We had these at LAUSD. If your assigned bus, usually a Crown, was broke down we often got a Gillig like this with "reverse shift". The reverse shift made the day seem twice as long.
I remember going to the local high school in Fremont California and seeing buses like this one. If I am not mistaking it has a cat engine in it and a 3208 to be exact.
very cool bus and video...did gillig make city transit buses in the 60's and 70's?? would be awesome if they did with a manual transmission..also love the reving up with you're heel...pretty cool...
Cool video. We had several of these in the Camas, WA school district when I was in grade school and were replaced by Crown's by the mid-eighties. They always intrigued me as a youngster. I remember one in particular, bus 21, that had the large air scoop that ran down the back corner and a very distinct whistle from the rear engine. I'm guessing a Detroit although I'm not sure they put turbo models in these? I used to love sitting in the very back bench seat just to listen to it. If your buddy was sitting near you forget about hearing what he was saying. Now that I'm 40 and a heavy mechanic, it would be fun to wander the old bus yard full of Gilligs and pop the hood!
When I was in my younger years, the school district I went to had Gillig and Crown buses. Most of the Gillig buses were around this generation and chassis set up, with the engine in the back and a 5 speed transmission. They did have 3 Gillig buses from the same era with the Cummins and a 10 speed transmission but with the engine in the center, rather than in the rear. I really liked the ones they had with the engine in the center and 10 speed transmission. They had them set up with a turbo and a jake brake. They did seem to be stronger than the rear engine set up. Any idea what engine they might have used for the ones with the center mount engines?
