Our 1934 Yellow Coach Model U in Blue Bird colors was donated to the Museum by Louis Magnano. It was originally owned by Semke Bus Lines of Hempstead, LI, NY, and was their Bus No. 6. Mr. Semke said of Bus No. 6, a 1934 Model U Yellow Coach, "I am pretty sure of the date of manufacture because my Mom and Dad went out to the factory to drive it home when it was first purchased. I think it might have been their honeymoon trip. I know they visited the 1934 Chicago World's Fair on that trip."
In later years, the bus was used as a snow plow because Nassau County required that the buses maintain the streets for snow removal. Mr. Semke added "when you saw the bus sitting in our garage in Hempstead equipped with a large snow plow--back then, the Public Service Commission (of Nassau County) required franchise operators to maintain their own routes." Mr. Semke also said "back when I was young, I used to look forward to heavy snow falls because it meant that I could take old No. 6 and drive it!"
The original seats in that bus went to Bee Line Bus Company, Rockville Centre, NY, for a restored 1932 ACF. Mr. Semke said, "I know they were brown leather with a relatively high back and a bucketed effect." The bus also originally had side curtains above the side windows. The original color was a green body with a yellow belt line and a silver roof. The Chassis was a Model U-Y-772 S/N 012, Year 1934, with a U-O-666 body, S/N 065.
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