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It has proved popular with many bus operators in the UK, and has since been sold to several other countries around the world. STANDARD-FLOOR DART Dennis Dart was first planned around 1988 when Hestair Group (owner of Duple and Dennis) decided to produce a bus between a Minibus and a full-sized single decker (i.e. a midibus) in the same year. It was finally launched in 1989 and was originally offered with the stylish Duple Dartline. It was 2.3m wide and was initially in lengths of 8.5m, 9m and 9.8m and was powered by the tried and tested Cummins 6BT engine and coupled to the Allison AT545 gearbox (the same engine and gearbox were also used in the MCW Metrorider and later Optare MetroRider ). This model was sold well to London Buses and to some operators outside London. Unfortunately, however, soon after it was launched, Duple was sold to Plaxton and its Blackpool plant was closed down. Plaxton decided not to acquire the design rights of the Duple Dartline and it was sold to Carlyle , who continued producing the bodywork from 1991. Production passed to Marshall of Cambridge in 1992 who bodied five Darts to this design. In 1993, Marshall updated the design, ironing out the weaknesses of the original design. In 1990, Wadham Stringer became the next builder to body the Dart with a bodywork called the Portsdown, but it was sold in small numbers and replaced by the UVG Urbanstar in 1995. In the same year, Wright bodied the dart with the Handybus which was more functional than stylish. In early 1991, Plaxton launched the Pointer (which was initially designated as Reeve Burgess Pointer as it was built at Reeve Burgess's plant, until later in the same year when it was transferred to Plaxton at Scarborough ), this bodywork was the best selling one, even though it was unattractive in some extent. After all, it was a very boxy bodywork. Later in 1991, East Lancs bodied the Dart with its EL2000. In the latter half of 1991, Alexander launched the Dash, which was sold reasonably well and at the same time, Northern Counties launched the Paladin. Initially, it was built with a design of a barrel shaped windscreen with quarterlights (which were mainly sold to Warrington Borough Transport ), later models had a deep double-curvature two-piece windscreen. It was phased out when Plaxton bought Northern Counties in 1995. As the low floor buses became more popular in late 1990s, the standard-floor Dennis Dart ceased production in 1998. LOW-FLOOR DART SLF body) owned by New World First Bus of Hong Kong .]] In 1995, Dennis launched a low-floor Dart called the Dart SLF (SLF stands for Super Low Floor). It was 2.4m wide and initially offered in lengths of 9.2m, 10m and 10.6m in length. It was initially offered with the low floor version of the Pointer (which was notable for being wider), replaced by the updated Pointer 2 in 1997. It was also offered with other bodies like East Lancs Spryte, UVG Urbanstar (later known as Caetano Compass, replaced by the Nimbus in 1999), the stylish Wright Crusader, Alexander ALX200 (discontinued in 2001 with the formation of Transbus International and being replaced by the Pointer), Marshall Capital (later built by MCV ), Caetano Nimbus and MCV Evolution (since 2005). Some Dart SLF buses with Alexander ALX200 body were delivered to North America and sold as Thomas Dennis SLF-series buses. In 1997, the Dart SPD (Super Pointer Dart) was launched with the length of 11.3m (about the same length as a long Leyland National ). It has a more heavy duty Allison B300R gearbox, but also with an option of a Voith gearbox too. In 1998, it was accompanied by the MPD (Mini Pointer Dart) at 8.8m long. With the move to Euro III emissions in October 2001, the new Cummins ISB''e'' engine was launched, with the 4-cylinder 3.9-litre model being used in all lengths except the 11.3m version which uses the 6-cylinder 5.9-litre version and still remains as successful as ever. The Dennis Dart SLF will be superseded by the Alexander Dennis Enviro200Dart . |
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