Description
Our single deck coach is a replica of a Beadle Integral rebodied vehicle from J C Beadle of Dartford in Kent from the early 1950s. The company specialised in taking running units from pre-war vehicles which had been withdrawn from service into which they incorporated new style full front bodywork, generally on either AEC or Leyland chassis for onward sale to coach companies. East Kent was one of many operators to use rebodied buses as a way of extending their service life. Restored FFN 446 started life as a Leyland TD5 double decker and was rebodied by J C Beadle in 1951 into a 35-seat coach. It was withdrawn from service in 1964 and passed to a church group in Perivale, London before being acquired for preservation in 1972.
