Story: Coaches and long-distance buses

Cobb & Co mainly used Light Concord coaches like this one. Usually built in New Zealand, they were modelled on the classic American Concord stagecoach. It was developed in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1827 and was widely used in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The coach rested on leather strap braces. It had a rounded body and a door in the middle with a window. But on either side of the door there were no walls, just leather curtains, rolled up or let down according to the weather. The absence of walls kept the coach light – hence the name. The Light Concord was fast and easy to manoeuvre.