Anyone have a thing for Buses? Especially GM New Look Buses?

[Oracle of Delphi]

I sure do. I want to own one someday, really not sure why I love them so much ...

[Robert Hall]

Those were cool...I just saw an episode of Mythbusters last week where they had one, were testing the 'Speed' movie scene about the 50mph sharp right turn..

[Camino LS6]

Can't say that I do...

But it is neat to see that a few have been preserved from long ago decades.

When you see one (in a film maybe) from the 30s or 40s that's kinda cool.

They are like old Firetrucks and ambulances, I like to see one now and then but really don't want to own one.

[Robert Hall]

Can't say that I do...

But it is neat to see that a few have been preserved from long ago decades.

When you see one (in a film maybe) from the 30s or 40s that's kinda cool.

They are like old Firetrucks and ambulances, I like to see one now and then but really don't want to own one.

I wouldn't want a bus, but for some reason, I wouldn't mind having a '70s vintage stake bed farm truck or dump truck. Like an F600, C60, or IH Loadstar. It would be so badass to park one of these in front of a trend restaurant or Starbucks parking lot.

Edited April 27, 2009 by moltar

[balthazar]

I like the streamlined buses of the '40s. Used to be one in a junkyard near me; whole assend rounded down to the bumper and there was a flat disc projecting otward at roof level, kind of like a locomotive lamp, assumedly a number placard went there. There were no rear windows, only screened cooling vents for the engine. Wish I had a pic...

But I need a hearse and a flower car.

[Robert Hall]

Check out this one..GM 'Old Look' apparently

Edited April 27, 2009 by moltar

[Camino LS6]

I like the streamlined buses of the '40s. Used to be one in a junkyard near me; whole assend rounded down to the bumper and there was a flat disc projecting otward at roof level, kind of like a locomotive lamp, assumedly a number placard went there. There were no rear windows, only screened cooling vents for the engine. Wish I had a pic...

But I need a hearse and a flower car.

Hearses can be interesting, but the proportions on many flower cars offend me a bit.

[Robert Hall]

This '50s Flxble is very streamlined in back:

[vonVeezelsnider]

they still use the New Look busses in Calgary.

[Robert Hall]

I've never seen one of these SWB New Looks..

[balthazar]

I believe that first bus Moltar posted is a Flxible; they had those 'Fiero GT' over-the-roof air intakes.

Turns out I do have a (crappy-esque) pic of the bus I recalled above, tho I see now that the 'number placard' was lower, on some of the venting screening :

This one is also a Flxible.

This bus, and every car you see in this shot perished circa 1998. Car to the left with the hood up was a '58 Buick Limited Cnvert, one of 839 cars, worth in the neighborhood of $95K restored.

Edited April 27, 2009 by balthazar

[Robert Hall]

What's odd about the gray & white one I posted is the front definitely looks like other GM 'Old Looks', but the rear does look more like a Flxible..other GM Old Look rear pics I've seen aren't as streamlined.

[Robert Hall]

1950 Flxble VisiCoach

Edited April 27, 2009 by moltar

[balthazar]

No doubt there's a whole WORLD of knowledge about these we have little idea about.

Of course, there were styling trends & multiple models there, just as in cars / trucks.

[Robert Hall]

A subject semi-related to buses that I've long been fascinated by are motorhomes...having grown up taking vacations in motorhomes, I've seen many, many over the years in campgrounds and on the road...from the rounded '60s Travcos, to the classic '60s-70s Winnebagos, to the '70s GMCs to RVs converted from '50s Greyhound Scenicruiser buses, etc. Not a lot of info on the web about them. There were some very cool designs in the '70s-80s that have dissapeared. I really liked the design of '87 Holiday Rambler Imperial 37 footer or the '85 Apollo Sceptre, for example... I probably still have some issues my folks old 'Motor Home Life' magazines somewhere.

