[GB] 20 Years On - Dennis Dart (Standard Floor)

2009 is a bit of a milestone for a number of fairly modern types, one of which, arguably, is more important than the others. 20 years ago, the first Dart began to appear on the streets of Britain, at a time which the British bus industry began it recovery from the tumour brought by the deregulation in the mid-80s and looking to upsize their fleet from the smaller, and less capable, minibuses. With this market very much in mind, the Dart proved to be so cheap to run, simple, ruthlessly reliable and versatile, and adaptable to updates that in the standard floor and SLF form, it progressively smothered the country, and sweeping aside almost anything thrown in by their competitors. The Dart propelled Dennis from an also-runner to one of the most prominent manufacturer in the British bus and coach industry, and set up the foundations which it built on in the new millenium to become the leading bus manufacturer in Britain. It seems a good time to pay tribute to the type, one of the most important British buses over the last 20 years.

Before I start - I am not covering the SLF version or the E200Dart here, which is a much re-engineered replacement of the "classic" Dart.

One of the early Darts - in fact this is the oldest British example I have photographed. Ironically, the oldest one I have photographed is none other than KMB's AA2... This though, was new to R&I Tours, who introduced them into London for the first time - first of the very many that ended up in service in the capital, and carries one of the few Dartline body that was built by Duple before the design was sold on to Carlyle.


London Buses also quickly got their hands on to the Dart, taking up examples with the Dartline bodywork, and this - Wright Handybus. Looking at what Wright are building now, it's hard to believe they had built ungainly bodywork like this...


Another bodywork that London Buses took up is the popular Pointer, which, along with the Pointer 2, become the premiere choice of bodywork for the type.


Just about every bodybuilders have bodied a Dart one way or the other, including East Lancs:


Northern Counties with the handsome looking Paladin:




Alexander joined the bandwagon relatively late with the Dash:


But one of the oddest is the Portsdown bodywork by Wadham Stinger:


Marshall also started bodying Darts in the 90s, inheriting the Dartline bodywork from Carlyle initially. The revised C35/36/37 body was introduced in late 1993:


It's fair to say, Dennis (or whichever way it was known in the last decade) wouldn't be where it is now without the Dart. I am hardly the greatest admirer of the type, but the Dart is rightfully, the most important British bus type in the 90s.

This is a good topic!

Let's start with one of the pre-production examples


G227VWD


London was once the biggest operator of Dennis Darts, but not many of the step-entrance left there. This Wright Handybus example was in the Midlands


H532XGK, a Reeve Burgess Pointer example, also ex-London vehicle


With massive order from London, the Reeve Burgess was unable to handle. The Pointer was later hand-over to Plaxton. N238KAE was found in Bristol


Another Dart with FirstGroup, this bus has UVG body


East Lancs L503CPB


K118CSG


Wadham Stinger J752PPM


Marshall-bodied M803GFT



Here are a few interesting Darts

The first one is a Dart with Carlyle Dartline body, a perfectly normal combination, but with a front panel of Reeve Burgess/Plaxton Pointer


Wadham Stinger Darts are not too rare, but L766DPE is the unique Wadham Stringer coach bodied Dennis Dart. The original front module was replaced with a East Lancs design


The final one was also an one-off vehicle. M804MOJ was a Dennis Dart with a Marshall C37 body. The original body was damaged badly and was given a new Marshall body based on the low-floor Capital design.

據聞如果唔係Dart的出現,Dennis呢間廠應該已經消失於世上...

據聞而家同ADL訂新車或原廠Dart零件都要等好耐... 上晒軌道, 真係唔憂做~~

搭單問: 九巴AA 的車身(Duple Metsec)配搭是否英國沒有的?

[ 本帖最後由 DD2113 於 2009-3-9 15:28 編輯 ]

原帖由 DD2113 於 2009-3-9 15:20 發表
據聞而家同ADL訂新車或原廠Dart零件都要等好耐... 上晒軌道, 真係唔憂做~~

搭單問: 九巴AA 的車身(Duple Metsec)配搭是否英國沒有的?

印象中Duple Metsec係專做外銷
英國未必有

原帖由 DD2113 於 2009-3-9 07:20 發表
搭單問: 九巴AA 的車身(Duple Metsec)配搭是否英國沒有的?

As far as I am aware of, there is none.