Wright Crusader

Wright Crusader
A Wright Crusader bodied Dennis Dart SLF, owned by ACTION.
Overview
Manufacturer	Wright
Production	1995–2002
Body and chassis
Doors	1 door or 2 doors
Floor type	Low floor
Chassis	Crusader: Dennis Dart SLF Volvo B6LE Crusader 2: Volvo B6BLE
Powertrain
Engine	Cummins B-series (Dennis Dart SLF) Volvo (Volvo B6LE/Volvo B6BLE)
Capacity	40 seated
Chronology
Predecessor	Wright Handybus

The Wright Crusader is a single-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus from Northern Ireland on Dennis Dart SLF, Volvo B6LE and Volvo B6BLE chassis between 1995 and 2002.

The Wright Crusader was introduced in 1995, replacing the Wright Handybus. Early Crusaders have tall, square-cornered or gasket side windows and a shallow roofline, similar to their predecessor. Most of them had a double-curvature windscreen with arched top as common.

Following the construction of one prototype and a demonstrator, the first production batch of Crusaders, on B6LE chassis, were delivered to Mainline in October 1995. The first Dennis Dart SLF Crusaders were delivered to London United in September 1996. Travel West Midlands were the largest operator of the first generation Crusader, taking 149 examples, all of them B6LEs; subsidiary Travel Merry Hill took delivery of a further 23 B6LE Crusaders. In all, 425 first generation Crusaders were built; 272 on Volvo B6LE chassis, and 154 on Dennis Dart SLF chassis.

The second generation Crusader, known as the Crusader 2, was introduced in 1999 on Volvo B6BLE chassis, the successor to the B6LE. In contrast to early first generation Crusaders, all Crusader 2s have shallower windows with a deeper panel above, bringing them in line with other Wrightbus designs like the Endurance and Pathfinder; some of the later built first generation Crusaders shared this characteristic however, making the two designs indistinguishable except for the different chassis. It retained its double-curvature windscreen with its arched top.