With its “fish bowl” windshield, airplane-style monocoque body and 2-cycle Detroit Diesel, GM’s New Look busses were all new for 1959. In this video Steve explores a 1981-vintage “New Look” city bus - inside and out.
That's awesome, I always loved these buses as a kid in the 1980s. There is a handful of the old look buses at the trolley museum in East Haven Connecticut. Shoreline Museum I believe? They were all owned by the Connecticut company when the trolleys were phasing out. Just really cool to see them. I would assume they're awaiting restoration seeing as a restored all the trolleys there as well,
Hopefully you’re retired healthy without any medical problems I worked on forklifts aka Lift trucks for 32 years my shoulders and back and my hands are sore even though I’ve been retired for three years now arthritis I guess but I’m enjoying retirement and doing what I want to do including watching Steve every time he puts out a video Have a great day
@@abeneufeld9690 I did not work on trucks or heavy equipment, but I've been in the automotive business since 96ish. The shop I work in now I've been since 99, so 23 years in that one building. I still love it, I love what I do, but at 44 I'm starting to feel it. I get out regularly and exercise, ride my bicycle silver nights a week just to keep in shape, but I can feel my work creeping up on me Day by day. Don't know what else I could do, honestly couldn't imagine ever doing anything else but I've heard a lot of people saying the same stuff you just said. Makes you think but then again what else would I do.. Enjoy your retirement my friend, you put in your work, just hope it gets a little easier for you
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Hi Steve, thanks so much for featuring the Newlook GMC bus! They truly are fascinating and unique. What you have there is a T6H-5307N which was a Transit version, 6cyl, hydraulic-transmission bus with 53 passenger seating, and the 7th variant (40' x 102") with "N"o air conditioning. What makes this example special is the aftermarket air conditioning and all VIN-equipped buses (including this one) were built in St. Eustache QC! I don't recognize the AC manufacturer, but it was likely retrofitted in the US. And possibly a clue as to why the fluid-fan drive was left inside: the AC compressor is driven off a driveshaft and clutch arrangement that is driven from a PTO on the engine side of the toroidal coupler (the housing is separated at the point where that PTO would have lived!) So likely the bus was bought with its powertrain intact, and the engine and trans was later sold without the fan drive to someone who didn't need it. The engine is a 6V71 inclined engine (that's what they were called) and it's actually the starter, not the water pump, that is accessed from a small access panel under the rear seat. The transmission is a marvel: GM's "V-Drive" V730 or V731 ATEC would have been in this bus and the rear axle center section is also unique: the pinion is also inclined toward the right side of the bus to accept the driveshaft that is mounted at an angle from the right corner! The Wikipedia page on the GM New Look Bus is a fascinating, densely packed page of information on the whole production run and even where some of these buses ended up. The real one to own was the 3301 variants at only 29ft long (provided the "Toro-Flo" diesel is replaced with a 53 series Detroit). They're still around, but in very short supply as only about 200 were ever built. A great looking, great sounding, great riding bus - so distinctive and different from any that came before, or since.
Yes, a bus is engineered from the ground up to be industrial, used hard for 8-10 hours/day, every day, with a load of people, and constant stop and go operation in all climates. That means the engine, cooling system, electrical, brakes, suspension, wheels, and tires all have to meet severe duty use service specs. Even your most expensive RVs from Prevost and Newell are not engineered to those specs. They have all the glitz and glamor of the latest whiz-bang tech and design, but they're not severe duty engineered. Their bodies have lots of plastic, fiberglass, composite, and cheap lightweight material. Buses use either aluminum or steel. I laugh at people who spend a million dollars on a high end RV - watch when it goes over a bump. The whole thing shakes and quivers like an '82 Chrysler convertible lol
@@joe6096 : Given your great break down as to why these are built better than most RVs, why are some converted buses (Based on this bus) not permitted on some camp sites, whereas others are? What is going on there? Does anyone reading this question know?
