GAC Ireland
It traded from 1980 until 1986, and almost all the vehicles it built were for the Irish state-owned transport company Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) with the first delivery out of a 749 order in November 1980.
[1] During the 1970s, CIÉ's long-standing relationship with Leyland became strained, and in 1977 the company decided upon a standard "family" for its next generation of buses and coaches.
It thus contacted FFG (Fahrzeugwerkstätten Falkenried GmbH) of Hamburg, Germany, which built six prototype vehicles: a 45-seat coach, a 72-seat double-deck bus, a 35-seat citybus, two 47-seat rural/school buses and a wheelchair-accessible midibus.
[citation needed] Aside from the midibus, all of these vehicles shared common body components, the most notable being large, inward-curving two-piece windscreens.
[citation needed] The midibus, built in 1981 as a token response to the International Year of Disabled Persons, also carried a Daimler-Benz engine, and featured a sliding door at the front, immediately to the driver's left.
[2] CIÉ looked for partners to build these buses in Ireland, eventually finding two: the Canadian conglomerate Bombardier, and the United States-based General Automotive Corporation (GAC) from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The idea behind the Bombardier/GAC project was inspired by a number of factors: The prototype Bombardier "KC" Citybus (of single deck design) was built in 1979/1980 by FFG in Hamburg, Germany.
Although designated "V1" in the factory, it later received fleet number KC1 when entering service with CIÉ, and was allocated to Conyngham Road depot from new in 1981 to its final days in 1996 when it was withdrawn.
This particular vehicle differed from the other Shannon built KC type buses (built 1983–1986) as it was delivered in the tan (sometimes mistaken for orange) or the CIÉ coined "buttermilk" livery and unique "blue" interior as seen on prototype double-decker "KD 1", and the rest of the Leyland Atlantean/Leyland Leopard CIÉ fleet at the time.
Production of the Shannon built KC class (KC2-202) began in October 1983 and the most notable change from the KD bus was the fitting of a 4-stroke, turbocharged Cummins L10-185 engine and a Voith D851 gearbox, which was more economical to run unit, which parts were cheaper and easier tl access than its wholly American counterpart, and from an enthusiastic point of view, this bus has its own distinctive sound, compared to the loud roar from the Detroit 6V-71, which was an American engined, parts were expensive to obtain and the unit had very poor fuel economy being a 2-stroke diesel engine.
With exception of KC1 and KC2, which were badged as "Bombardiers", the rest of the KC Citybuses were badged "GACs", as by the time KC3 onwards were on the production line, Bombardier had sold their stake and interest in the factory, with GAC taking sole control of the operation, which produced 201 KC type buses out of the Shannon plant.
The integral body construction (also employed by the KD and KC classes) did not withstand Irish road conditions of the time.
20 JZL) as a prototype for the UITP conference which was hosted in Dublin that year and another in 1982 as a hope for securing export orders for the Baghdad Transport Authority.
[11] Unlike the KE, KD and KC classes, the DAF-powered KR employed chassis construction, which proved to be more durable than the integral body by quite a margin.
