Coachbuilt prams

I had a light blue marmet for my first 2 along with the broderie anglaise tasseled sun canopy however when my son came along years later I had a smaller soft bodied one that fit in the car boot as by then I was driving.

I would have loved a coach built pram but we had seven steps up to our house so it was impractical. We had the Silver Cross three in one system instead (1990s). This was a pram that could be removed from the chassis and replaced by the matching pushchair which could face forwards or backwards. The pram part was big enough for my babies to lie flat until they were nine or ten months old. I loved it and walked for miles with it.

Lovely memories of babies in the old big prams.

I had a beautiful green Silver Cross bought by my mother for my first baby, I walked for miles every day, the suspension was marvellous and so comfortable for the child.

The pram actually served four babies then lived in my loft for over thirty years. When we moved house I tried to sell it but had no takers. I then advertised it free to anyone who could use it and I was delighted when a young photographer took it to use in her studio. It still had the white broderie anglaise sun canopy and the original fringed pram rug.

I like to think that at least a few parents have photos of their babies sitting in my pram.

I had a Marmet pram with the sprung chassis and big wheels. As the body was soft it could be lifted off and folded nearly flat. Big prams were super for our babies, warm and comfortable and protected them from wind and rain. A beautiful canopy kept the sun off. I also had a seat for the toddler which fitted across it.
I met a young mum with her baby in a proper pram recently and she said she was Swedish and that prams are still popular there as babies are put outside to sleep.

I had forgotten but my sister had a massive twin pram, when her twins were little they were at one end and her toddler sat at the other end. When the hoods were up she couldn’t see over the top and the toddler used to wave through the gap between the hoods!

We had a Silver Cross one like the one Musicgirl described. It meant I could walk the 5 or so miles to see my MIL then get a lift home. I had a twin doll’s pram as a child.
Strange that, with this current thread, there was a Silver Cross coach built pram on Flog It last night.

Pic of my sister in her coachbuilt pram - must have been 1955

My mother had a huge Silver Cross pram when I was a baby, there are photos of me in it in the family archives.

Later on I had a Silver Cross dolls pram of which I was immensely proud. My mum kitted it out with proper sheets and blankets. I spent hours pushing my dolls up and down the pavement.

My mum and her best friend had matching Silver Cross prams in 1947 !

We bought a brand new one in 1971 for our first baby. It was white with green upholstery. I used it for all 4 of our babies and it is still in our loft! It was a bit cumbersome to put the top on the back seat of the car and the wheels in the boot, but I loved it. Baby slept in the garden in it, toddler sat on the pram seat, when I walked to meet the older ones from school. Oh happy memories.
I was hoping one of the family would want it when they had babies, but they all wanted a modern designer pram/pushchair.

My lovely mum thought she was being helpful buying me a modern pram that would go in the car in 1977. I hated it, awful colour, far too low (even in 1977 men were not expected to push prams regularly and this was sized for an average woman, not a tall one like me)
In 1984 when expecting 3rd baby I bought a second hand Coach built Silver Cross. Just loved it! Walked everywhere often with toddler on seat, did the school run for DS1 and a friend’s children with bags and lunch boxes in shopping tray. Even used it in hard winter of 86 when there was snow so high that push chair wheels couldn’t cope. By then DD was two but still fitted in well wrapped up and slept like the proverbial baby. Such happy memories. 😍

My best friend had a coach built pram but she is not quite five feet tall, so she couldn’t take her baby out if it rained as she couldn’t see over the hood.

The big advantage of a coach built pram is the size of the wheels. They will go easily over almost any terrain! Buggies may be convenient but those nasty little wheels get stuck in mud, snow and on gravel.

I take my grandson to Toddlers at a local church and see a beautiful Silver Cross coach built pram there each week. Babies have such a good sleep in a coach built pram and can see the world when they can sit up. Miss my coach built pram.

M0nica

Far too big and bulky, and the last kind of pram I would have considered buying.

