Orion Bus Industries
Orion Bus Industries Ontario Bus Industries in Canada and Bus Industries of America in the United States, was a owned bus manufacturer based in Mississauga, Canada. Until 1995, the word Orion was only a brand name, not part of the company's name, it was renamed DaimlerChrysler Commercial Buses North America in 2006, but continued to market its products under the Orion name. The company had its main manufacturing plant in Mississauga and sent bus body shells to their plant in Oriskany, New York, for final assembly and testing of vehicles destined for U. S. markets. The company was founded in Mississauga in 1975 as Ontario Bus and Truck, Inc. a private company led by Arnold Wollschlaeger. It was renamed Ontario Bus Industries in 1977 and introduced its first prototype bus in 1978, under the model name Orion I. Don Sheardown purchased the company from Wollschlaeger's estate in 1979. A U. S. subsidiary named Bus Industries of America, wholly owned by Ontario Bus Industries, was incorporated in 1981 in Oriskany, New York, to serve the U.
S. market. Subsequent models built by OBI or BIA continued to use the "Orion" brand name, with the Orion II being introduced in 1983 as the first low-floor heavy duty bus and the prototype Orion VI, the company's first low-floor bus, being produced in 1993. At its height in the early 1990s, Ontario Bus Industries employed 1,200 at its Mississauga and Oriskany plants, producing 900 buses per year. OBI was taken over by the Ontario Government in 1994 for loan arrears; the $81 million investment, which consisted of forgiving $66M in loans and an additional $15M investment, was criticized by Monte Kwinter as "a total disaster". It was sold in 1995 to Western Star Truck Holdings of Kelowna for $35M, which acquired OBI subsidiary Bus Industries of America, Western Star adopted a new, single name for both companies, Orion Bus Industries. In July 2000, parent company Western Star Trucks was acquired by Freightliner, a division of DaimlerChrysler, became part of the group Daimler Buses North America.
In 2006, Orion Bus Industries was renamed DaimlerChrysler Commercial Buses North America. It continued to market its buses under the "Orion" brand name. On April 25, 2012, the company announced it would stop taking orders for new buses, the Mississauga and Oriskany plants would close once outstanding orders were fulfilled; the closure took union officials by surprise. It was announced that more than 530 workers will be laid off in the Oriskany plants; the Mississauga workers staged a wildcat work stoppage to protest in employee frustration at the slow pace of winding-down talks. New Flyer assumed some outstanding orders with Orion for New York City Transit and King County Metro; the Oriskany plant was retained for aftermarket parts and support for Orion bus operators, until New Flyer acquired that business from Daimler Buses in 2013. The New York location performed repairs, including a retrofit program with BAE Systems for recalled hybrid-electric buses using BAE's HybriDrive system, until it was refitted as an assembly facility for New Flyer buses.
The sales and closures were part of the closure of Daimler Buses North America. MCI itself was purchased by New Flyer in 2015, the Setra distribution rights lasted until January 2018, when the REV Group took over distribution. Orion manufactured a number of different models of buses over its 37-year existence. A list of models is given below. Most buses today in service are of the Orion VII models. Orion marketed the Thomas Dennis SLF 200 mid-sized bus. Notes Crown-Ikarus 286, similar to the Orion-Ikarus III bus Orion Buses Educated » Hybrid Sounds Crown Ikarus 286 "60' Orion-Ikarus Articulated Transit Bus". Barp.ca. Ontario Bus Industries / Bus Industries of America. Retrieved 15 March 2019. Hybrid buses. "BAE HybriDrivePropulsion OverviewOrion VII Hybrid -Product Information". Archived from the original on 2007-05-08
Volvo
The Volvo Group is a Swedish multinational manufacturing company headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production and sale of trucks and construction equipment, Volvo supplies marine and industrial drive systems and financial services. In 2016, it was the world's second largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks. Automobile manufacturer Volvo Cars based in Gothenburg, was part of AB Volvo until 1999, when it was sold to the Ford Motor Company. Since 2010 it has been owned by the Geely Holding Group, China's biggest multinational automotive manufacturing company. Both AB Volvo and Volvo Cars share the Volvo logo and cooperate in running the Volvo Museum in Sweden; the company was first listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1935, was on the NASDAQ indices from 1985 to 2007. Volvo was established in 1915 as a subsidiary of a ball bearing manufacturer; the building remains. The brand name Volvo was registered as a trademark in May 1911 with the intention to be used for a new series of SKF ball bearings.