As a kid in the 80s, I remember the screaming Jimmy well. Always thought it was funny how the automatic would wind out 2nd gear before finally dropping WAY down into 3rd. Riding at the back of these probably caused some hearing loss 😂
The Washington, D.C. area Metrobus system used these for decades. They were filthy busses. If you drove behind one you got the full effect of that smoky diesel exhaust and the busses were always covered with a dark grayish brown film. The seat in the very back of these busses ran the entire width of the aisle. As kids we used to love to sit back there where you could feel that diesel vibrating underneath and hear that guttural sound you describe.
@@scoobyroorogers I don't know that it's come so far. I watched a show that said it was quicker to get across DC in the teens via trolley than by car or bus today, due to automobile traffic.
In the 60s I lived in a corner house and the bus stop was in front of my bedroom window, I heard thousands of these buses pass by. Then in the 80s I worked on these buses R&R the motor & trans cradle and put completely rebuilt cradle assembly's in. They would rebuild these buses and scrap the newer fiberglass/plastic buses the older buses are built to last.
Kids throwing rocks: Back in 1964, @ 12 years old, I was caught wandering around in our local junk yard by the owner. Pete Sala was his name. He beat me up so bad I could barely walk , causing me to collapse on the side of the road. A Cop picked me up and drove me home never asking why I looked all tore up. My father went and spoke to Pete but nothing came out of it cause I was in the wrong.Taught me not to trespass on others property again.
My Dad pass 25years working for the STCUM (Société Transport Communauté Urbaine Montréal) ... 1980 to 2005 ... sometimes on the overtime week end shift he brings me with him at the shop (Glen garage in St-Henri hood) for "parking busses" ... after their run, drivers drop the Bus in the yard and each one needs to be fuelled, washed and parked inside the garage so...at the age of 8 years old, I was sitting on my dads lap....driving thoses busses inside to the gas bay, quick broom inside and closing all windows while my dad was fuelling and checking fluids level outside...next to this was the automatic bus wash with a speed limit wheel rolling down the side of the bus and a green, yellow, red light sign...yellow is too fast and red stops the wash and you need to go again...gasmans hate that thing and just hit and destroys that spring loaded wheel 🤦🤦🤦 ... ... ... long story short, I was used to each bus model starting and opperating procedures that was in the shop...New Look's had 3 speed shifter down the floor near the change box, most of those had large rear doors with 2 cowboy flap that actuates the air doors and some had only one door and cowboy flap, those was used for highway runs because they where little bit faster due to wind drag 😎😁 .. oh and in a 16/18hours run those busses can reach almost 500 miles arround town with a 100 gallons fuel tank ! ... 5mpg ! ... today they make 3mpg with those high tech Novas 🤦
It's incredible how you are able to pull all that info from your memory and let loose with a dialogue that is easy to understand for us. Fascinating and entertaining. I remember The S'cool Bus!!! Thanks for your effort!
Loved the smell of our old school busses. That wonderful gasoline engine smell. Our schools fleet of busses all had Chevy V8 engines back in the day. The small ones had a 350 4 bolt main and the rest had the 454's. Coach Mitchel had headers and straight pipe duals on the one he drove. No mufflers, just long straight pipes that sounded wicked. That's the bus the football team went to away games in. Ah yes, back in the day when things didn't suck. 😎
A 454 in a bus seems odd, I have seen old school busses with the 366, a big block chevy/ GMC engine. It would be pretty cool for a school bus with a 454. I remember in the late 60s, I rode in an International school bus that had a 392 cubic inch engine with a 2 bbl carb. Had a 5 speed manual transmission. I doubt any school bus today has a manual transmission any more.
I was at a local short track a few years ago when they brought out a school bus to promote school bus racing the following weekend. All the kids were invited down to ride the bus for a couple of parade laps around the track. They had a straight pipe that came out on the right side and the driver pulled up close to the wall and revved the engine. The echo off the wall really made it loud. All the kids inside were laughing and cheering. The track announcer said that come Monday morning, not a single one of those kids would want to be on a school bus, but tonight... 😄
@Billy Hamilton Thanks Billy. I'll try and remember that. The 366's likely wound up as shop class projects after they were worn out and got replaced. I'm not sure since I never asked .. or cared. Again, thanks for googling that for whatever reason.
