear was radically re-designed. The full size rear window was made both higher and shallower whilst the rear lights took on the big square reflectors that were used on the entire Paramount range. This improved boot access also the last side window on the nearside was longer than all previous models as the smaller window that had been made to match the emergency door on the opposite side was merged with the window immediately in front of it. Some operators were less that happy with the small changes as their fleet no longer had a standard look.

Supreme VI was then introduced, gone were the deep panoramic windows in was the elongated look with shallow windows and the suggested use was express services and a motorway coach. The Supreme V touring version remained in production alongside the Supreme VI for the remained of the production run of that model. Main features of the MK VI apart from the shallow windows was double glazing. That model wasn't built in large numbers and it isn't thought that National express ever ordered any. -->