I had one that would never have won any prizes for beauty but was just so pratical. it was bigger than a carrycot on wheels, but worked on similar principles. I could take it off its chassis and put it in the back of even a small car - and we had car safety harnessto hold it in place, but at the same time it had an added stabiliser so that I could put a seat across it to hold a todler.

Mine was like that MOnica and was denim blue with a checked interior. I seem to remember it had handles so we could swing it into the back of the car and then attach it to the safety harness. The chassis folded and went in the boot.
We visited Durham and could not get the door open in the multistorey car park so we had to park in the coach park and ended up with a parking ticket. DDI sat on a child's seat on the back.
I had carry cot that matched it and a stand that took the cot and the baby bath.

My parents were far from well off but insisted on buying the pram when I was pregnant with my first baby in the 1970’s. I chose it myself, it was a dark blue & grey Wilson coach built pram. I loved it and used it for both my babies. Sadly I eventually had to sell it due to lack of space. I do remember that the shop stored it until the baby was born. It was considered bad luck to have the pram in the house before the baby was born. Does anyone else remember that?

I have a dolls silver cross pram that my granddaughter is nearly tall enough to use.

Silver Cross is undoubtedly the 'Gold Standard' among prams. My mum bought one in 1971 for DS1, who was her first grandchild. Nothing but the best for him! I remember loading it into our Morris 1100 Traveller and proudly strolling along the promenade at Torquay. We also had a folding pram that doubled as a push chair. I'm fairly sure that it was made by Silver Cross too.

I remember Grandyma John Lewis kept both my pram and cot in storage until I had the baby it was considered bad luck to have them in the house before hand.

We bought a Silver Cross coach built pram at auction in the mid 1980's. My son slept in it for the first two weeks of his life because he was early and his bedroom needed the carpet fitting. It wasn't worth putting the cot up only to dismantle it again for the carpet. My friend thought it was very old fashion, but with the tray underneath I could pile the shopping on and walk back from town with no trouble. We kept it for his sister who arrived three years later and then sold it for more that we paid for it.
In March every year we have a fair in town and all the stall holders have Silver Cross Prams. The babies are outside in all weathers and sleep soundly despite the noise and cold.

Not a Silver Cross but a Marmet coacbuilt for DD. Alas when twins came along was only kept for when the babies slept at different times. Twin coachbuilt woukd have been far too heavy to manage so a much lighter weight Silver Cross twin was bought. I didn't like it as couldn't see babies if hood/s were up. Sold it and bought a side by side pram from USA.

I wonder what the young folk are choosing now? There is so much choice.

My DD chose a bugaboo which were new on the market and I thought very weird.

Silver Cross are undoubtedly a household name and sadly the last manufacturer of coachbuilt prams. but there used to be many, many manufacturers of prams, some of which have been mentioned upthread. I can be out pushing a majestic Millson (which the late Queen favoured and which was brought out again for the christening of Princess Charlotte) and someone will come along and tell me they too had a Silver Cross just like that 😉

Whitewavemark2

I wonder what the young folk are choosing now? There is so much choice.

My DD chose a bugaboo which were new on the market and I thought very weird.

I also really like Bugaboo, not weird at all. They are extremely well designed, comfortable for babies and nice to push. Your daughter has good taste!

I just loved my pram. In would go baby (fed, nappy changed - but still in sleepsuit), pop on a cover and off we'd go to the school. If they fell asleep, the pram would go in the hall, no fuss. Later, we'd get them washed and dressed.

My third child, who slept well, spent many an hour in the pram, under the apple tree, with a cat/insect net over. Collect from school time - and off we'd go again, with plenty of space for a tired toddler at the other end. Even the shopping tray (if empty) would carry an older child.

Now, nobody seems to walk anywhere or do a school pick up/shopping/park dog walk combined trip. I can't imagine how they manage with four small kids! I feel sorry for the little souls all bunched up in car seats and strollers.