@@bertgrau3934 Coach Mitchel, aside from being assistant football coach, he also taught shop class. Our school owned all the busses and he swapped all the stock engines and replaced them with 454 crate motors. The bus he drove the team around in had long straight dual pipes with headers. And yes it sounded wicked af. The engines that were pulled out became classroom tools. Where they would be torn down and rebuilt then started up on one of 3 run stands. Boy do I miss those days.
I rode on one of these buses as recently as about 10 years ago. Delaware Transit had a shuttle service running from a mall up near the Pennsylvania state line down to Dover for a NASCAR race. $10 per person, round trip. No traffic hassles, no parking hassles, and no paying $10 (remember, this was 10 years ago) to park the car half a mile from the track. The bus let us off about 100 yards from the entrance at yhe start/finish line. No brainer, unless you have more than about 10 people in your group! These were good looking buses for yheir day. I had thought they looked kind of dated by 1980 or so, but considering that the design went back over 20 years, it looked just fine... But then came its replacement which, as city buses go, was an absolute knockout! GMC sure knew how to design big people movers; look at their in- house motorhome from 1973. They still look modern today, 50 years on.
Ahhhhhhhh-the GM 2 strike diesel. I grew up on a bus route and every few minutes one of these would roll by. Our house had SO much soot and I hated the things then, but love them now.
I drove these for 10 years in Minneapolis / St. Paul, these and several others. Most were Detroit 2-stroke V-6 powered--some V-8s--and that sound is in my DNA now. The controls at the driver's station are dimly familiar, like a snapshot of someone else's life. Thanks for the look-around!
Yeah, I'm from Canada (east coast) they started becoming less common here as the 90's wore on, but I'm pretty sure some were still in service where I live into the early 2000's. Even so, I didn't realize they kept making them until '86... I would've figured '82 at the latest. Not that big a difference, obviously, but that's still surprising to me. I miss them, now. It's the only type of transit bus I honestly thought was cool looking. Haha
Can't beat the old Detroit Diesels. Those were true million mile engines. Just keep up with the maintenance, valve adjustments as required, and you could start one that was sitting for 20 years in 20 minutes. Are new engines more efficient and less pollutenous? Absolutely. But they are so heavily computer controlled with cheap components on them, they'll need constant maintenance and repairs.
The modern ones are the same as today's cars. Designed with "planned obsolescence". It has to be this way unfortunately. With all the restrictions and regulations, fee's, tariffs, etc... Manufacturers simply cannot design and build vehicles that are "built to last" anymore. The public wouldn't be able to afford them.
That is the bus of my childhood I always want to drive one and be a bus driver but I drive a truck that bus brings back great memories of my childhood riding with my mother in the city thank you so much for sharing💯💕😌
Rode in these many times when the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission ... or ... "take the car" LOL) still used them. The non turbo Detroit 671 gave no discernible acceleration, drivers treated the accelerator pedal as a switch, but they did sound awesome!
I worked for the public transit system in Philly from 1980 to 2014 I worked on the old GMC I&II, RTS, NEOPLAN and the current hybrid’s. A couple of those early engines ran away on me the only way you could stop them is the block off the air or brake off the fuel line. It would spew oil from the exhaust would get on everything and everybody 😅 I loved the design of the RTS buses
They used these in Ontario straight through the 1990's and even kept a few as back ups into the early 2000's when the new buses broke down. I loved these as a teenager, they have the best seats. New buses have hard plastic seats, its why mos people would rather just stand. "progress" yeah.
Some of these fish bowl GMs had a SIingle speed allison transmission, they sounded like they made a shift but it was the torque convertor locking up. They would shudder the whole bus for a half a block after lockup! These were only used on short city routes not for long runs. These buses were very unique and built with quality engineering by GM back in the day. They were in every city and town in North America in the 60s thru the 80s.
That particular model was . held together by over 10,000 solid rivets. The floor was 3/4 inch marine plywood which was screwed down to bulkhead and crossmembers.
