GM has built some great vehicles in its day, but nothing can top their buses. They literally owned the bus market from the forties through the seventies, but they earned that spot with superior technology and quality construction. One of the most brilliant and enduring examples of that is the “New Look” transit bus that came out in 1959, and revolutionized the field with advanced stress-skin aluminum construction and absolutely indestructible build quality. These buses are still on the road in transit duty fifty years after they first saw the light of day. A variation of this bus (the Classic) was still being produced by MCI until 1997. Given that this pictured bus was built about the same time as the 1978 Cadillac Eldorado in our last Curbside Classic, we have here a study in GM contrasts. Of course, even GM’s bus business eventually ended badly in its inimitable way. (Read More…)
Tagged as allison, allison V-series, bus, city bus, detroit diesel, gmc bus, new look bus, Paul Niedermeyer, transit bus
Recent Comments
Kyree S. Williams - Gee…you’re right. There are hardly any midsized body-on-frame SUVs. The only ones left (that I can...
Chuck Goolsbee - The changes from S1 to S2 were to meet US Federal safety & emissions mandates, not because what buyers wanted....
Scoutdude - The original “Real Time” system was a big joke. It used a center clutch that was powered by a pair of...
NMGOM - Alex, Great article on a complex topic. Thanks. You obviously put a lot of work into it. To show you what a mess of misleading...
Scoutdude - Maybe from the big 3 but International Harvester offered factory installed 4wd starting in the 1955 on their 3/4 ton S-120...
Scoutdude - Yup, a elegant solution.
Scoutdude - Sorry but no the ABS doesn’t care about different tire sizes as it looks at the rate of deceleration to determine if...
Derek Kreindler - Read the Rick Wagoner chapter and you’ll see what I mean. Lutz portrays him as a nice man who was too slow to react, but...
Greg Locock - “and if three wheels lost traction the remaining wheel can consume all 100% of available power.” No....
CJinSD - Your experiences do not have much to do with mine. Anything is possible in a light FWD car on narrow all season tires right...