Yellowstone Tour Bus: 1936 White Model 706 | Jay Leno's Garage 

I drove one of these ‘36 Whites in 1978 when I was 21 in Glacier National Park. What a great summer. Back then the busses were 4 speeds that you had to double clutch, quite the learning curve. The tour bus drivers were called Jammers (not gear jammers). The bars across the luggage compartment windows were to stop the luggage that would slide around at times from breaking the windows. As he mentioned the busses at glacier had side doors on the luggage compartment so it would fit an extra row of seats if needed for four more passengers. However, many of us Jammers put a small mattress back there in luggage compartment and would sleep there if dorm rooms too full. Didn’t take other park employees long to find out that little secret and use them for midnight rendezvous……

Love episodes like this. These vehicles don't get the appreciation they deserve. These old trucks/commercial vehicles are 1000x cooler than any lambo or whatever.

Of all the celebrities Leno is the one to trust driving your precious old vehicle ! How many others have experience with a fire truck, coal truck, Dusenberg and a Bentley ? Plus Jay drives his collection, doesn’t just let them sit.

I love how Jay points out any “flaws” in how people’s vehicles are running in a polite and constructive way.

I love that Jay took the crew for the ride.

Jay is a walking breathing automotive encyclopedia. What an absolute HONOR it would be to just sit down and talk shop with Mr. Leno.

What a great presentation featuring this White Yellowstone National Park Tour Bus. How lovely to see how well it has been maintained over the years and Winslow has a solid historical perspective on these buses as used in several of our National Parks. My Dad had a 1936 Black, two-door Chrysler, straight six cylinder "Businessman's Coupe" which he purchased new in that year, and it has the same "Bullet Headlights" featured on this Tour Bus. I remember riding in the car when I was quite young, and as a young adult, I partially restored it and sold it to a mechanic who wanted to restore it, and I gladly did so since the bills were becoming increasingly expensive. I trust that he did a good job with his efforts....:). Thanks Jay, for another great historical vehicle history lesson!! (Jay and I were fellow classmates at Emerson College, in Boston, and we both graduated in the Spring of 1973.). Ted Schempp, Nashville

My childhood was in Yellowstone and I was lucky enough to ride in one of these a few times. Such a neat piece of U.S. history. I'm so proud and thankful we have our National Parks.

Love to see these kinds of vehicles restored. Commercial vehicles are so rare, but tells our history better than just cars do and can be very beautiful as well.

There's cool, then there's cool. This is the latter. History and art combined. What a classic.

What a gorgeous thing this truck is. Just oozes nostalgia. Listening to Jay give his mechanical advice is just awesome. Jay is to cars as Gandalf is to magic. WONDERFUL episode.

this guy is so great. love his style: the trucks, the outfits. he's just top-to-bottom cool. his stuff is functional, classic, classy, but rugged and usable. really fits jay's attitude of a car worth owning is worth driving. he keeps these things on the road. something to be thankful for. i'm also thankful for his client's deep pockets, because I can't afford any of these things lol.

The "Big Trouble in Little China" bus. Cool!

Jay is right, back in 1967 I traded a hand gun for a 53 Willy's Station Wagon with a flat head 4. The Willy's had been sitting in a pasture for a couple of years with the spark plugs out of it. Towed it home, tuned it up, put new gas in and it fired right up...Had a lot of fun with that vehicle.

I rode one of those in Glacier National Park about 5 years ago. The fleet they had was overhauled and refitted by Ford Motor Company. All medium-duty Ford truck running gear. The seats were still very close together. I am a big guy, claimed the "shotgun" seat, did well. Rain came, everyone had to help roll out and anchor the tarp roof. All seniors on the ride, we had a lot of fun.

I remember this model bus in “Big Trouble In Little China.” Egg Shen’s Bus Tours! So cool to see one cruising in this episode!

That just looks like what it's supposed to be. I know it was literally made to be a Yellowstone tour bus, but even without the label it just looks like that is where it belongs. I'm glad people are keeping these beautiful machines going.

Big Trouble in Little China - Egg Shen's Bus Tour 😂 hell yaaaa same bus ❤ it 😍

Once again, Jay has reached outside the “norm” for a wonderful show. Real entertainment. And, informative. Thank you

Nice when Jay knows more than the person who rebuilt and brought the vehicle. You can see how much Jay loves all of these old vehicles.