Steve I rode these buses for several years starting in 1977 to work in Houston. They were phasing them out and replacing them with the new generation of buses that you mentioned. The worst thing about the new generation is you could not open the windows if they got hot so if they had been sitting out in the bus lot parked and then started up it would take hours for them to cool off after sitting in the Sun with 100 degree heat. It got so bad that the city cut little sliding windows in each window. Another thing was the newer generation would kneel so that passengers could get on and many times they would not unkeel. This generation of GMC buses were extremely reliable so much that after many of the issues with the new generation of GMC buses the older ones were sent off to be rebuilt and used for several more years. Houtran the mass transit system in Houston during the 70s and 80s bought some Grumman flex buses as well and after a few years they junked them. AMC also made a transit bus for years as well. Now most of the buses or made by Gillig which I rode those transit buses in North Kentucky to Cincinnati for 25 years when I worked in downtown Cincinnati (TANK, Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky). The Gillig buses were reliable and did not spew the diesel fumes and smoke like the GMCs. GMC lost a lot of transit customers with the new generation of buses introduced in 1978.
I remember seeing those as a kid in NJ, Philly, and NYC. They were pretty much the standard bus. When I moved to Washington DC for work back in the mid nineties, the city still had some of these running routes.
Vancouver’s Translink had used these bus through mid 2000’s i love boarding these Fishbowls because they are heavily featured on many 80’s and 90’s movies. Canadians HATED the RTS bus so much the kept the fishbowl in production a little longer until a facelift model came out with larger windows and flatted front end called “Classics”
Oh yeah I remember them, we had these in Montreal and we did also had the classic. When it was -25 outside, you would sit in the back seet and there was plenty of heat coming out. But It was a bit hot in summer.
I worked as a co-op student at the Diesel Division plant in London, Ontario, Canada in 1986 and 1987. By that time, the plant was focused on Diesel Electric locomotives, and a neighbouring facility was producing the Mowag-designed light armoured vehicles for the military.
We rode these type of buses to school everyday . The city transit buses doubled as school buses. They stuck big yellow magnetic school bus signs on the back and sides and a removable stop sign on the drivers side . Brings back memories. Asheville N.C. circa. 1980's . Thanks for sharing Steve,
Oh, the memories! I can still hear the Screamin' Jimmies in those Toronto Transit Commission city buses, from my childhood. Even as a kid, the sound of those two stroke diesels got me excited!
Drove city buses for 24 years (got a pension!). I drove these types of buses in the early to mid-eighties, then my property went to Grumman Flxibles. Spent most of the time driving the 40 foot long, 102 inch wide type, although 35 footers on occasion for the tighter routes. And yes, I did drive the GMC RTS series as well, in fact , spent my first revenue service one Saturday driving one for ten hours straight. Very maneuverable 35 footer on a beach route above San Diego. I have many stories to tell. Had a passenger get on one time and ask me what it was like to drive a city bus. I said, the hardest part was the mediocrity. And sometimes being yelled at for no reason.
Correct, when the VIN begins with "2", it was assembled in Canada. In this case either London, Ontario Canada or Saint-Eustache, Quebec Canada. Further study of the model number tells us a bit more, so with the tag we can brag: T for Transit bus, 6 for 6V92 Detroit Diesel engine equipped, H for hydraulic (automatic) transmission, 53 for the nominal seating capacity/40' length bus body, 07 for possible 102" wide bus and N is for non-AC equipped, so it may have been added afterward. ("A" in this position is AC equipped). The "J" for the 8th digit of the VIN tells us it's a 6V-92 Detroit engine which was a V6 engine (8V92 is a V8). TMC Corporation (which eventually became part of Nova Bus) out of Canada eventually bought the company (GMC's Diesel Division) that built this bus. Some RTS buses used regular Strattec lock cylinders just like a GM vehicle. The Detroit Diesel engine was the standard among many diesel engines of its' time. Detroit Diesel powered everything vocational, including fire trucks. They had a very strong and distinct sound. The transmission was likely some sort of Allison automatic, which today is pretty much the "go-to" transmission for heavy duty trucks.
