Vintage Bus Lineup

[SteveCarras]

"The Help", being set in '63,. has a lot of these..old looks.

[SteveCarras]

Boy, I wish we still had THESE.,..here in Southern Calif., and I mean, ON THE STREETS.

[xxbal1inxx]

detroits all day

[Dkels219]

Almost like a mixed breed of a New Jersey Transit Bus & a Marta (Atlanta) Bus. But i saw them in Kentucky

[ukkfayooyay]

I love old buses!  I own a 1983 Fishbowl.

[SteveCarras]

@ukkfayooyay

Wow!!! Obviously Canadian, as both Flxble [as of 1976?] and GMC [as of 1980?] had stopped buildin' 'em in US.

[videonut33]

Former MARTA (Atlanta) Fishes at the start of the vid.

[saabdude67]

The first two buses are actually from the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (the AM General is still owned by them, and the first bus, the GM Fishbowl, is owned by us (the CTHA).)

-Cody

[saabdude67]

Indeed it is! Very well kept its entire life, and boy does that 8V71 run nice!

-Cody

CTHA

[fjbutch]

last bus was a beauty ...

[saabdude67]

Well that's cool! I was actually on one of CTHA's buses in front of 209 that day, and I was one of the guys that backtracked to Fairfield and helped get the thing running again... Obviously, our efforts didnt work! lol 209's fuel tank had about 12" of sediment that blocked the fuel pickup, so it quite running...

[cpd659]

I rode with my father-in-law to tow the Tank Greenline bus 209 in July.  It stopped running just after the show and had to be towed back to Tank. It is a great piece of history.

[andyofvermont]

Did any major US cities have any number of "old looks" left in their fleets in, say, the early 80's? I'm wondering if its possible I ever rode on one in Boston as a kid. I don't remember any. I remember the New Look very well obviously and have been surfing the net reminiscing them the last few days.

[saabdude67]

I doubt major cities had them at that point, but I bet some small cities (like Hamilton) may have had one or two in the backup fleet(s)...

[BassmanII]

The NFTA (Buffalo, New York) had two "vault" buses, basically, 30 foot buses modified to carry the farebox vaults securely, up until 1990 and one of them, #12 was a GMC Old Look. The other, #13 was a New Look.

[andyofvermont]

Interesting! Is is normal for transit systems to have "vault" vehicles? It is hard for me to understand why it would be worth having a vehicle just for that purpose... I guess it just saves all the busses from having to return to a central place? But they must have to return to a place to refuel, or do they have a refueling truck too? Sounds like I have a lot to learn about transit systems! :-)

[BassmanII]

The NFTA has three garages; Kenmore/Military, Babcock/William, and Main/Michigan. At one time, there was also a fourth in Niagara Falls.

[SteveCarras]

@andyofvermont

Over the weekend in East Los Angeles I was in one of the current bsues and passes by a New Look on a truck trailer..

[ballboy102]

to bad they don't have a vinaga bus show in michigan or histoial musuieum

[SteveCarras]

Or in Los Angeles.

[seagravefan]

Okay now see if you can get Brad Garrett to dress up like Jackie Gleason and wave from the driver's window of one of the Old Looks. Now THAT'S the icing on the cake!!!

[saabdude67]

That would be legendary! haha

[SteveCarras]

LOL! That Gleaosn,& co. looking out of a Old Look is a classic Honeymooners pose!

[micismyname]

love the sound 671,6v71s