My 1959 4104 was bought new by the Jack Rabbit Bus Line out of South Dakota. I just finished polishing the bumpers, buffing the paint and am getting ready to paint the top. I think I will paint a running/jumping Jack Rabbit (jumping like the greyhound) on the front sides just above and slightly behind the wheel wells
My father-in-law was an old school sign painter in the days when everything was hand lettered... He passed away 20 years ago, I spent a lot of time watching him hand letter trucks, fire pumpers and even old tractors and steam engines. The old hand lettered, pin striped goldleaf artistic style of sign painting has pretty much gone by the wayside. My wife inherited his artistic ability and I think this is too cool an idea not to do it.
Rick
That sounds like a great idea! Post pictures of your result so we can sobber all over the keyboard! ;D
I do agree that hand work is much nicer to look at, and it might last longer too!
It's like comparing hand quilting to machine, lots of character and definition.
Paul
A friend of mine, quite some years ago, had all of his race cars hand-lettered by a sign painter. All the numbers, names, even the sponsor logo's. It was a nightmare when I got the cars in my shop, I lived in fear that my driver would scuff a hand-lettered door or something, but man those things just popped! Such a subtle but important difference from everyone else's decals and vinyl signs.
Brian
Two photos in the US Snail of the Jack Rabbit Lines equipment before the take over by Jefferson Lines,Inc. ;D
jlv
John,
THANKS!, I will get copies made and get the originals back to you.. We are leaving in the morning for our first trip of any distance, we are going down to a campground on the Mulberry River in the Ozark National Forest for a few days.
Got the '04 lubed up, oil changed, fan blade seems tight and secure, drive line tight and lubed , new brakes/wheels/tires....... coach is spit and polished and just in case CoachNet is going with me.
Rick
Hate to shoot a hole in your bubble, but the Mexican equivalent of Greyhound already has a jack rabbit on the side of their coaches, I think the name translates into "The Rabbit" or something like that.
Mine used to have a couple of goats on the back of it, I could not wait to get it to the paintshop to have them removed.
Go for it!
BCO
Back when I was driving, one of the other companies in the shared terminal had a painted rabbit on the back as their logo (Almeida Bus in Massachusetts?). The story - the rabbit is always ahead of the Hound.
Arthur
Johnny Almeida was our upstairs neighbor back when he was the owner operator of one bus, running New Bedford to Boston. I think that was around 1945.
I have a VW Rabbit logo and could send it to you as a vector file that a sign shop could cut from vinyl if you like it.
Len, they grew the company. By the time I was driving, late 1960's to mid 1970's, they had a bunch of schedules between the South Shore and Boston. They ran into the Trailways terminal in Park Square, Boston - into which we ran from the north. They had a good reputation. I left that area in 1978, so I don't know what happened to the company.
Arthur
My 1960 GM 4104 that I owned, was purchased new by Almeida Bus Lines in New Bedford, Mass. The serial number was 4104-4153 if I remember correctly.
Raincutter do you think you drove this one? Did they have a route to Washington DC?
She was a wonderful bus - very reliable and just loved to run-and-run-and-run.
If I recall correctly, Almeida was a local, Boston/South Shore carrier, virtually all commuter work. I don't know if they had any local service in and around New Bedford. I suspect the 4104's were retired by the time I drove (for another company, Trombly Motor Coach). That said, I have a photo in my office of me, driving a 4905 out of Boston in the early 1970's, with several Trailways Eagles and someone's 4104 in the background. The 4104 could be an Almeida bus, but there isn't enough visible to really tell.
Most of the carriers had extensive charter rights, so the coaches could be seen anywhere. The company I worked for had 48 states, Canada, Mexico rights, and each summer there was a 1-2 bus, 49 day charter taking Boy Scouts across the country to the west coast and back. The driver had to camp out with them. So, Almeida may have had charter service that put the buses outside of Massachusetts.
Also, many of the companies (we did) would subcontract and run Greyhound work on major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas). If Almeida also did that, it would explain Greyhound destinations on the destination sign.
Arthur
I did a destination sign today, it is vinyl I put a solid red background with the letters on top, I was surprised to see how well it backlights as the vinyl was not transparant. Will try to put a picture up
Rick
Interesting side note on the hand lettering;
I remember many times sanding down to the metal and you could still make out the image or letters.
Not so with the vinyl. Must have been the type of paint used ?
Cliff
Another picture...
Arthur (Raincutter),
Thanks for the interesting info on the bus companies around the Boston area.
When I lived north of San Francisco in the 1960's, Greyhound had the commuter line into the city. In those days I rode on the 4104's and who would think that in 1985 I would buy a 4104?
GaryD
Rick, you did a wonderful job on the destination sign. Good looking coach.
Arthur
Almeida Aerocoach.
I was a young child but I can remember this bus (or one very similar) occasionally parked in front of Johnny Almeida's house.
This photo was in down town New Bedford, where I grew up.
Some of you might be interested in this item I just found on eBay http://cgi.ebay.com/Almeida-Bus-Lines-Gems-Cape-Cod-bklt-1960s-/370444999546 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Almeida-Bus-Lines-Gems-Cape-Cod-bklt-1960s-/370444999546)
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fjoycewiggins.tripod.com%2Fphoto%2F975.jpg&hash=d1a01880b9bf60b7535f20ad75c5f3bb898d357d)
The Bus in the photo is a Aerocoach.
I will ask Ron Van Kleeck the Aerocoach Man what model it is.
jlv
The destination sign really is nice. Is the license plate vinyl also?
Don and Cary
GMC4107
Neoplan AN340
Kinda looks like a 1937-39 Yellow Coach, 743 "Super Coach" to me but i don't have a real good picture of one to compare it to.
There is a bit of a resemblance between the Aerocoach and the Yellow 743. The Yellow had an interesting reverse dish (concave) front, just below the windshields. If we could only see the sides, many buses resembled each other - if I saw only the side, my first guess would be a GM 4101/02/03.
But, those windshields definitely make this an Aerocoach. Just below the Boston destination sign, is the hard-to-read Aerocoach logo. There were a bunch of Aerocoaches running around New England. Although they were before my time, I remember two that were owned by a drum and bugle corps - sitting in a field in Middleton, Mass (1960's - maybe into the 70's). I wonder if one of them was the pictured ex-Almeida coach.
Arthur
Looks ike a P-37 Aerocoach. Looks like a p-372 the P-373 had longer passenger windows. Looks to be 1948 or newer to me. If it was diesel it was powered by International 6 cyl. That coach was pretty well built with aluminum skins on a tubular frame.
Don&Cary,
The front plates are aluminum with painted baked on letters, I bought them from a guy who sells custom plates on eBay, around $25.00 if I remember right.
We just completed our longest trip to date, about 400 miles round trip, the bus did great. It was my first opportunity to drive it on the interstate, all we have around here are 2 lane roads that I usually run in 3rd gear. It was nice to cruise down the "Big Road " at 65 to 70 MPH...My top speed was 76 MPH briefly just to see what the old girl would do...
Spent 3 beautiful days with the grandaughters camped on the Mulberry River in the hills of Arkansas, the fall tree colors were fantastic, lots of 2 lane mountain roads with full tree canopy overhead.
Rick