Gx-7 Greyhound prototype

[bigred]

I had found this info before ,but now that I semi need it ,I can't find it .Do any of you have any info on the Greyhound Gx7 prototype? This was the bus that was manufactured in 1948 or 1949 .It was pitched to Greyhound but they didn't go for it.They opted instead to go with the Scenicruiser much to their sorrow with all the problems they had with the Scenicruser.I would like to know how many of these prototype's were made (I think maybe three) what kind of running gear did they have and who was the manufacturer.Also,what happened to them.I know that the Blue Ridge Quartet out of Spartanburg S C wound up with one of them,don't have a clue about where it went from there.

[Darkspeed]

GX-1, GX-2?

twin air-cooled V6 engines from the Aircooled Motors Co., the successor to Franklin Motors and the source of the Tucker's aircooled six. The original idea was that both engines would run on the hilly sections, and then one engine could be shut down on the flats.

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-gmc-pd-4501-greyhound-scenicruiser-everybodys-favorite-bus-except-for-greyhound-and-gm/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPKkVxKeKtE

http://www.busmag.com/pdfs/2002-09_Greyh2.pdf

[bigred]

Nope Darkspeed. I am sure it is a GX 7 .There is a picture of one on the Staily Coach Old bus pictures page.However it is just a picture .No info except that it is a GX7 PROTOTYPE. It actually looks like a spraddle legged Scenicruser!!

[luvrbus]

I thought GM was pushing the 4901 for the first 40 ft for GreyHound it looked like a over gown 4104 I remember it was named the Golden Chariot some GM guru told me   

[Darkspeed]

hmmm..

well this is GX-2 but I cant find anything higher than #2











and pre cruiser prototype "Golden Chariot" PDX-4901>

[Darkspeed]

I dont see anything on http://www.staleycoach.com/oldbusphotos.htm marked GX-7? Which photo?

[RJ]

Big Red -

No such critter as a GX-7 prototype for Greyhound, only the GX-1 and the GX-2, which the Blue Ridge Quartet out of SC ran for a number of years after Greyhound was finished with it in 1957.  It's probably best known for being the vehicle Greyhound used for publicity jaunts to persuade state legislators to allow 40' buses on the highways.

Tom McNally and Fred Rayman's book "Greyhound Scenicruiser, Flagship of the Fleet" has an excellent history of the GX-2 in the first chapter.

Initially it was a 35' coach based on a 1948 GM PD4151 chassis, but later stretched to 40' and adding a second rear axle. It used the Silverside's powertrain: 6-71/4-spd, which, when lengthed to 40', became really underpowered.  It was the only model produced, being hand-built in Chicago by Greyhound's Motor & Supply subsidiary.

Nobody knows what happened to it, rumor says it ended up in a Nashville boneyard.

The next prototype for Greyhound was a full-scale mockup with a wooden skeleton and no interior, built by GM's Truck & Coach Division in Pontiac, which then led to the building of EXP-333, the very first (and last!) Scenicruiser.

The initial problems with the Scenics - primarily the twin-engine setup - soured Greyhound's relationship with GM, leading them to purchasing MCI in Winnipeg.  But, after the '61-'62 refurbishing with the then-new 8V71, Greyhound definitely got their money's worth out of the coach - no other model stayed in the fleet longer, and it's still to this day considered the most iconic design ever built.

FWIW & HTH. . .

[bigred]

You Guy's are awesome!!It is the GX2.The picture on the Staily bus page had an inset that told what it was but it was so blurry that even with a magnifier it looked like GX-7 .A couple of the BRQ visit a web site that I also spend some time on.I will ask them if they have any info as to what happened to the GX-2 .I'm curious as to how they obtained service for this thing when something went wrong.

[RJ]

I'm curious as to how they obtained service for this thing when something went wrong.

Well, as long as it wasn't exclusive body parts/panels, servicing wouldn't have been too much of a problem, as the powertrain was the same as a Silversides, of which there were still quite a few running around in the '50s.

FWIW & HTH. . .

[CrabbyMilton]

Thanks for posting that. Nice eye candy too.

[bigred]

If it was 3751 running gear ,they probably never had to do anything !!!! What a tank!! I think that that someone said they only made one of these.I was thinking at least two.The reason I thought that was the fact that the Dog had a destination sign on the top front but the BRQ'S bus had three clearance lights on top,but if they were using 3751 parts ,changing the destination sign to clearance lights would really not have been a big deal.The sign kind of looked like an after thought.

[Darkspeed]

The unit with the "Ralf Marterie" on the side is different in a number of ways

1. drivers side window - not solid
2. trim up the center of the lower roof
3. three lights on roof
4. riser window is two piece and not 4 piece - or it could be just two piece + reflection looking like a divider
5. divider trim missing from top in rear
6. -looks like it has round turn signals rathe than arrows
7. marker lights behind front wheels
more im probably missing.... but these are things that could have been changed

[RJ]

There was only ONE GX-2 Scenicruiser prototype, built in late 1948, finished in June, 1949.  GM supplied a partially-built PD4151 Silversides as the base to start the project.

Initially a 35' two-axle model, it was stretched to 40', a second rear axle added, along with power steering and a restroom.  Major differences between the GX-2 and the iconic Scenic include the V-drive, rear axle driven, intermediate just a bogie, and the restroom on the curb side.  Plus, of course, the body.  The production Scenics introduced in 1954 had a T-drive, rear tag, intermediate drive axle, restroom on the street side, similar styling to the 4104, etc.

All the while the GX-2 was being used for political publicity jaunts, Greyhound experimented with lots of different things, using the coach as a "test mule," so to speak.  That's why you'll see photos of it with different windows, lighting, wipers, destination sign location and so forth.  Pics of it in Blue Ridge Quartet livery show the coach as it was last configured before disappearing.

FWIW & HTH. . .

[bigred]

Are there any PDX4901'S left?? Or was it another one of a kind coach??That thing is one sharp bus!!!

[Darkspeed]

Are there any PDX4901'S left?? Or was it another one of a kind coach??That thing is one sharp bus!!!

http://www.cptdb.ca/index.php?showtopic=10257