Funny how Jay knows more about the maintenance and history of any vehicle than the owners. Very beautiful bus. Unique. Thank you Jay.😎❤️❤️😁🤑😁

Great episode, very entertaining, I'd rather see this kind of thing any day than a modern supercar.

I love how Jay is driving the bus and diagnosing the darn thing as he goes!

Can almost feel 1936 just looking at this truck. Love it. Thank you Jay Leno for letting us enjoy this one with you.

What a great man Jay Leno is, just to imagine what it must feel to be part of his family, Jay Leno is a man that everyone loves from a small kid to a old grandpa, just like everyone loved Elvis Presley everyone loves Jay Leno.

I have a 1946 White Model 798 'suburban' coach with a 12 cylinder underfloor pancake engine in my collection. White was in Cleveland, as was the Bender Body Company. In the early years, White made the chassis and Bender made the body. White made many hundreds of city transit buses and highway coaches. Large fleets of White buses could be found in San Francisco, Chicago, Cleveland and in Washington, D. C., among many other places. I have a large collection of vintage buses. My 1945 Ford Transit has a Ford 'flat head' six engine in it. My 1951 Fagoel Twin Coach has an underfloor Fagoel engine.

I think Jay did a nice job of explaining that the engine might be running rough because the fuel was different back in the day and the guy also said it’s tuned for 7,000 ft air , I know my ford ranger didn’t run well on unleaded gas , jay telling the guy that marvel mystery oil might help was just fine advice.

It is wonderful that at no time during the video does one see what I would expect is the most interesting aspect, the right side of the bus, and all those doors.

The overland service through the desert from the late-20s through the 30s is described and illustrated fully in their book 'Nairn Bus to Baghdad', by two New Zealand brothers. It's a fascinating historical record as they pioneered many features taken for granted today e.g. state of the art tyre construction, oil filtration and above all, collaboration with the Karrier company to provide mobile air conditioning units powered by Wisconsin engines on the cab roof, for their flagship Cummins diesel powered Marmon Herrington coaches. They used only American machinery as it was tough enough to endure the severe conditions. Col, NZ.

Thanks for this one. My dad was an apprentice machinist at White Motor Co. when this was built.

Like he said, besides going up hills, these things are kinda FUN to drive. Other than starting off, the clutch is"un-necessary" to a experienced driver who can "feel/hear" when the drive force of the gear train is "floating" (not pushing or holding back the vehicle). When there is no pressure on the gears, the transmission can be "up" or "down" shifted with absolutely no grinding if the engine RPM is exactly correct. With some practice and that "ear/feel", it's very doable and FUN!!! They were much newer than this vehicle, but the bus drivers at San Simeon in the 70's and 80's used to drive those busses up the mountain to the castle shifting so smoothly that a knowledgeable passenger was "very impressed". You could tell, those were "CRASH" boxes also!! They would downshift going up the hill gently increasing the RPM of the motor and slide into a lower gear with "silky" smooth shifts!!! It definitely was "notable"!!!

Wow, Jay really knows a hell of a lot about vehicles. He's not just a collector of cars and their histories, he can even analyze problems while driving it.

love seeing Jay teach people that build a vehicle like this so much about the history. God damn Jay is the true car legend

It would have been nice to get a shot of the passenger side of the bus, along with people getting in and out. Seeing the legroom afforded the passengers and getting the "passenger-eye view" would also have been a plus. It's a bus after all! Great video Jay. Any chance of doing one of a European bus ?

I remember White Trucks during the 1960s, and 1970s. I know our garbage truck was a White. In the 1950s, I remember very well, the White name on the front of several bus lines in San Francisco which were diesel powered. In the 50s, 60s, and 70s, I saw other large cargo trucks, "Big Rigs", and specialty trucks, with the White nameplate.

Why does this look better than any other new vehicle on the road? I really think this vehicle needs to be in service at the park again. EDIT: The fact that these are still in use today, in original form, is the best thing I've ever heard! Yay!

Love to see this truck, my grandfather maintained those during WW2. My father’s family lived in the Old Faithful lodge.

1936 Maiden Voyage of the New Cunard White Star liner R.M.S. "QUEEN MARY," and of course the D.C.-3 and the DLZ - 129 the " HINDENBURG," Great year for transportation.

