Santa Barbara MTD 1984 Gillig Phantom - Detroit 6V92

Take a ride on a Santa Barbara MTD 1984 Gillig Phantom with the Detroit 6V92. The last six of these buses were retired from the public fleet in 2007, but a few were bought by Bill's Bus, a private operator that shuttles partiers between Isla Vista and the bars in downtown Santa Barbara, so you can still hear them at night sometimes...

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Santa
• Barbara
• MTD
• 1984
• Gillig
• Phantom
• Detroit
• 6V92
• bill's
• bus

[ctw100s]

Is this retired?

[gilligbrt]

@ctw100s Yep, back in 2007.

[MMTfan1]

Mountain Metropolitan Transit (known as Springs Transit prior to 2005) had a few 1983 Gillig Phantoms with the Detroit 6v92TA and Allison HT-747. I rode on them a few times. Those Phantoms were the first wheelchair accessible buses in the fleet (the lift was in the rear door). Sadly, they were retired in 2004. They also had around ten 1991 Phantoms with the 6v92TA and HT-748. Other than that, they looked just like the 1983 Phantoms. Those were retired in the fall of 2006.

[gilligbrt]

@MMTfan1 Didn't they also have some 1999 Phantoms with the Detroit S50 that they retired a while back? Why so early, do you know?

[MMTfan1]

@gilligbrt They had 21 1999 Phantoms with the Series 50 and B400R, their largest purchase. All but three were retired in late 2009 due budget cuts throughout the city. Due to even more cuts, the rest of the 1999's were retired back in April. They also had ten 1994 Phantoms with the Series 50 and ZF 4HP-590 that were retired back in early 2009.

[gilligbrt]

@MMTfan1 Shame. S50s are disappearing everywhere. Thanks for the info!

[kmothersil]

@8v71buses

GILLIG made sure the Phantoms could be run with just about any engine. So an 8V71 is mostly likely a yes.

[MMTfan1]

@ctw100s They were retired in 2006.

[cph1776]

I remember these from my UCSB years. (1983-1987). In fact one time I recorded one of these engines (from inside the bus) and used the sound in a project for "Electronic Music 101" or some such....

[ctw100s]

@MMTfan1 Are the 1983 ones retired?

[MMTfan1]

@gilligbrt We've only got seven Phantoms left, five 2001's and two 2002's. The 01's have the Series 50 and Voith D863.3 gearbox. The 2002's have the Cummins ISC and Allison B400R6.