VAN HOOL Coach Manual & Wiring Diagrams
VAN HOOL Bus History
Some VAN HOOL Coach Manual & Wiring Diagrams are above the page.
In 1947, Bernard Van Hool built his first bus body, and in just 9 years began to produce the first very elegant buses on the chassis of FIAT and Leyland. In 1964, the first bus plant Van Hool joined the system, and then in a clean field near Antwerp a huge industrial complex grew - a whole city of 46 hectares. Today it is one of the largest bus plants in Europe, employing up to 3,500 people. Annually from its gate there are 1300-1500 complete Van Hool buses and even 3500 trailers and semitrailers of the same brand. More than 85% of buses are exported to dozens of countries around the world.
The current notion of "Van Hool phenomenon" does not at all consist in the creation of a large bus production from scratch. Rather, he is identified with the talent of an ordinary body builder who was able to break away from the usual techniques and create his own system of load-bearing bodies of modular construction, making a coup in the construction of multi-seat buses for large cities. Apparently, it was at the Van Hool company that it was first realized that one of the main amenities of a city bus comes down to being able to easily enter it and just as easily leave without climbing a few steps up and down. So the company Van Hool for the first time introduced the previously never used parameter - the height of the interior of the cabin from the road surface - and all its forces applied to the struggle for achieving its smallest value.
As a result, the revolutionary multi-seat Van Hool A500 buses were born with a record low floor height above the road - only 500 mm - and 1.3 m wide doors that could be easily accessed from the sidewalk without raising their legs , Or it's easy to drive in a wheelchair.More later, this record was beaten by Van Hool itself and reached a new record and technically maximum permissible value of 300 mm.Today, in addition to a whole gamut of serial "ultra-low-frame" machines, Van Hool produces a series of " normal " tourist and intercity buses, but occasionally recalls its exceptionality, creating airfield 200-seater buses of about 4 m in width, articulated 2-storey mobile saloons, all sorts of hybrid cars or 3-section giants 25 meters long, capable of simultaneously carrying 250-270 people.
Belgian company Van Hool began its modest activity as a small body company, which built tourist and intercity buses on the FIAT chassis that bore the brand FIAT-Van Hool. In the 70s they got their true name Van Hool, and in the 80s Van Hool unexpectedly blew up the quiet bus world, building the world's first city bus with a record low flooring location above the road surface. In the following years, the company was intensively developing a new modular concept of load-bearing bodies. "100-percent low-frame" and "the principle of equal sex." However, it was not at all such unique machines that created its authority at that time: the Van Hool company produced standard buses in a serial manner. In 1979, the production went to the tourist-interurban series T8 with a raised interior layout and the use of various chassis and power units. The main among them immediately became the chassis of Volvo, Scania or their aggregates, as well as straight-row 6-cylinder DM diesel engines with a turbo.
The most interesting page of the history of the Van Hool company is connected with the so-called ultra-low-profile city buses with load-bearing bodies and a floor without steps, which is rolled along the entire length of the cabin. The first in this series was built a 100-seat A500 full weight of 18.1 tons, received its designation for the height of the arrangement of the floor of the cabin from the road surface - 500 mm. Its in-line b-cylinder diesel MAN in 230 hp. was located longitudinally and vertically under the casing at the left wall of the cabin within the wheelbase, and the drive shaft to the rear axle passed in the tunnel under the left seats. On the casing, two pairs of seats were fastened to each other with their backs, and its surface served as a convenient place for small luggage. The bus was produced with a wheelbase of 5500 or 5670 mm. had a length of 11625-11790 mm and an overall height of 2880 mm. The interior height of the cabin was 2235 mm.
With the use of the A500 design principles, compact buses A507 and A508 with lengths of 7 and 8 m are still produced, designed for servicing the central historical part of large cities, as well as a suburban 87-seat version of the A600 with a capacity of 252 hp. and articulated AG700 with a floor height of 680 mm.
The second wave of glory came with the advent of the ultra-low-end A300 bus, the index of which reports a new record achievement - the height of the floor from the road is 300 mm, and with full load -260 mm. Diesel in 230 hp Here it is also quietly placed at the left wall between the seats. The thickness of the base of the body is brought to the technical limit, therefore, to strengthen the load-bearing body, the ceiling and vertical pillars resting on the wheels are more durable, and the floor is suspended, as it were, to them. By the way, refreshing or warm air spreads through the cabin inside the cavities formed by bearing structures. The bus is made on a wheelbase of 5840 or 6100 mm, has an overall length of 11540-11975 mm, is equipped with two or three side double doors with a width of 1200-1300 mm. Seats for seating are only 19-24, but the total capacity is up to 120 people. On the basis of AZAL, hybrid variants with a diesel-electric transmission and buses operating on compressed natural gas have been developed.
The AZAL family includes an 8-meter 60-seat version of the AZOZ with a capacity of 155 hp, a suburban 2-door A320 bus, a reinforced city 3-door version of the AЗОZO, a long-distance A360 with a rear power unit and a raised rear part of the floor, and a trolleybus AZOP . In addition, in a small series, the articulated 125-seat AG300 bus 18 m long and a total mass of 26.5 tons equipped with 42 seats, and a similar emulsion trolleybus AG300T, are produced. The peak of the technical creativity of Van Hool can be considered articulated low-profile 3-section bus AGG300 with a length of 24.6 m to serve mass events, accommodating up to 270 people.