Nothing like good interviewsi watch these episodes over anything on tv nowadays 😊

Worked for a company as a mechanic in the 90s and the owner had one of these that he bought in the late 80s . The shop did all the body work and removed what I thought was a Continental flat head engine and replace with a 454 Chevy and turbo400 trans. The owner would let shop use truck for events and such. Very cool and fun. Thanks Jay for showing this piece of truck history 👍

Now that was a fun video. I love when Jay features these "orphan" vehicles. Much more fun than a Ferrari or Lamborghini. Makes me want to visit Montana.

"Now who wouldn't want to go on a day trip on the road to damascus!!" 🤣 Jays still a top tier comedian I tell ya..

I've got a vintage White sewing machine that I keep around because it's STILL a beast--goes through multiple layers of very heavy fabric (or even rawhide leather) like it's nothing.

My great gradfather started the first yellowstone tour bus company its good to see that old girl looking so good

Bars on the back windows could be to protect the glazing from tall stacks of luggage.

Memories, as a young lad in the early seventies I toured glacier In a white, couple things I remember. The driver told me, He and his coworkers were all going to heaven because they had scared the hell out of more people than any priest, and adult smokers got the window seats which really sucked.

My grandfather drove one of those in YNP when they were brand new in the 1930s.

Army Veteran here and I’m thinking that sounds like an old Deuce and a Half. LOOK what I found lol - could be the same engine type (just w/turbo)? The M35A2 is commonly powered by an LDT 465 engine, made by either Continental Motors Company, Hercules, or *** White Motor Company ***. It is an in-line, 478-cubic-inch (7.8 L), six-cylinder, turbocharged multifuel engine developing 134 bhp (100 kW) and 330 pound-feet (447 N⋅m) of torque.

Jay, I never thought I would find a bus video interesting, but this one was--well done. :)

And we all know Jay is darn good at guesstimating how much stuff weighs!!!

Jay should not be alowed to get any older, I cant believe he is in his early 70's. May he forever feel 36

When Jay said throwing beers off to the side, it reminded me when beer cans were tin and would just rust away in ditches. No pull tabs because you'd need a beer can opener to pierce a couple of holes in the can's top to drink from it.

Back in the 1960's our house had an amazing panoramic photo of these same Yellowstone Park busses, all lined up at the bus shop in Gardiner, Montana (one of the entrances to Yellowstone). The photo was about 10 inches high and three feet wide. It appears to be taken just before the start of tourist season and the first bus runs of the year. The photo must have shown several hundred busses like this one. Many early tourists coming from the east either rode the Northern Pacific Railroad (which had a branch line from its Livingston depot that ran to Gardiner) or the Milwaukee Railroad which dropped people off at Gallatin Gateway, Montana. These busses picked up the Milwaukee passengers at Gallatin Gateway for the appx. 50-mile ride through beautiful Gallatin Canyon and down to West Yellowstone (another Park gate). In the 1950's and 1960's, these busses had been sold off and you'd often see them with private citizens at the wheel, running around towns near the Park. Anyway, I was transfixed by the photo and, after I moved away, it somehow disappeared from the family home. These White busses served both Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.

I really enjoyed this video. I think the cars and trucks of the 1930's were probably the best looking we ever made in this country. I love these old busses. They are very pleasant to look at and I would imagine very enjoyable to ride in. Keep up the good work Jay, you have one of the best channels on here.

I do not understand why some game developers aren't already in contact with Jay and scanning the cars and recording their sounds for next gen games ... what an opportunity to see those unique cars in perfect conditions and hear them while running

Wonderful show ! We were able to ride one of these buses in 1976 in Yellowstone. And to add icing on the cake, in 1978 we bought a 6.5 acre lot on what was the old White Estate in Geauga County Ohio. Still living there in the house we built. What a great connection to this video..... Love you Jay, Loni & Al

Bryce Canyon NP had an original unrestored White tucked away in a garage when I worked there as a seasonal ranger back in 1996. I was told ONLY the park superintendent (Fred Fagergren) drove it in local parades.

I love this truck. I remember them from my first ever trip to Yellowstone 1960's.

"Big Trouble in Little China" springs to mind.

I absolutely love the older vehicles that are featured on Jay Lenos Garage. It really gives you a great sense for how the past has evolved into what it is today. This bus looks very well built! They sure do not make them like they used to. I love learning about history. This has been one of my favorite videos to date!

The art deco era was so great

I never saw a tour bus like that but I remember school buses with that front end when I live in Washington State in the '50's.

