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Bus Discussion => Bus Topics ( click here for quick start! ) => Topic started by: Scott & Heather on July 15, 2012, 05:40:40 PM

Title: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: Scott & Heather on July 15, 2012, 05:40:40 PM
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.craigslist.org%2F5Lf5Ed5J23K53N93H7c7d9b0d7762ba001599.jpg&hash=e0ea506bba33dbff7e8f9aa3d6cff0aa33dfb947)

It doesn't look right to me? Unless there were GMC's with sloped windshields??
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: belfert on July 15, 2012, 06:01:04 PM
Someone changed the windshields for sure.  It almost looks like someone took the entire front end from a newer MCI hus like a 96A3 or 102A3 and grafted the whole thing on.
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: bkelly1011 on July 15, 2012, 06:05:00 PM
Hi Scott -

Nope, but a lot of folks tend to get rid of the buffalo-ish look as those buses age by doing that type of thing.  I more often see folks putting on an Eagle-10 type sloped cap above the original windshield.  I think it's because the original upper window tends to leak or otherwise get nasty after 30+ years. 

Here's an example of some Audubon Trails buses that got the Eagle upper cap treatment:
http://www.commonwealthcoach.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=107&Itemid=104 (http://www.commonwealthcoach.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=107&Itemid=104)

I agree, that bus definitely looks like a GM-MCI love child.

Brad
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: buswarrior on July 15, 2012, 06:36:16 PM
Take a look at the finer details of that coach...

Looks like the coach's own destination sign/front roof was put up to match the height of the rear.

Those donor windshields will make the view out front from the interior of the coach a lot better than one of those Frankenstein forehead treatments that the off the shelf caps give a GM buffalo.

The lines of the changes sure do look clean.

Someone did their homework in choosing the pieces and took some care during the execution, to keep the coach looking suitably proportional for such a big face changing job.

Are there any more pics of this coach?

happy coaching!
buswarrior
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: bkelly1011 on July 15, 2012, 06:40:18 PM
Can't tell exactly by the angle, but it looks like it also afforded them the ability to place the front A/C unit forward of where it might otherwise have been.
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: RJ on July 15, 2012, 08:23:01 PM
Scott -

Peninsula Charter Lines, based in Palo Alto, CA, refurbished at least one, if not two, 4905s like the one you've posted.  Altho this is not the same coach as the one pictured below, it's still an interesting customization.  Where did you spot it? 

Very well done by Coach Specialties in the Bay Area for Peninsula - they grafted MCI 96A3 windshields onto the front end, yet kept the original GM destination sign and lighting.  Note that CS changed all the side windows in addition to the windshields.  Really modernized the Buffalo, IMHO. 

Here's a pic of PCL's #325:
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: Scott & Heather on July 15, 2012, 08:25:56 PM
Interesting. I actually like the look. No more pics. But it's for sale on Craigslist


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Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: RJ on July 15, 2012, 08:51:42 PM
Quote from: Scott Bennett on July 15, 2012, 08:25:56 PM
But it's for sale on Craigslist

CL link???
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: Jeremy on July 16, 2012, 03:52:24 AM
There are companies here which produce 'bodykits' to modernise the look of older buses. Mostly transits, but sometimes coaches too. My bus (Plaxton Paramount) is typical of the sort of older bus which an operator would want to make look more attractive to it's customers - the three photos below all show Plaxton Paramounts that have been refurbished by different companies (and a standard Paramount at the bottom for comparison):

(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.payhost.net%2FParamount_refurb_1.jpg&hash=9f8fb98c43a50af0fa08df888a7c8a2a2a4ec883)

(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flh5.ggpht.com%2F-zojh5tT8jWs%2FTkOY5FfFj5I%2FAAAAAAAAAYg%2F9ZtNpJlB95c%2FP1050699.JPG&hash=c5e017cc4cd9046320057464d6215006b5533212)

(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.payhost.net%2FParamount_refurb_2.jpeg&hash=eb0c1d391315b696c2be992f9cbdf337c58e94d5)

(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bus-photo.net%2Fpictures%2Fb22%2F10538.jpg&hash=094335ba2f43a9d0286ddebabc9ee087f4e3d5bb)