It means "I roll" in Latin, conjugated from "volvere". The idea was short-lived, SKF decided to use its initials as the trademark for all its bearing products. In 1924, Assar Gabrielsson, an SKF sales manager, a KTH Royal Institute of Technology educated engineer Gustav Larson, the two founders, decided to start construction of a Swedish car, they intended to build cars that could withstand the rigors of the country's rough roads and cold temperatures. AB Volvo began activities on 10 August 1926. After one year of preparations involving the production of ten prototypes, the firm was ready to commence the car-manufacturing business within the SKF group; the Volvo Group itself considers it started in 1927, when the first car, a Volvo ÖV 4, rolled off the production line at the factory in Hisingen, Gothenburg. Only 280 cars were built that year; the first truck, the "Series 1", debuted in January 1928, as an immediate success and attracted attention outside the country. In 1930, Volvo sold 639 cars, the export of trucks to Europe started soon after.
AB Volvo was introduced at the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1935 and SKF decided to sell its shares in the company. By 1942, Volvo acquired the Swedish precision engineering company Svenska Flygmotor. Pentaverken, which had manufactured engines for Volvo, was acquired in 1935, providing a secure supply of engines and entry into the marine engine market; the first bus, named B1, was launched in 1934, aircraft engines were added to the growing range of products at the beginning of the 1940s. In 1963, Volvo opened the Volvo Halifax Assembly plant, the first assembly plant in the company's history outside of Sweden in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. In 1950, Volvo acquired the Swedish construction and agricultural equipment manufacturer Bolinder-Munktell. Bolinder-Munktell was renamed as Volvo BM in 1973. In 1979, Volvo BM's agricultural equipment business was sold to Valmet. Through restructuring and acquisitions, the remaining construction equipment business became Volvo Construction Equipment. In 1977, Volvo tried to combine operations with rival Swedish automotive group Saab-Scania, but the latter company rejected it.
In the 1970s, French manufacturer Renault and Volvo started to collaborate. In 1978, Volvo Car Corporation was spun off as a separate company within the Volvo group and Renault acquired a minority stake, before selling it back in the 1980s after a restructuring. In the 1990s, Renault and Volvo deepened their collaboration and both companies partnered in purchasing and development and quality control while increasing their cross-ownership. Renault would assist Volvo with entry-level and medium segment vehicles and in return Volvo would share technology with Renault in upper segments. In 1993, a 1994 Volvo-Renault merger deal was announced; the deal was accepted in France, but it was opposed in Sweden, the Volvo shareholders and company board voted against it. The alliance was dissolved in February 1994 and Volvo sold off its minority Renault stake in 1997. In 1991, the Volvo Group participated in a joint venture with Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors at the former DAF plant in Born, Netherlands.
The operation, branded NedCar, began producing the first generation Mitsubishi Carisma alongside the Volvo S40/V40 in 1996. During the 1990s, Volvo partnered with the American manufacturer General Motors. In 1999, the European Union blocked a merger with Scania AB. In January 1999, Volvo Group sold Volvo Car Corporation to Ford Motor Company for $6.45 billion. The division was placed within Ford's Premier Automotive Group alongside Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin. Volvo engineering resources and components would be used in various Ford, Land Rover and Aston Martin products, with the second generation Land Rover Freelander designed on the same platform as the second generation Volvo S80; the Volvo T5 petrol engine was used in the Ford Focus ST and RS performance models, Volvo's satellite navigation system was used on certain Aston Martin Vanquish, DB9 and V8 Vantage models. In November 1999, Volvo Group purchased a 5% stake in Mitsubishi Motors, as part of a partnership deal for the truck and bus business.
