Coachbuilt prams

Yes, I remember leaving the pram with the baby in outside the supermarket because it was too big to take in. I had a second hand Silver Cross pram which served both babies, but was quite large to fit into the hall of a very small semi! I had a friend who used a buggy and remember thinking that that couldn't be very good for the baby's back. However, it did fit into their car which ours didn't - we had a VW Beetle. I can't remember how we managed when we went out in the car when we got to our destination but on the journey the baby lay in the space behind the back seat, which on reflection was not very safe! When the second child came along we got a seat which fitted across the pram. Some years ago we stayed in Largs with friends and were very interested to see that big Silver Cross type prams were still very popular there, long after they had disappeared from our English streets.

I had a beautiful twin Silver Cross pram
Babies loved it One each end
When they got bigger they started kicking one another we changed to a twin pushchair I was young 20yrs & strong pushed it for miles laden with shopping or laundrette washing
In those days we would leave the pram with babies in outside the shops
And babes would nap in the pram in the front garden. You never see that nowadays We were much more trusting

Our pram was third hand (£12 I think), 40+ years ago. Not coach built but substantial, it had mudguards, was sprung, basket underneath and absolutely weatherproof. We had a child seat for DD1 when DD2 came along.

It's in the loft now, the wheels need new treads.

In the winter in town I saw a young couple with a white coach built pram, it was beautiful. Someone on my antenatal class had a coach built pram.

My mum back in the day had a silver cross pram for us all.
It was later left in a shed. Imagine my surprise when our allegedly male young cat greeted me with kittens in that pram. Our cat was ahead of its time!

I had a Manton coachbuilt pram it had large wheels and was
cream with dark green hood and apron, that was in 1968, I spotted it in a shop window reduced to £27. I loved it, so smart

Grandyma

Just found these online

Beautiful! It's a Millson Sunningdale and the Queen requested that it was made with same size wheels, more usually seen on twin prams for stability. She apparently wasn't in favour of the 'penny farthing' style wheels.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202305/medium-268386-img-1685.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202305/medium-888156-img-1684.jpeg

Just found these online

I had a Silver Cross pram. I’m not sure if it was coach built. It had a hard body, but was flat bottomed and could be lifted off the chassis and put in the car, but it was a bit of a faff. I loved pushing it with my babies in it. It was dark green, beautiful.

DD has always bought 2nd hand and has tried many kinds of buggy/ twin buggy etc. Mama and Papas was one make.

She has passed them all on now. She never wanted my coachbuilt Silver Cross

and constantly disturbed by being moved here, there and everywhere!

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.

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!

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 😉

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 😍