Heritage Commercials Magazine - capturing the spirit of vintage days

Comment - September 2010

However, during all this correspondence I’m very surprised that nobody wrote in to point out that although we may not have a massive mainstream commercial vehicle industry anymore, we still produce some superb specialised vehicles. And among all these specialised manufacturers definitely comes Dennis. They’ve now been making vehicles for over 100 years but nobody seems to ever remember them! Is it because, in the last few decades at least, their lorries have usually ended up doing the least glamorous of jobs such as emptying the bins, cleaning out the drains etc? Having said that, over the years they’ve also made some fantastic fire-fighting vehicles.

The Dennis story started back in the 1890s when John and Raymond Dennis started making bicycles. Their first car appeared in 1901 and their first commercial vehicle followed two years later. The company of Dennis Bros Ltd was formed in 1904 in order to manufacture their designs.

In 1913 the company decided to concentrate on just producing commercial vehicles. This was fortuitous as the outbreak of war in 1914 brought a great demand for lorries, with Dennis supplying thousands to the War Office. Over the years Dennis continued to produce all manner of commercials but in the late 1950s decided to concentrate mainly on buses and municipal vehicles, although they did also produce some ordinary goods vehicles over the next few decades such as the Delta of the late 1970s.

By the late 1990s the company found itself owned by the Mayflower Corporation who split the company in two, with the refuse collection vehicles being made by Dennis Eagle while the firm of Alexander Dennis Ltd produced the buses.

Dennis Eagle is based in Warwick, but has manufacturing and service depots all over the country. Just as a quick measure of their recent success, the company announced in November 2008 that their Blackpool plant had just produced its 10000th Elite 2 cab. And in July this year the firm announced it will be supplying vehicles that will be fitted with Renault engines and badged as Renaults for the French market.

It really makes a refreshing change to be able to report on a UK manufacturing success story. However, there is a sad part – Dennis Eagle are now so successful that they’ve been bought by a Spanish company! But at least the lorries are still made here.

Stephen Pullen
Editor