I live 20 minutes from the old London GM Diesel Plant. They also used to make locomotives as well as wheel armoured military vehicles. The Military branch was bought out by General Dynamics in the 2000s and the locomotive plant was bought out and moved to the States in 2012. They actually airlifted a locomotive to Ireland 1994 on an Antonov. It flew over our farm and it looked like it was hardly clearing the trees. In reality it was probably the sheer size and an optical illusion. I used to ride these buses when I visited my grandmother in town and my father-in-law used to work on the locomotive side until he retired.
Rode on these "New Look" busses during the summer of '64 from Sea Bright to Atlantic Highlands NJ after swim practice at the Driftwood Beach Club to my job at my Dad's car and truck repair shop. The owner of the bus company, Henry Gehlhaus, heard about my daily commute and gave me a "summer pass" to show the drivers so I wouldn't have to pay. All of the busses I rode on were non syncro manual transmissions, and of course, some drivers were better than others when it came to shifting. They also had speed recorders to make sure the drivers stayed within the limits. Since the route had some steep hills to climb, you would hear the recorder alarm go off when the driver would pick up speed going down hills to prepare for the steep climb coming next.
Usually a 671 (6 Cyl, 71 cubic inches) or 6V71 being a V6 instead of an inline 6 and the Blower is needed because its a 2 stroke where as 4 stroke diesels dont need them. The GM-Detroit 2 stroke diesel is much maligned and having owned a few trucks with GM 2 strokes I can tell you that properly maintained with the right sized injectors and well set up they are no dirtier than a modern diesel. The black smoke issue is either a heavy right foot or worn injectors over fuelling the engine and there is a noticeable drop in power when you do this. I also drove an MCI coach here in Australia on a 3600km express route up the east coast with a V12 Twin turbo GM 2 stroke and a spicer non synchro box, the company didnt have it for long, a few years from memory but it was a Monster and made my job way more fun that it had any right to :-) Screaming Jimmys (GM 2 strokes) are the hot rod engine of heavy transport and an incredible powerplant for many many reasons PLUS they gave the car world Blowers........... Might be worth having a chat to an old school diesel mechanic about them in a future episode because they powered the world for nearly a century in Tractors, Excavators, Buses, Trucks, Generators, Pumps and other static purposes like Air raid sirens and much much more.
The roots style blower provides no supercharging effect on a Detroit or other 2 cycle diesel engine. This is one of the most common misconceptions among car guys who are not familiar with heavy duty diesel engines. They blow air in yes, because being a 2 stroke, they can't suck their own, but there is no boost produced beyond perhaps a residual 1 or 2 psi as the exhaust valves close a split second before the piston closes the ports. This is why you need to add a turbo on top of the blower if you want boost.
You are mostly correct, I had a 1968, International CO 4000 truck (cab over) that had a 6 -71 Detroit, at idle 400 RPM it put out 4 PSI, at 2100 RPM it put out 5 PSI. You are correct though not much for SUPERCHARGING . I liked the sound of those engines, but I used a muffler on mine, I liked the sound but after about an hour the noise would give me a headache without the muffler
@@bertgrau3934 I'm not a diesel mechanic nor an engineer but I am a lifelong (now retired) truck driver and also a car guy, I've had several discussions with people far smarter and in the know than I over the years and basically, it comes down to this.,,, The component in question is not called a supercharger for two primary reasons. 1) That is not the purpose for which it is installed on those engines and 2) It provides no "significant" boost beyond the slight residual amount I referenced. In heavy diesels, anything less than 3 or 4 psi is considered to be no boost because you get no noticeable added power from it. And since any added pressure is incidental in nature, and many other things... like a tunnel ram, for example... can produce roughly the same effect, they are still considered to be naturally aspirated. But hearing people refer to those things as superchargers is extremely common since no more than perhaps 4 or 5 people out of 100 at most has any idea where they came from or how and why they came to be adapted to gasoline engines as a power adder. Complicating matters further is the fact that the word "blower" in racing or street rod lingo is slang terminology for those components while in the diesel realm, "blower" is in fact, their proper name.
