BUSWORLD PHOTOGRAPHY

I AM CHRISTOPHER LEACH THE ARTIST. I started this blog so that I can share with everyone my vast collection of transport photographs showing a personal and nostalgic view of the industry with images that span some 45 years taking in the U.K and some of Europe. I have no darkroom and so rather than being the perfectionist after tidying them up I upload the images warts and all, and even those that won't scan squarely or are scratched. In a way it adds age and character. You are all free to download these for your personal use but please remember I still own them and you are not just free to use them without prior permission for any knd of publishing. Click on images to enlarge them and if you want to see more leave your comments or visit my website for the mother-site with galleries including those Buses & Girls: PICTUREWORLD

Sunday 4 October 2009

The Caetano Algarve


As a percentage Portuguese Caetano bodies are not as numerous as they once were in Britain. They were first imported by the Loughborough dealer Alf Moseley, and were quite a hit as no doubt the first rather over-ornamented style of bodywork appealed to former devotees of another coach-builder the then in 1969 already defunct nearby coachbuilder called Yeates who used over-decoration and lots of Fifties American inspired ugly brightwork to spice up products from the lower end of the market like Bedford, Commer and Ford. By the time the Algarve had arrived on the scene Caetano styling was much more subdued as can be seen on this 1982 DAF of Majestic Coaches of Walsall. Judging from the Leicestershire registration this one came from Moseley's imported stock.

2 comments:

Terminal Rodoviario said...

WOW !!!

This is a body from Caetano that I havent't seen before...

But a second and closer look, I can found a design mixture of various Caetano models...

Thank You for sharing !

christopher said...

TR maybe Caetano designed these for the more restrained export market and especially as designs like the Bova were getting sleeker.