Welcome Aboard the GM New Look Bus: An Enthusiast's Reference by John H. McKane with Gerald L. Squier is another book that we carry in the Gift Shop. The publisher is Iconografix and we carry all of their North American bus books.
The Truck & Coach Division of General Motors developed many designs that became industry standards. Arguably, the most notable design was the series known as the "New Look" bus for transit and suburban service. It first appeared in 1959, and the design was quite a radical departure from the models GM had produced since 1940. The New Look design continued in production basically unchanged for over 27 years, and didn't receive a face-lift until 1995 (that being the Classic produced in Canada). In many ways, it truly was the first ADB Advanced Design Bus. This is the story of how the New Look bus came to be, a discussion of its construction, and the many variations that comprised the New Look series.
The book is 128 pages and sells for $32.95. If you are interested in purchasing it, you can send your payment through PayPal (use our email address, thebusmuseum@yahoo.com)--and please add $5.00 for postage/handling--for a total of $37.95. Please be sure to include the title of the book with your PayPal payment. The book is also available in the Gift Shop for purchase when you visit the Museum.
The idea for the association and the two key players were Burlington and Santa Fe. Missouri Pacific joined because they saw the other two railroad properties starting something and they didn't want to be left out. Safeway of Illinois and Martz were recruited by Burlington and Santa Fe to provide a feed from the east for their buses at Chicago.
The reason the Trailways "idea" caught on so fast is in one word, Greyhound. In the late 20's and early 30's, Motor Transit Management (Greyhound) was busy putting together a nationwide system of bus companies using the Greyhound name and the public was beginning to recognize Greyhound as a company who could take you coast to coast. While Greyhound wouldn't finish buying out the railroad interests until the late 40's and early 50's, they succeeded in getting the name out there.
Trailways was an attempt to form a non-profit operating trade association to spread a common name coast to coast with each member representing the other members as if it were his service. Worked too. Most people fail to see that the secret to making Trailways work is to lose yourself inside the association. Best example of that were the east coast carriers during the 60's-70's and 80's when all you saw on the bus was Trailways except for the certificate lettering on the baggage doors. During that period. with the exception of Continental, all the member company's buses were just marked "Trailways," Martz being the sole exception.
Originally equipped with the standard 4-speed transmission, Dan acquired it after the church had it retrofitted with a V-730 automatic transmission. The body on it is very straight but it needs paint and a set of new seat covers.
We have sent out feelers to have someone "adopt" it and paint it into their fleet colors. Hopefully, that will include a new interior. Then we can have a "deck" to place on our floor.If you were at the Spring Fling, this bus was parked alongside the building so you got a chance to see it.
Thank you Dan and Dolores.
The Museum is an affiliate of the Smithsonian--so as blogged about before we will be participating in the Smithsonian Museum Date on Saturday, September 26, 2009. You must go to the Smithsonian Magazine website and print a ticket if you need one for someone other than a Member.
The Yellow Book phone book ad for 2009 prominently displays the AACA Museum AND has featured a car, bus and motorcycle.
New signage and a planned "street scene" should be in place by October 1 of this year.
Automobile Quarterly Magazine is doing a piece on the AACA Museum including a segment on the MBT and our display.