My Father-in-law was driving one of these in Yellowstone when he met my Mother-in-law who worked the concession stand as a summer job.

I much prefer Jay's videos of older vehicles like this to one of new ones that seem to me to be more like "infomercials"

This reminds me of a Barn find hunter episode on Hagerty where they found one of those in a junkyard. Didn't think there would be more around!

JAY, I rode my Harley to Glacier National Park a few years ago. The Ford Motor Company rebuilt dozens of these vehicles for hauling tourists over the "Going to the Sun Road" . I was told it cost FORD 1 million dollars each ! They are painted red with brown fenders .

The yellow "jammer" White tour buses were for Yellowstone National Park. The arguably more famous ones are the red jammers of Glacier National Park that have been been restored and rebuilt several times and are still operating to this day.

Love the passion Winslow shows this truck! Really happy they kept it stock! It's to cool to modernize.

Jay has got to be one of the world's foremost experts on older cars.

Love these vehicles, and their red cousins in Glacier. Hiked down Mount Washburn (Yellowstone) earlier this month with a young man who works at Legacy Classic Trucks keeping these treasures running.

When I worked for the county they had two 1952 White trucks with a van body. They carried X-Ray machines and were lead lined so they were very heavy. They traveled about the county doing X-Ray checks for TB which in 1952 was prevalent then. Later we stripped out the machines and lead lining which we sold for scrap, something like 3 tons netted the county $200 which went toward their conversion. One was made into a mobile carpentry shop and the other was for the plumbers. We auctioned them off in 1985 and they were both sold for over $2000 each. They were still good runners and actually good on gas!

These are neat busses. It reminds me of the old Crown school busses. I drove one for 10 years and it was an incredible machine with a mid engine diesel and a 10 speed manual transmission.

This is fun to see. One of my good friends kept his fathers bus, number 401, in their barn for 40+ years. In the 1960’s they would take the whole family on big trips including one from Montana to Anchorage Alaska. They kept a huge fuel tank in the back. As far as I know it is still in use.

I had a 53 Ford F-150 with a un- synced 1st gear manual, 3 on the tree, with an inline 6 cyl snd single carb. It had those vacuum wipers. The old truck had a manifold leak. It was a lot of fun running wipers going uphill! It would lose all vac , of course. I had put in a 1940s , one piece heater core with blower. A real challenge to defrost. That small truck could be a beast to drive between the original brakes, steering, pumping brakes and shifting. I was 16 and this truck had the 5 star 50th anniversary logo on the steering wheel. 1903 to 1953. I miss that old thing.

That's awesome! Surprisingly alot quieter than I thought it was gonna be.

I just got my CDL A last month and it’s hilarious to me to think that the unsynchronized transmission as a concept is literally over a hundred years old and we’re still using them today

Big Trouble in Little China🤣 I love that bus! 😊

It’s great when some guy is telling Jay he should make sure he checks his tire pressures regularly… l’m so thankful Jay is getting such valuable help with his car collection!!

Jay’s “Really?” accompanied by his expression when Winslow noted one had sold for 1.3 million was very appropriate and no doubt the exact thought we all shared after hearing that.

Beautiful bus! Glad it was restored. When I was a kid, we had a car that used a toilet paper oil filter. I don’t remember what the car was, but I remember my dad getting mad that the car got better quality tp than his behind did 😂

This whole time I'm thinking, I've seen one of those at Museum of the Rockys several times. I should go back there and see it(and of course the rest of that fantastic Museum). I only live two hours away in Billings. Then he said it was the one from Museum of the Rockys, so I spose I won't be seeing it. I know I'm not gonna be hanging out at a resort full of yuppy millionairs like where this one lives now. Haha. Guess I'm gonna have to go the extra half hour to Yellowstone and see one of the modernized ones. Haha. Love living in Montana. I know other places have longer history's, but the history here is so much more personal to me. All story's of frontiersmen looking for their fortunes in a mostly undeveloped land, then the few clever people that figured out that the land itself was worth as much as the metals and minerals in it. Ya, know. It would be kinda hard to do it. But for someone who had never been here before maybe start out driving in from the east to see the badlands and what was first seen of people headed this way. Go up unto the Beartooth/Absaroka wilderness to see the undeveloped mountain environment(The Beartooth Pass rivals Glacier in my mind, it's even got the glaciers though a ski lift has been built on one for skiing in July.) Then the part I can't make sense of is heading over to Bannack to see a preserved boom town and get that part of the history, then over to Butte and then Helena to see what the really successful boom towns grew into as those both have really well preserved downtown "Historic Districts'" The problem is the whole idea skips Yellowstone in the middle. I feel the crowds of people may kill the immersion of the trip, as if I90 won't. The real way to do it would be to ride the North Coast Hiawatha if they would get on with reinstating that route. Alright, half baked route over. Visit Montana! Don't overlook the smaller peices of history. It's easy to get distracted with the big ones and forget to look around. Millions of people from all over the world visit each year for all around the globe, and very few really get more that "Oh look there's a moose!" effect out of it. Look closer.