In 2001, after DaimlerChrysler bought a large Mitsubishi Motors stake, Volvo sold its shares to the former. Renault Véhicules Industriels was sold to Volvo durin
GMC (automobile)
General Motors Company, formally the GMC Division of General Motors LLC, is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors that focuses on trucks and utility vehicles. GMC sells pickup and commercial trucks, vans, military vehicles, sport utility vehicles marketed worldwide by General Motors. In North America, GMC dealerships are always Buick dealerships, allowing the same dealer to market both upmarket cars and upmarket trucks. GMC traces its history to the 1902 founding of the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company in Pontiac, MI. In 1909 William C. Durant gained control of Rapid Motor Vehicle Company and made it a subsidiary of his General Motors Company. In 1908 Durant gained control of Reliance Motor Car Company, another early commercial vehicle manufacturer. In 1911 General Motors formed the General Motors Truck Company and folded Rapid and Reliance into it. In 1912 the Rapid and Reliance names were dropped in favor of “GMC.” All General Motors truck production was consolidated at the former Rapid Motor Plant 1 in Pontiac, MI.
GMC maintained three manufacturing locations in Pontiac, Oakland and Saint Louis, Missouri. In 1916, a GMC Truck crossed the country from Seattle to New York City in thirty days, in 1926, a 2-ton GMC truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in five days and 30 minutes. During the Second World War, GMC Truck produced 600,000 trucks for use by the United States Armed Forces. In 1925, GM purchased a controlling interest in Yellow Coach, a bus and taxicab manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois, founded by John D. Hertz; the company was renamed Yellow Truck & Coach Manufacturing Company, a affiliated subsidiary of General Motors. All manufacturing operations of General Motors Truck Company were placed under YT&CMC. In 1928 Plant 2 opened and all headquarters staff moved to the administration building at 660 South Boulevard E in Pontiac, MI. In 1943, GM renamed it GMC Truck and Coach Division. In 1981, GMC Truck & Coach Division became part of GM Worldwide Bus Group. Bus production ended in May 1987 and the division name was changed from GMC Truck & Coach to GMC Truck Division.
The Canadian plant produced buses from 1962 until July 1987. GM withdrew from the bus and coach market because of increased competition in the late 1970s and 1980s. Rights to the RTS model were sold to Transportation Manufacturing Corporation, while Motor Coach Industries of Canada purchased the Classic design. In 1998, GMC's official branding on vehicles was shortened from "GMC Truck" to "GMC". In 1996, GM merged GMC Truck Division with the Pontiac Motor Division in order to "give the combined division a brand image projecting physical power and outdoor activity"; this coincided with many GMC dealerships merging with Pontiac dealerships, allowing a single dealer to offer both trucks and entry-to-mid-level cars. While many GMC and Chevrolet trucks are mechanically identical, GMC is positioned as a premium offering to the mainstream Chevrolet brand, with luxury vehicles such as the Denali series. In 2002, GMC celebrated its 100 anniversary and released a book entitled GMC: The First 100 Years, a complete history of the company.
In 2007, GMC introduced the Acadia, a crossover SUV, the division's first unibody vehicle whose predecessor, the GMT-360 based Envoy, was discontinued with the closure of GM's Moraine, Ohio plant on December 23, 2008. In 2009, GMC ended production of medium-duty commercial trucks after over 100 years. In the same year, GMC introduced the Terrain, a mid-size crossover SUV based on the GM Theta platform shared with the Chevrolet Equinox, it replaced the Pontiac Torrent after the brand's demise. GMC manufactures SUVs, pickup trucks and light-duty trucks, catered to a premium-based market. In the past, GMC produced fire trucks, heavy-duty trucks, military vehicles, transit buses, medium duty trucks. Beginning in 1920, GMC and Chevrolet trucks became similar, built as variants of the same platform, sharing much the same body sheetwork, except for nameplates and grilles – though their differences engines, have varied over the years. GMC advertising marketed its trucks to commercial buyers and businesses, whereas the Chevy's targeted private ownership.