@@hughjass1044 Yes sir, I agree. I realize if you were to speed one up, and put it on a gas engine, in that case I have heard of them making about 14 pounds of boost. Still for a diesel. It's not a true supercharger, just a blower that makes a few pounds of boost, or perhaps more correctly enough air pressure for a 2 stroke engine to run . I drove/worked on trucks for 44 years. I retired last January, glad I did .
I sure remember those throughout my childhood and used to like the smell of them driving by while a walked to s cool on a warm autumn morning... probably why im a little wacko lol.. thanks for sharing
The GMC Urban Transit Coaches were taking over for the Mack Motor Coaches when I first started working at the San Francisco Municipal Railway at their Ocean Motor Coach Division at Ocean Ave. and San Jose Blvd. in Dec.1974. I still have a memory of Dennis O'Leary working with us on probation and after a four-wheel brake job we road tested the bus to " Burn the Brake Shoes In" out San Jose Ave. and turned to the right at Sagamore and caught Brotherhood Way down to Lake Merced Blvd and took the Coach around Lake Merced and back to the shop and put it back online in the upper yard for service with the rest of the fleet. Steve as you were going through the coach and pointed to the plex- glass windows I spotted the Bell Cord that passengers pulled when they wanted to get off at the next stop, well them bell cords came in handy a few times when the OEM throttle cable fraid and broke leaving the coach disabled. As a mechanic I was sent out with my tools and another coach to cut out the disabled coach from service and give the driver a good coach. So out there in the field you make field discissions and I would cut out the bell cord and pull the rear seat bottom cushion out and take off the access cover to the engine compartment and run the bell cord through the opening and hook it up to the throttle lever where the OEM cable was. It was then I ran the bell cord through the grab handles on top of the seats to guide the cable on the left side all the way up to drivers stanchion bar by the transfer cutter and take up the slack and tie it off to the stanchion and bring the coach back into the shop with a Hand Throttle -Foot Brake and one hand on the wheel. There was great throttle response, but the OEM throttle cable and housing had to be replaced as one piece and that process was labor intensive to R&R the GMC throttle cable and housing, but it was great for job security. Tom (22)
We still had one at the Brta when i started 20 years ago. And had many rts buses. They became pretty cumbersome as people needs started becoming greater and peoples freedom couldn’t be limited by the designs of the older buses. The new gillig buses are fantastic aside from the emissions controls that can sideline a bus if not kept up with. But I get paid by the hour, moving or broken down. Lol the two strokes did have a nice sound though…..
That is a Canadian built bus. Besides the manufacturer sticker, there is a "stylized" DD logo with maple leaf which indicates it was a Canadian built bus. I rode that type of bus in San Francisco, San Diego, Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City. They are by far the best ever buses bar none.
Even as a kid who rode these models 14 miles one way to school for five years, I often marveled at how these buses took the pounding they took day in and day out on a variety of road conditions. Be it potholes, bumps, severe crowns (leans), railroad tracks, overcrowding, hot days, etc., they were truly bulletproof. So does GM still make buses?
Great one, Steve! It might seem counterintuitive but the ideas that went into these buses were really amazing. The angle-mounted, 2-stroke engine, the angled driveshaft, the “fishbowl”, aluminum unit body - and you covered them all-good stuff!
Rode these in Omaha in the 60's. The first one I saw probably about 64 or 65 looked like something from another world compared to the old city buses with the rectangular (straight up and down) windows. Plus, they were air conditioned. Found memories.
Boy seen that puppy brings back memories of me taking that same type of bus to downtown Chicago the “CTA”from the south suburbs in the 80s! From 81st and Pulaski to the Stevenson i55 all the way through state street downtown! Great video Steve!👌😎👍
I knew someone that converted one to a motorhome. Removed the windows, riveted in new aluminum sheet in place, looked factory. Took years but was beautiful when done.
I had 2 of those bus models in the 70s. I bought the first one from our local hobby shop (my dentist office now). The second I bought at the same hobby shop, but I got it because I liked how neat it was to put the scoop onto both motors. Go figure.
