Bombardier (Ireland) Limited (later to become GAC (Ireland)) was a bus manufacturing company based in Shannon, County Clare in the Republic of Ireland. The factory was initially a joint venture between Bombardier Inc. of Canada and the General Automotive Company (GAC, for whom had already took over Flxible from Grumman by June 1983) of Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA but by August 1983 GAC bought out Bombardier and the factory became known as GAC (Ireland). The factories main output was for the Irish state-owned transport company Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) and was in operation from 1980 until 1986.
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The first buses produced at the Shannon plant were the 50 KE type intercity/touring coaches for CIÉ. Bombardier produced 51 'IC' coach type bodies between 1980 and early 1981. 50 were built to CIÉ's specification and one prototype was completed in time for the UITP conference in Dublin during 1981.
Powered by the Detroit Diesel 6V71 unit they were plagued by structural problems from the beginning. The integral body construction (also employed by the KD and KC classes) did not withstand Irish road conditions of the time.
All were withdrawn and scrapped by 1997, although KE14 and KE35 are in preservation.
The standard double deck bus offered by Bombardier was known in the CIÉ fleet as the KD type. Bombardier produced 366 double deckers between 1980 and 1983. 365 were right hand drive and all ended up in the CIÉ fleet while a solitary left hand drive bus was constructed for the Bagdhad Transport Authority during 1982.
The model was based on the prototype bus designed and built by FFG known as B1 (later this bus became KD1 in the CIÉ fleet) for CIÉ. The bus was built on an all welded integral design frame. The model was offered with a choice of engine/gearbox combinations, including the Detroit Diesel 6V71/Allison V730, the Cummins LT10/Voith D851, the Rolls Royce Eagle/ZF 4HP500 Ecomat and the Gardner 6LXB/ZF 4HP500 Ecomat. The GM combination ran on Rockwell axles, the remaining powerpacks driving on Kirkstall axles. Steering was provided by ZF, suspension by Dunlop pneumatics, shocks by Koni and the air system by Wabco. Door systems on the early production models were made by Keiert of Germany with later buses having Deans Doors systems. SWF provided the wiper system and many electrical components.
The bus was 9.6 metres long, 4.4 metres in height and 2.5 metres wide. The standard tyre size was 275/70R/22.5, however the Bagdhad example had 11R22.5 tyres.
Bombardier began production of 'KD-class' double deckers for CIÉ under the build code 'DD' to their standard specification in 1981. These buses featured the Detroit/Allison/Rockwell driveline and were built as 72 seaters (45 upper saloon/27 lower saloon) with dual door bodies. Bombardier built 364 double deckers to CIÉ's own specifications between 1980 and 1983, 363 of which were powered by Detroit Diesels and one solitary Cummins L10 powered (CIÉ KD 146) bus. Bombardier built two prototypes with the Rolls Royce Eagle engine, one in 1981 (reg. no. 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 Bagdhad Transport Authority. 20 JZL became KD191 (191 JZL) in the CIÉ fleet in 1982 and no further export orders were realised.
CIÉ took the prototype bus built by FFG into its fleet as well as 365 of the 366 double decker buses built by Bombardier. The first production bus entered service in late May 1981. KD 2 entered service the day before the prototype FFG built KD 1 from Donnybrook Garage on route 8 (City Centre–Dalkey). Production began to flow during the summer of 1981 and by August the KDs were entering service in force across the city.
All of the CIÉ KD fleet was in service by September 1983. Most were to be found operating in Dublin but the cities of Cork, Limerick and Galway saw regular KD operation. During the summer months for a number of years Waterford borrowed a KD from Limerick for the Tramore service. When CIÉ was broken up into operating companies in February 1987 of the 364 KDs still operation (KD 317 was destroyed by fire in Donabate in late 1983) 338 of them became part of the fleet of Bus Atha Cliath-Dublin Bus the remainder became part of Bus Éireann-Irish Bus fleet.
The first natural withdrawals of the KDs came in 1995 when KD35 was withdrawn in Ringsend Garage. Between 1995 and December 2000 the entire Dublin Bus KD fleet was withdrawn from normal service, with the final operational example of the KD 284 operating from Summerhill garage, and completed its last run on the evening of Friday 15 December, on route 16A to the airport. The training school vehicles ran a little longer with KD 70 being the last to be withdrawn (in early February 2001). The bulk of the Bus Eireann KD fleet was withdrawn during 1997 with one KD (KD184) soldiering on in Cork until May 1999 when a gearbox failure saw its demise.
Bombardier finished the last double decker for CIÉ in August 1983 and thus the end of double deck production.
KD 353 is currently housed at the National Transport Museum in Howth. Other confirmed survivors are KDs 59, 199, 221, 236 and 241.
Production of KR-class rural buses began in Shannon in 1985. These were the last passenger buses to be built in the Republic of Ireland.
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.
A total of 226 KRs were produced, the last of which were completed by CIÉ themselves after GAC folded in 1986.
2007 saw the last KRs withdrawn after more than twenty years in service, although many still survive in various locations throughout Ireland.