Optare Delta

First announced in early 1988,^[1] the Optare Delta was formally launched as the first body for the UK market to be fitted to the DAF SB220 chassis in June 1988. The Delta bodywork featured a distinctive sloping one-piece windscreen with a separately mounted destination display, as well as gasket glazed tinted windows in the passenger cabin,^[2] and was constructed with an Alusuisse bolted aluminium frame, which Optare had gained the exclusive rights to use in Great Britain. At a length of 11.6 metres (38 ft), the Delta was marketed to three configurations: as a standard city bus, carrying 53 seated and 24 standing passengers, or to either city or intercity specification with 47 passengers seated hard plastic seats.^[3]

The Delta was powered by a DAF LC1160 11.6 litres (2.6 imp gal; 3.1 US gal) turbocharged six-cylinder engine, and it could be optioned with either ZF Ecomat 4HP500 or 5HP500 automatic gearbox. The Delta's front suspension could "kneel", allowing the 310 millimetres (12 in) entrance step to lower to a height of 200 millimetres (7.9 in),^[2] while air springs and a centrally mounted steering column, unusual for British buses at the time, were also provided.^[3]

Production of the Delta eventually ceased in 1999, around the time the second-generation low-floor Optare Excel began entering production.^{[4][5][page needed]}

The Delta's design was originally utilised by Optare as part of proposals for a trolleybus system in Leeds.^[2] Though the trolleybus proposal did not progress further, Optare instead redesigned the bus to be a diesel double-fronted articulated bus on DAF SB220 chassis. A mock-up bus was built, and an order for 12 articulated Deltas was considered in 1992 by Go-Ahead Northern when the operator proposed a guided busway serving Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland,^[6] however no orders resulted due to the busway never being approved.

An articulated Optare Delta was eventually developed by vehicle fitters Sutrak UK and BTSE 2000 in 1992, designed for use as a European roadshow vehicle by American multi-level marketing company Amway. Named the 'Amway Showcase', the vehicle was built on a left-hand drive MAN articulated chassis and LAG Panoramic coach framework, using a combination of Bova Futura coach mouldings, the Optare Delta's front fascia and the LAG Panormaic's rear fascia. Internally, the Amway Showcase featured a broadcasting studio, a portable stage, a NICAM stereo video system, and an IBM AS/400 computer for demonstrating Amway's customer support system.^[7] This bus was exported to Ireland for use by Dublin radio station FM104 in May 1996, however the bus was eventually scrapped after the collapse of its suspension frame had rendered it inoperable.^[8]