I rode a lot of these buses in the late 70’s to mid 80’s to and from work. Overall, these were pretty good looking buses that were used hard and long. I vividly remember 3 things about them. 4 actually. 1) They were LOUD! The Detroit they used in these were loud on the inside and outside, and it was hard to talk if you were riding inside anywhere near the back of the bus. 2) they were often Smokey climbing hills and if you were behind them on the highway and in the city, they were spewing a very stinky exhaust. 3) the rear engine access door latches were alway broken or not latched, because very often the rear door would suing open about a foot or two while they accelerated away from a stop. And 4) the were major leakers! They were always leaking oil, coolant and fuel all over the place! The fuel tank fill pipes were located on the passenger (curb) side of the bus and at the down town steeply cambered street bus stops fuel was spilling out of those tanks. Plus you always had oil, coolant or fuel spilling onto the ground while they were sitting at the stop loading or unloading passengers. Plus, often when I got of the bus at my home stop, as the bus pulled away, I would see fuel or oil streaming out of the bottom of the bus. The new buses that replaced these buses were far far better at leak control, but just as noisy if not more so. (Low range in those had a very unpleasant low gear scream until it upshifted to the next gear.
That bus is Ex-Denver RTD 4838. It would have retired around 1998. It also was DD 6V92 powered instead of 8V71 powered due to being a later model. It's cool to see it made it all the way to the east coast, but sad to see it will never drive again.
I always remember as a kid here in Fall River Mass in the winter all the kids would hammer buses like this with snowballs everytime they went by. Great vid.
Hi Steve. I remember those buses well as a mecanic and later as a driver. They were great. For the emergency exits you have to add all the side windows that were hinged at the top. The lock was a simple lever in the middle of the bottom rail. Counting all the videos you made at Bernardston this place must be huge. Thanks again for the time you take to bring us down memory lane.
Awesome video. Seeing this bus brings back flooding memories of my youth from early 1980's in Hudson county, N.J. riding the bus down to Journal Sq. along Kennedy Blvd. You could easily ruin a bus drivers day by ringing the cord buzzer bell too many times or pulling it for too long... Yes, hearing loss and carbon monoxide poisoning from this bus was a normal everyday occurrence. Ohh geez, or the rider stepping into the bus who'd ask everyone if they had 4 quarter change for a dollar bill holding everyone up. The windshield wiper was halarious to watch because I think it operated on vacuum. It would swipe and stop for like 5 seconds before working again...
The blower on the 2 stroke Detroit Diesel does NOT supercharge, i.e. provide positive boost pressure, for those engines. It is there to force air into the airbox, which surrounds the cylinder liners and near the bottom of the piston stroke when the intake ports are uncovered and the exhaust valves are opened, this air pushes the exhaust gasses out of the cylinders and ensures a clean charge of air to be compressed on the upstroke. Since at least one set of intake ports are open at all times the blower never has a chance to actually build boost so there is no supercharging effect and the engine can not run without the blower. They did build a number of turbocharged 2 strokes for use in industrial, marine and road truck applications and those do have boost. The turbo feeds the blower and then thrpugh to the cylinders.
Old Greyhounds seemed to get a 2nd life as RV conversions where as these city buses got pushed off of barges into the ocean depths when taken out of service. Amazing quality and durability in these buses. Odd those air conditioning roof mount units don't get snapped up and reinstalled on 18 wheeler with condo running in the southwest. In the 1950's GM offered a city bus that used a gasoline Buick engine that ran very smoothly and was reliable. The new electric buses keep getting front page pictures of all engulfing battery fires that total the bus at curbside in not time. Warranty coverage is probably more important than ever to municipalities today.
I laugh, I had the same reaction to the ceiling, it looks like a 50’s modern kitchen counter top. I think pretty much the same material served the same function in an early commercial jet airliner, maybe a DC9. I remember getting on the airplane and thinking it looks like a flying city bus.
The TTC in Toronto ran these bad boys until the late 2000s. I rode them often and they were CLAPPED out. Cool sliding windows and a rear window. Such a timeless design