'85 Apollo Sceptre:

'87 Holiday Rambler Imperial:

My folks had an '85 Winnebago Chieftain 33 that looked just like this one:

This '93 Foretravel Grand Villa is pretty sweet looking, IMHO.

Edited April 27, 2009 by moltar

[Camino LS6]

The scenicruiser is very cool, I had a huge Tootsietoy version of it as a kid - my nephews still play with it.

and I do have a thing for the GMC motorhomes, they managed to make a motorhome stylish in a way I don't think was ever matched. They really do qualify as classics.

[balthazar]

Never cared for motorhomes- it may be the random size/ placement of windows that makes them much more awkward & less stylized to my eye. And somehow, buses just seem... tougher. Don't care for later ones- friend had one of the Tornado-powered GMCs, and I vacationed in a Winnebago from the '70s; while it was great fun, nothing drew me t the vehicle itself.

Dodge had a truck print ad in '63 that showed their bread loaf-esque Dodge motor home; like a disfiguring accident- it's hard to turn away; the fully skirted wheels, the blob-like silhouette... :

To pull me in here, we have to get wild & unique, the Hunt Housecar, the Stout Scarab... things of this nature.

[SAmadei]

I wouldn't want a bus, but for some reason, I wouldn't mind having a '70s vintage stake bed farm truck or dump truck. Like an F600, C60, or IH Loadstar. It would be so badass to park one of these in front of a trend restaurant or Starbucks parking lot.

Yeah, some of those are cool. I want something like that for a rollback some day. I think it reminds me of my father, since he worked on the old trucks.

[ocnblu]

Flashback: That green F-600 looks just like the red '75 F-700 I rolled over onto its roof with half a load of soybeans when I was 18 years old. Ah, memories of a farm boy.

[Justin Bimmer]

I have driven a few 1963 GM buses. They are extremely solid. No transmission, just torque converters. All you had was converter, direct, and overdrive.

[Robert Hall]

Flashback: That green F-600 looks just like the red '75 F-700 I rolled over onto its roof with half a load of soybeans when I was 18 years old. Ah, memories of a farm boy.

Ya, one of my best friends as a child was a farmer's son (now runs the family farm himself) and they had a couple red w/ white roof mid '70s Ford F700s stake trucks, a large red & white IH Semi grain hauler, and always red w/ white top Ford LTDs and F250 pickups. Red and white was their farm color motif.

And a neighbor that used to deliver gravel for our driveway had a late '60s IH Paystar dump truck, also red.

Old stake bed trucks and dump trucks give me warm fuzzies for childhood in Eastern Ohio..

[ehaase]

I have a thing for school buses. I miss the days of Ford, GMC, Chevrolet, and International chassis mixed with Thomas, Ward, Blue Bird, Superior, Carpenter, and Wayne bodies. Such a variety is no longer available. All there is now is Thomas/Freightliner, Ward/International, and Blue Bird with its own chassis.

[Oracle of Delphi]

I have a thing for school buses. I miss the days of Ford, GMC, Chevrolet, and International chassis mixed with Thomas, Ward, Blue Bird, Superior, Carpenter, and Wayne bodies. Such a variety is no longer available. All there is now is Thomas/Freightliner, Ward/International, and Blue Bird with its own chassis.

I like them too, I just went to a local school bus yard and took some pics of GMC/Chevrolet school buses ...

[black02]

Best bus ever built! As a bonus, the U.S. factory was in Pontiac.

The bus pictured is a Canadian unit, built in Quebec.

The first New Look was built in 1959, and the last in 1986.

I sure do. I want to own one someday, really not sure why I love them so much ...

[2005 EquinoxLS]

My dad worked for the bus company in Appleton and had a lot of time with these. I think theirs were 1980 and 1981s. The 1980s were from Calgary Canada and they were very good. The 1981s were from Detroit Michigan and they were pieces of crap. I remember these VERY well.

[XP715]

Love old buses. In my retirement I'd love to restore and convert an old Flxible Clipper or General American Aerocoach or some other streamlined bus into a motorhome and travel the country.