GM Futureliner Hauler

[Boomer]

Went to the ATHS truck show this weekend.  This fellow put a Futureliner cab on a modern truck frame & running gear and made a slick hauler for his other vehicles of which he has many.  The original Futureliners had 6 cylinder gas engines in the rear, and the steering axle had dual hubs, drums and wheels on EACH side.  Enjoy.

[rv_safetyman]

Wow, Mark, I am surprised that someone would cut up an extremely valuable vehicle.  A few years ago, one brought well over $4 million at the Barrett Jackson http://www.autoblog.com/2006/01/22/gm-futurliner-rewrites-barrett-jackson-record-books-hammers-to/

That said, what an amazing hauler.

As most of you know, MAK owned one at one time.  I was at one of the Bus Conversion Workshop (1999?) when a commercial sand blaster pulled in.  I thought to myself, this will not be good.  When he was done, every panel on that vehicle was badly warped!

Not sure what he did with it after that.

Jim

[Boomer]

Jim, Brad has another intact unit, plus parts.  I think the rear display area was too far gone to restore but he had enough to restore the cab section so this was a cool use for it.  I was impressed with the siding he had reproduced because it is the identical pattern that the Silverside uses.

[Lee Bradley]

Brad also added a clam shell rear door with a roll back deck.

I was going to post photos today but Boomer got here first. Good job, Boomer.

[Lee Bradley]

...and this is my photo of the White Bus from Yellowstone Park.  When the park got rid of these buses, they sold them for $775.00 each. Thel Park still has their White Buses running in the park. They have been converted to Ford running gear and run on propane.

[Dave5Cs]

Here some I went to see Coach Maintenance's yard last week but no one was there. Lots of old ones in Williams CA
These were just a few. some 4104's 06's 1 eagle with some of fire damage in front and pretty well gutted. Old Flxibles 4 or 5 maybe pretty rusty but workable. a few silversides. 1 MC 7, 3 senicrusiers. A couple old transits. some with the original company names on them. Los Gatos, CA, San Fransisco, Western Charter, etc.

Heres a picture of one of its sisters, when it was still in SF service.
http://www.norcalbusfans.fotki.com/north-calif-a-thru-m/guitoncharterlines/guiton4225.html
Dave5Cs

[Boomer]

A good number of the Yellowstone Whites were aquired by Steve Hites up in Skagway, Alaska for his Skagway Streetcar Tours company.  He fixed them up and ran them for quite a few years, along with a Kenworth.  Eventually, parts and maintenance became too much, and it was tough for the college girl tour guides to muscle them around town.  So they were sold back to Yellowstone and modernized, similar to what the Glacier Park Whites were with the Ford running gear.  Steve had a new fleet of Skagway Streetcars custom made by the late Boyd Coddington of street rod fame , all new vehicles that "look" vintage.

[TomC]

Was in Ketchikan, AK in '95. One of the tour operators used old 40ft GM fishbowls that had been completely rebuilt. The only bad was they were manual steering. The company taught their drivers to do the steering shuffle instead of hand over hand on the steering wheel. Strange what some think to be the proper way to steer. Good Luck, TomC

[Charles Seaton]

Here in NYC, the MTA also teaches the "push-pull" method, insisting that it allows bus operators to have better control.

- Seaton

[pvcces]

Tom, I just saw a fishbowl a couple of days ago. It still looks good.

I don't know for sure if they are still running them, but they were in service recently. And they look good.

I was told that they don't sell them locally, so they get crushed. However, I was told that they are ok with selling parts. There are supposed to be some nearly fresh engines that the scrapper would like to sell.

They are mainly running MC-9s and MC-12s, now.

For what it's worth.

Tom Caffrey