GCI Caelus (Bus)

The Gilfred Coach Industries Caelus (originally named Gilfred Phoebus and also nicknamed Gilfred Bacchus Mini) is a minibus/midibus manufactured by Gilfred Coach Industries (formerly Gilfred Truck and Coach Corporation). Produced from 1994 until 2017, it was mostly popular for paratransit, commuter bus, charter bus, and general minibus applications. The Caelus was the sister model to the larger Phaeton introduced in 1997. The bus was sold primarily with a diesel powertrain, although gasoline, CNG, and propane versions exist and a few disel-electric as well as gasoline-electric hybrids were built as well. Gilfred Coach Industries introduced the Caelus in 1994 with the intent that it would be a competing product to Orion Bus Industries' Orion II, but in the end, the line was ultimately marketed as a cost effective alternative to their Jupiter Series.

History
Together with its sibling model, the Phaeton, the Gilfred Caelus was developed during the late 1980s. After reading about the Orion II in an industry publication with his colleagues, Montague Wilson led a team that laid the foundation for both designs. The designs aimed to maximize driver visibility, so the entry door was moved to make room for a large window to view sightlines in the loading zone between the entry door and windshield (a feature indirectly inherited from the Ward Patriot and almost all small cutaway van buses in general, particularly small school buses); this was a smaller quarter window that was put forward of the driver's window. The window however, did not fully extend down the height of the entry door and only reached from the windshield to the roofline. The Caelus was eventually unveiled on April 5, 1993 as the Phoebus with the larger Phaeton unveiled four years later on June 13, 1997. The first large order was placed in early 1995 by the Pantrans private transport agency of Illinois for 30 buses to be used for their paratransit services.

In 1996, Gilfred modified the Caelus design for shuttle bus use, replacing the dual entry doors with central entry doors. Gilfred would produce the design for Richard Regional Charters as the MSE171 through 2010, as the design was later replaced by standard Caelus buses.

By 1999, the Caelus, then known as the Phoebus, also became popular with public transit agencies who use them for paratransit services. Responding to transit agency requests, in 2002 Gilfred started offering a version of the MSE171 based on the then-produced second generation Phoebus called the Bacchus Mini with destination signs as standard and two-piece sliding entry doors better suited to curbside loading compared to the one-piece swing out door on the standard Phoebus.

Starting in 2004, the bus entered its third generation as the Caelus and mostly had inherited the features from the Bacchus Mini; the second generation was still concurrently produced with the third generation, albeit as the Bacchus Mini since the regular second generation Phoebus was discontinued by then. However, since the third generation had already incorporated the features of the second generation derived Bacchus Mini, contract decisions had become even more bizarre: both buses ended up competing with one another in sales, and eventually, around 2007, sales of both buses were matched with the Phaeton, which also unintentionally competed with the renamed Caelus. As a result, the Bacchus Mini was discontinued in 2013 because Gilfred believed it was redundant given that the Caelus and Bacchus Mini's sales were identical.

In 2007, Gilfred started offering a unique variant of the standard low floor Caelus that had a front wheel drive arrangement and a low floor area from the middle to the front of the bus. Also atypical for a bus, the transversely mounted engine was coupled to a transaxle which drove the front wheels. This is unlike the already uncommon front wheel drive configuration that can be specified with the standard low floor version. In the case of the latter configuration, the front-wheel drive layout consisted of the front axle being powered by a front-mounted longitudinal engine. Gilfred had also produced something similar with their Phaeton model for an order placed by Richard Regional Charters in 2004. Gilfred used the model code "PHS35DL TD" to identify that particular Phaeton variant and also among the modifications specified was the replacement of the standard one-piece swing out entry door to a two-piece sliding entry door.

The bus was finally discontinued in 2017, after the Phaeton bus succeeded it in sales.

Design
To improve forward visibility, the bus was a semi-forward design, much like the Ward Patriot school bus, with the driver sitting next to the engine and radiator which were repositioned behind the front axle. The entry door was also moved behind the rear axle and equipped with an optional flip-out wheelchair ramp. This created a large gap between the driver's sliding window and windshield in which a "loading-zone" window was placed. Also, aside from the left side auxiliary window ahead of the driver, the right side bodywork ahead of the door was in addition given a window as well, like those on small school buses, but rather than extending the full length of the door, both windows instead reached from the roofline to the windshield. The Caelus could be ordered with a optional sliding two-piece front door as an alternative to the standard one-piece swing out front door. The Caelus could also be specified with an integrated wheelchair ramp built into both front door options in addition to the ability to kneel in both the front and rear. Another optional sliding two-piece door before the rear wheels was also an option.

In a departure from using welds, like on the Pluto I, adhesive bonding was used to complete a number of body joints. In the cases where fasteners are needed, self-piercing rivets are used. These engineered fasteners join layers of metal together without punching completely through the bottom layer, thus reducing the likelihood that rivets will become the source of leaks in the future.

The electrical system of the bus used multiplexed wiring to ease vehicle maintenance. With the system, interior control panel switches can be moved around to better suit the driver without requiring any rewiring or programming changes.

Early production models had a smaller grill with quad headlamps, however later models received dual (instead of quad) headlamps and a wider grill. A destination sign could be specified above the windshield, and a small rear sign could be added protruding from the roof. The front fascia again received minor changes by 2001. It was more drastically restyled in 2004 with a rounder and smoother form as well as different grill upon the introduction of the third generation replacing the short lived second generation. This was in turn followed by a facelift in 2007, which added automobile inspired styling onto the front clip and did away with the truck-style hood in favor of a more conventional one; rather than have the hood be the entire front clip assembly hinged to the frame in a way similar to a medium duty truck, the hood was reduced to a simple metal lid in the style of a typical automobile hood.

Chassis and propulsion
The Caelus bus utilized monocoque design rather than a body-on-frame. Before 2004, Gilfred employed a method in which the vehicle body was welded on top of a prefabricated chassis; however, it wasn't until 2004 that Gilfred and its then-parent company Murdovsky worked together to redesign the Caelus to be an integrated unibody vehicle; after experimenting with the Phaeton, Gilfred Coach Industries decided to continue the practice established with the introduction of the Phaeton in which the chassis and body were assembled and manufactured under the same company. This was made easier by the second generation's unit body construction, which effectively merges the chassis and body together.

The bus was for the most part two-wheel drive with the rear wheels typically driven by the engine, however on some models the bus was offered with four-wheel drive. Also alongside this, on low floor variants, the bus was front-wheel drive (the front wheels were driven by the engine) to accommodate the low floor, and on four-wheel drive hybrid low floor variants, the rear wheels were driven electrically. In fact, the radiator, along with other components, were located ahead of the front axle.