History of General Motors - Yellow Coach – Part 4 of 5

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

In the 1940s to 1950s, buses had much smaller windows and had a much different look.  They also started building buses out of aluminum using monocoque construction and buyers loved that idea.

Automatic transmissions were being experimented with and buses started becoming as long as 43'.

Then the war started and fewer buses were built and most were painted Battle Ship Grey. You will notice the windows in these old buses were quite small compared to the buses we see on the road today.

Trailways of New England were running 3702 buses and they did great on flat ground, but hills were a bit of a challenge with the 471 diesel engines in them. 

In 1848, the 4101 was a big hit with a more powerful engine and a larger bus.  This was a Super Classic back then after the war.  The Brill had a head start so they had some catching up to and only 335 of these buses were built.

The 3704 bus took over the market and had silver siding which many owners liked and became the standard with many bus manufacturers.

The 4102 and 4103 soon became very successful for Greyhound and other companies.  A quantity of 1501 4103 buses were built up until 1953.

BTW, Diesel cost a whopping 11.9 cents per gallon back then, so fuel economy was not a big deal back then.

In 1948 they started rounding the edges of the windows to give them a more modern look.

In 1953, air ride suspension shook up the industry with 40' buses giving passengers a much smoother ride and 40' coaches were becoming popular for the longer highway runs, while they still used 28 – 33 foot buses in the city.

In 1959, the Fish Bowl buses became a reality.  First introduced by DC Transit and came in all sizes from 33' to 40' long.

In the '50's, multi-level Scenicruisers came with two 471 engines that turned out to be a disaster and were eventually replaced with one 871 diesel engine.  These buses had huge baggage bays.  Greyhound drivers and passengers loved these buses.  Many of these buses were converted to combo buses; carrying both passenger and freight.

The 4104 came out and over 5,000 of these buses were built and were very popular.  Even Korean Bus Lines ran these buses.

The 4901 bus was a high-level car and had much larger baggage bays, but they were never as popular as the 4104 buses.

The elongated windows became more popular. 

In 1953, the 4106 and the 4107 the 4900 series buses took over the market.  More about these buses in the next video as well as the articulated buses.

This is a video by Robert Redden. Subscribe to our Channel to be the first ones notified as we upload weekly bus videos.

https://youtu.be/A2uDRPaRGo8?si=Z2GPpDXup2G8_ptx