From 1939 to 1974 GMC had its own line of six cylinder engines, first the inline sixes known as "Jimmy's" from 1939–1959, their own Vee-six from 1960–1974, of which a V8 and a V12 version existed. Additionally, from 1955 through 1959, the less than 2-ton, domestic GMC gasoline trucks were equipped with Pontiac and Oldsmobile V8s—whereas the Canadian models used Chevrolet engines. New Chevrolet vehicles are sold at Chevrolet dealerships, GMC vehicles are sold alongside Buick and Cadillac dealerships. Stand alone GMC franchises exist for sales of the entire GMC line up and includes medium and light-duty commercial models as well; this crossover allowed GM dealers that did not sell Chevrolets to offer full lineups of both cars, SUVs by offering GMC's trucks and SUVs. Between 1962 and 1972, most GMC vehicles were equipped with quad-headlights, while their Chevrolet clones were equipped with dual-headlights. In 1971, GMC marketed their version of the Chevrolet El Camino, based on the Chevrolet Chevelle.
Called Sprint, it was identical to the El Camino, a sport version, the SP, was equivalent to the El Camino SS. In 1973, with GM’s introduction of the new "rounded line" series trucks, GMC and Chevrolet trucks became more
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is located on a peninsula, bordered on the north and east by the state of New York along the extent of the length of New York City on its western edge. New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state by area but the 11th-most populous, with 9 million residents as of 2017, the most densely populated of the 50 U. S. states. New Jersey lies within the combined statistical areas of New York City and Philadelphia. New Jersey was the second-wealthiest U. S. state by median household income as of 2017. New Jersey was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, with historical tribes such as the Lenape along the coast. In the early 17th century, the Dutch and the Swedes founded the first European settlements in the state; the English seized control of the region, naming it the Province of New Jersey after the largest of the Channel Islands and granting it as a colony to Sir George Carteret and John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton.
New Jersey was the site of several decisive battles during the American Revolutionary War in the 18th century. In the 19th century, factories in cities, Paterson, Trenton, Jersey City, Elizabeth helped to drive the Industrial Revolution. New Jersey's geographic location at the center of the Northeast megalopolis, between Boston and New York City to the northeast, Philadelphia and Washington, D. C. to the southwest, fueled its rapid growth through the process of suburbanization in the second half of the 20th century. In the first decades of the 21st century, this suburbanization began reverting with the consolidation of New Jersey's culturally diverse populace toward more urban settings within the state, with towns home to commuter rail stations outpacing the population growth of more automobile-oriented suburbs since 2008. Around 180 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period, New Jersey bordered North Africa; the pressure of the collision between North America and Africa gave rise to the Appalachian Mountains.
Around 18,000 years ago, the Ice Age resulted in glaciers. As the glaciers retreated, they left behind Lake Passaic, as well as many rivers and gorges. New Jersey was settled by Native Americans, with the Lenni-Lenape being dominant at the time of contact. Scheyichbi is the Lenape name for the land, now New Jersey; the Lenape were several autonomous groups that practiced maize agriculture in order to supplement their hunting and gathering in the region surrounding the Delaware River, the lower Hudson River, western Long Island Sound. The Lenape society was divided into matrilinear clans; these clans were organized into three distinct phratries identified by their animal sign: Turtle and Wolf. They first encountered the Dutch in the early 17th century, their primary relationship with the Europeans was through fur trade; the Dutch became the first Europeans to lay claim to lands in New Jersey. The Dutch colony of New Netherland consisted of parts of modern Middle Atlantic states. Although the European principle of land ownership was not recognized by the Lenape, Dutch West India Company policy required its colonists to purchase the land that they settled.
The first to do so was Michiel Pauw who established a patronship called Pavonia in 1630 along the North River which became the Bergen. Peter Minuit's purchase of lands along the Delaware River established the colony of New Sweden; the entire region became a territory of England on June 24, 1664, after an English fleet under the command of Colonel Richard Nicolls sailed into what is now New York Harbor and took control of Fort Amsterdam, annexing the entire province. During the English Civil War, the Channel Island of Jersey remained loyal to the British Crown and gave sanctuary to the King, it was from the Royal Square in Saint Helier that Charles II of England was proclaimed King in 1649, following the execution of his father, Charles I. The North American lands were divided by Charles II, who gave his brother, the Duke of York, the region between New England and Maryland as a proprietary colony. James granted the land between the Hudson River and the Delaware River to two friends who had remained loyal through the English Civil War: Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton.