Old commercial vehicles like this are awesome, especially when restored. Unfortunately, not many people have the room to restore something like this.

As an airplane guy, it's fun to hear car guys talk about galvanic corrosion and zinc chromate.

We all need to remember, Jay isn't a comedian who happens to like cars, he's a real deal car guy who happens to be a comedian.

I was a Jammer in Glacier NP in 1982 and these were still powered by the original straight 6 engines and 4 speed transmissions. "Armstrong power steering" was the joke. We'd come up with our own creative ways to use a Radio Shack microphone and give a complete tour as we drove up and over the Going to the Sun Highway. Because we traveled around to the different Lodges, we carried all our belongings in a big bin in the back. Sometimes we'd sleep back there. It was one off the best summers ever. Thank you for posting this one, Jay and team!

I love these old Buses , Work , Vehicles Unusual Panel Wagons , Loaders , and Unusual Semi-Truck with the Art Deco look....Would you consider showing more of those .

29:16, perfect opportunity for the classic "like my F1 McLaren" line. Otherwise great video and great guest, thanks so much for posting!

It was great to see one of these up close and in detail, though I would not have expected them to be that expensive. Those bars in the back doors are likely to prevent luggage inside from breaking the glass. Thanks for another wonderful show!

The day I took a cruise with JAY in an OPEN TOP YELLOWSTONE BUS! YUP! For the CREW! EPIC!!!

A real car guy is like the caring doctor who encounters someone that's sick and recommends what to do, Jay feels the car's pain(shifting issues) and wants to remedy it so he is passing knowledge to the owner/caretaker on how to bring relief to this car.

What a great show this was. JLG kept me going throughout the pandemic, and this new video takes me back to it. Love it...

the buses in Glacier National Park are Red in color... they were rebuilt by Ford with modern drivetrains... a great day on the road in the park... we took the tour in 2016... actually very comfortable ... highly recommend the trip

The shot of the airplane taking off just above the bus was awesome. Modes of transportation at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Kickstarted my memory with birdcages. Your right, even in the early sixties as a kid I remember an oddly large amount of homes with birdcages

I believe FOMOCO redid the Glacier Park fleet sometime in the last 15 or so years. You can go up and down Going To The Sun Road without putting yourself at huge risk.

this one hit a soft spot for me, i learned to drive a truck in an 64' autocar and it looks a lot like this thing only bigger, and it wasnt a bus. i never understood until now why when i was at the pier so many people truckers would come up and say wow it this from the 30's? i took the name plate on the grille off and hand painted "Iron Maiden" in its place. that was in 1980.......i still have the autocar name plate.

I know a guy who had an old school bus around a 1935 or so. It was absolutely beautiful and he restored it to the way it was when it was first built. The inside had benches along the sides instead of seats like this bus has and the floor was a beautiful wood. I believe he gave it to a museum.

There's room for a girlfriend on each side...I love it!! Great video Jay!

Our family visited both Glacier and Yellowstone in the summer of 2019 and both parks were running these classics. At Yellowstone, those trucks had been re-engined years ago with Ford engines, but otherwise they were pretty original. Awesome to see them packed with tourists doing what they do every day.

From GM's Motorama tour bus to the old pickle body style to Greyhound's Scenic cruiser this fits right in. I thought the old Divcos were cool. Here you have Union Pacific's Big Boy loco comissioned to the Packard Company to build a bus. The generator on the thing could power a dodgem rink. Very cool that the remaining units are still in use...really cool. Some of the better videos are when the "caretaker/owner" are so full of knowledge and enthusiasm - battering back and forth with Jay. The old original stock pieces are the neatest and make for great time capsule productions- as only Leno can pull off.