Denning Manufacturing was an Australian bus manufacturer in

Acacia Ridge Acacia Ridge is a southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Acacia Ridge had a population of 7,486 people. Geography Acacia Ridge is south of the central business district. It is within the local government are ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. In September 2019, it was acquired by

Custom Bus Custom Denning (previously Custom Bus and Custom Coaches) is an Australian bus body builder based in St Marys, New South Wales. History Cycle Components Manufacturing Company In 1935, Stanley Hillsdon founded Cycle Components Manufacturing ...

, but its branding and operations were retained. As of December 2024, manufacturing operations have ceased. Denning Manufacturing was rebranded from Alan B Denning after the latter went into administration in 2004, and was subsequently bought by Aussie Drifter Luxury Motor Homes Alan B Denning had been formed ten years earlier in 1994. It manufactured integral buses and coaches (chassis and body) as well as chassis for bodying by other manufacturers with

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

Cummins Cummins Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, electric vehicle components, and power generation products. Cummins also services engines and related equipmen ...

engines.

History

Denning

Denning commenced bodying buses in

in 1958. Denning's first integral bus (both chassis and body), the Monocoach, was launched in 1966. Along with the later ''Denair'' and ''Landseer'', it would become the dominant long-distance coach in Australia. In 1968, Denning was sold to

Leyland Australia British Motor Corporation (Australia) was a motor manufacturing company formed in Australia in 1954 by the merger of the Austin Motor Company (Australia) and Nuffield (Australia). This followed the merger in 1952 of the Austin Motor Company and ...

. Between 1968 and 1970 it bodied 136

Leyland Panther The Leyland Panther was a rear-engined single-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland between the years 1964 and 1972. A version with a smaller engine was released as the Leyland Panther Cub. History The Leyland Panther was introduced ...

s for the

Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council (BCC, also known as Council) is the local government of the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. The largest local government in Australia by population, BCC's jurisdiction includes 2 ...

. In 1970, a plant was opened in

Beverley, South Australia Beverley is a western Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Charles Sturt. Geography The suburb is mainly bounded by Port Road, Adelaide, Port Road, East Avenue, Ledger Road and Gr ...

to body 292

AEC Swift The AEC Swift was a rear-engined step entrance single-decker bus chassis manufactured by AEC between 1964 and 1980. The chassis design was closely related to the Leyland Panther. It was available in and lengths, with an AEC AH505 or AH69 ...

691s for the

Municipal Tramways Trust The Municipal Tramways Trust (MTT) was established by the Government of South Australia in December 1906 to purchase all of the horse-drawn tramways in Adelaide, South Australia. The Trust subsequently also ran petrol and diesel buses and elect ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. Some ''monocoaches'' were built there before the plant closed in August 1974. In 1979, Denning coaches began to be assembled under licence in New Zealand by the

Mount Cook Group Mount Cook Group was a New Zealand tourism and transport operator founded on 2 April 1912 by Rodolph Lysaght Wigley. Originally a road transport business, the ''Mount Cook Tourist Company of New Zealand'' became a public company in 1928. By 1930 ...

. In December 1988, Leyland Australia (by now renamed JRA Limited) purchased Denning's biggest competitor in the coach market, Austral from AP Group. Both continued to operate separately until 1990 when the Denning plant in Acacia Ridge was closed and production transferred to the Austral facility in Geebung.

Alan B Denning Co.

The Alan B Denning Co. commenced operations supplying body kits for buses assembled in Asia, primarily on

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

chassis in 1994. In February 1995 it began bodying buses and coaches for Australian operators. The company was placed in

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

in November 2003 with the plant subsequently being purchased by Aussie Drifter Luxury Motor Homes who rebranded the business as Denning Manufacturing. The business was successfully operated up until its sale to the Dunn Group in 2019.

References

External links

Bus Australia galleryCustom Denning
{{Australian bus manufacturers, state=collapsed Bus manufacturers of Australia Manufacturing companies based in Brisbane 1958 establishments in Australia

History

Denning

Alan B Denning Co.

See also

References

External links