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Dennis DartThe Dennis Dart is a well established model and was the first successful Dennis product since the Dominator. It was first planned around 1988 when the then Hestair Group (owner of Duple and Dennis) decided to produce a bus that was between a mini-bus and a full-sized singe decker. It was finally launched in 1989 and was originally offered with the stylish Duple Dartline, it was 2.3m wide initially was in lengths of 8.5m, 9m and 9.8m and was powered by the tried and tested Cummins 6BT engine and coupled up to the Allison transmision (the same engine and gearbox also used in the MCW Metrorider and later Optare MetroRider). It sold well to London Buses, and to some operators outside London. Unfortunatley however by the time of it's launch the Hestair Group was no more, Duple was sold to Plaxton and the Blackpool plant was closed down. Plaxton decided not to aquire the design right to the Duple Dartline and was sold to Carlyle (formally had links with Midland Red) who continued the bodywork from 1991-91, and passed to Marshall of Cambridge in 1992 who bodied five darts to this design and from 1993 updated the design ironing out the weaknesses of the original design. In 1990 Wadham Stringer was the next builder to body the Dart with a bodywork called the Portsdown, but this sold in small numbers, it was replaced by the UVG Ubanstar 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 desgnated the Reeve Burgess Pointer as it was built at Reeve Burgess's plant, untill later in the year when it was transferred to Plaxtons at Scarborough), this bodywork was the most best selling one, even though it was to some extent unattractive, it was after all a very boxy bodywork. Later in 1991 East Lancs bodied the Dart with it's 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 with a design of a barrel shaped windscreen with quarterlights (which were mainly sold to Warrington Borough Transoprt), later models had a deep double-curvature two-piece windscreen, it was phased out when Plaxton bought Northern Counties in 1995. Since its launch the Dart has enjoyed a lot of success with many operators across the UK buying them, it has even been sold to other parts of the world. In 1995 things changed with low-floor buses being in the UK from 1993, Dennis launched a low floor Dart called the SLF (Super Low Floor), it was 2.4m wide and offered in lengths of 9m, 10.2m and 10.6m in length. It was initially offered with the low floor version of the Pointer (which was noticable being wider) replaced by the updated Pointer 2 in 1997, it was also offered with the East Lancs Spryte, the UVG Urbanstar (later known as the Caetano Compass, replaced in 1999 by the Nimbus), the stylish Wright Crusader, the Alexander ALX200 (discontiued in 2001 with the formation of Transbus International in 2000 by the Pointer) and the Marshall Capital. In 1997 the Super Dart was launched it was 11.3m long (about the same lenght as a long Leyland National 2), it has a more heavy duty Allison gearbox, but also with an option of a Voith 'box too. In 1998 it was accompanied by the Mini-Dart at 8.5m long. With the move to Euro 3 emmisions in October 2001, the new Cummins ISBe was launched, with the 4-cylinder 3.9 litre model being used in all lengths but the 11.3 which uses the 6-cylinder 5.9 litre version and still remains as sucessful as ever. After 16 years the Dart is still produced and has proved itself a relible 'midi-bus', and is bought by a lot of operators than it's competitors.
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