Jeremy
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: Chaz on July 16, 2012, 08:13:34 AM
Altho I am with Buswarrior, I still prefer the true Buffalo style. But then, my daily driver car is a '56 Chevy.  ;D I guess I am just the kind of guy that makes antiques happen. But I also like the ones Jeremy posted.
Long live the Buffalo!  :D
Chaz
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: seaton@mta on July 16, 2012, 08:46:07 AM
The body lines of that Buffalo (we call them decks in the NY/NJ area) look very similar to the proposed design of the RTS-based inter-city coach, which never went into production.  In the later years, GM was a master of using what they had as the 4900 series coaches were a blend of PD4106 and GM fishbowl components.
---- Seaton
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: Lee Bradley on July 16, 2012, 01:13:25 PM
Jeremy,

Looks like you reversed the negative. ;-)
Nice looking buses over there.  I have been watching the Tour de France and I will stop the recording and back up and my wife says "Looking at buses". Busted
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: Jeremy on July 16, 2012, 01:43:38 PM
Some may remember me saying months ago that I'd volunteered to work at the Olympics in London, and by pure chance had been given a job dealing with the bus operations for the media. The media buses have already started running 24-hours a day, and at peak times there will over 200 bus movements per hour apparently. Anyway, I did my first shift down there last Friday and was very impressed with some of the buses I saw - particularly how incredibly quiet they were. And all the passenger TV screens etc, even on the little transit buses. Many of them were obviously brand new - 2012 must have been a good year for British bus builders I reckon.

Jeremy

By the way - NBC's TV broadcast studio is literally twice the size of everyone else's, including the BBC's. In face I think they have two complete full size studios side-by-side. I couldn't figure out why they need that, unless maybe they have lots of affiliates using their facilities to produce their own programming. The TV broadcast building is so big it doesn't have corridors - it has an internal road network, complete with road names and a streetmap.



Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: Lee Bradley on July 16, 2012, 04:51:40 PM
NBC needs all that space to not show us the Olympics. First they will delay broadcast it to show it during primetime then to add insult to injury they will have a box in the corner claiming its 'Live'. While you are watching Olympic events if they don't have an US athlete about to win, NBC will be showing us a story about some US athlete's hairdresser's cousin who had cancer. I'm I unhappy with the coverage we get... YES. I just hope I can get Canadian coverage from Vancouver, B.C.   
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: belfert on July 16, 2012, 05:03:24 PM
They delay broadcast because at 8 pm Eastern it is 1 am in London.  What exactly could they show live at 8 pm Eastern?
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: pabusnut on July 16, 2012, 05:28:13 PM
I like the buffalo look myself(I am biased), but the tall windsheield could have helped save the GM(If they had wanted to).

Steve Toomey
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: RJ on July 16, 2012, 07:22:03 PM
Quote from: seaton@mta on July 16, 2012, 08:46:07 AM
The body lines of that Buffalo (we call them decks in the NY/NJ area) look very similar to the proposed design of the RTS-based inter-city coach, which never went into production.

Seaton -

You mean this GM Intercity prototype?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/etmccaus/2369871663/#sizes/l/in/photostream/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/etmccaus/2369871663/#sizes/l/in/photostream/)

FWIW & HTH. . .

;)
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: chev49 on July 17, 2012, 08:15:25 AM
security cam in the quarters...  ;D 
i think this is just a bit off topic... ;D
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: Scott & Heather on July 17, 2012, 10:40:57 AM
Here you go. Link to the ad:

http://southbend.craigslist.org/rvs/3137969712.html (http://southbend.craigslist.org/rvs/3137969712.html)


Sent from iPhone via Tapatalk
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: belfert on July 17, 2012, 11:29:58 AM
Does the exhaust really end in the inside of the engine compartment instead of at the bottom of the bus?
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: thomasinnv on July 17, 2012, 12:01:06 PM
Quote from: belfert on July 17, 2012, 11:29:58 AM
Does the exhaust really end in the inside of the engine compartment instead of at the bottom of the bus?

I was wondering the same thing myself. If it does, what a hack job.
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: chev49 on July 17, 2012, 01:00:13 PM
sure looks like it...
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: luvrbus on July 17, 2012, 02:06:03 PM
I am a little different but anything you do to a 4905 for looks is a improvement lol

good luck
Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: Scott & Heather on July 17, 2012, 04:34:03 PM
If he was runnin with his exhaust like that it would be black in the engine compartment. Don't ask me how i know this


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Title: Re: Is this how a GMC is supposed to look?
Post by: gus on July 17, 2012, 05:57:34 PM
It is a beauty, but, those high windshields are real heat makers in hot weather, nice in cold weather though.