The area was named the Province of New Jersey. Since the state's inception, New Jersey has been characterized by religious diversity. New England Congregationalists settled alongside Scots Presbyterians and Dutch Reformed migrants. While the majority of residents lived in towns with individual landholdings of 100 acres, a few rich proprietors owned vast estates. English Quakers and Anglicans owned large landholdings. Unlike Plymouth Colony and other colonies, New Jersey was populated by a secondary wave of immigrants who came from other colonies instead of those who migrated directly from Europe. New Jersey remained agrarian and rural throughout the colonial era, commercial farming developed sporadically; some townships, such as Burlington on the Delaware River and Perth Amboy, emerged as important ports for shipping to New York City and Philadelphia. The colony's fertile lands and tolerant religious policy drew more settlers, New Jersey's population had increased to 120,000 by 1775. Settlement for the first 10 years of English rule took place along Hackensack River and Arthur Kill –
Flxible
The Flxible Co. was an American manufacturer of motorcycle sidecars, funeral cars, intercity coaches and transit buses, based in the U. S. state of Ohio. It was founded in 1913 and closed in 1996; the company's production transitioned from highway coaches and other products to transit buses over the period 1953–1970, during the years that followed, Flxible was one of the largest transit-bus manufacturers in North America. In 1913, Hugo H. Young and Carl F. Dudte founded the Flxible Side Car Company in Loudonville, Ohio, to manufacture motorcycle sidecars with a flexible mounting to the motorcycle; the flexible mounting allowed the sidecar to lean on corners along with the motorcycle, was based on a design patented by Young. In 1919, the company's name was changed to The Flxible Company, dropping Side Car from the name as the business looked for new opportunities to expand. After low-priced automobiles became available in the 1920s, the motorcycle sidecar demand dropped and in 1924, Flxible turned to production of funeral cars, ambulances, which were manufactured on Buick chassis, but occasionally on Studebaker, Cadillac and REO chassis, intercity buses built on GMC truck chassis, powered with Buick Straight 8 engines.
In 1953, Flxible absorbed the bus-manufacturing portion of the Fageol Twin Coach Company, accepted its first order for transit buses from the Chicago Transit Authority. In 1964, Flxible purchased Southern Coach Manufacturing Co. of Evergreen and built small transit buses at the former Southern Coach factory until 1976. Flxible was purchased by Rohr Industries in 1970, a new factory and corporate headquarters were built in Delaware, Ohio, in 1974, with the original factory in Loudonville, being used to manufacture parts and sub-assemblies. Flxible became known as Grumman Flxible; the name reverted to Flxible when Grumman sold the company in 1983 to General Automotive Corporation. In 1996, Flxible declared its assets were auctioned; the last Flxible vehicles produced were eight 35 ft CNG-fueled Metro buses that went to Monterey-Salinas Transit in Monterey, California, in November 1995. The former Flxible factory in Loudonville, Ohio, is now a bus maintenance facility for Motor Coach Industries, while the former factory in Delaware, Ohio, is now a parts facility for New Flyer Industries subsidiary North American Bus Industries.
Flxible's intercity buses were popular in Latin American countries. However, high import duties into these countries limited sales. In the early 1960s, Flxible began licensing a producer in Mexico, DINA S. A. to manufacture Flxible-designed intercity coaches, this continued until the late 1980s. In 1965 and 1966, Flxible licensed its "New Look" transit bus design to Canadair Ltd. an aircraft manufacturer in Ville St-Laurent, Quebec. In 1994, Flxible's parent company, General Automotive Corporation, three other American companies, Roger Penske, Mark IV Industries, Carrier, entered into a joint venture with Changzhou Changjiang Bus, a Chinese manufacturer located in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, to produce buses based on the Flxible Metro design and with the Flxible name; the resulting company, China Flxible Auto Corporation, manufactured buses in a variety of lengths, from 8 m to 11 m. These buses, which include both front- and rear-engine designs, share only their general exterior appearance with the American-built Flxibles, were sold to many transit operators in major Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai.
A trolleybus version was manufactured for only one operator, the Hangzhou trolleybus system, which bought 77 units between the late 1990s and 2001. For these vehicles, Changzhou Changjiang supplied the chassis and Metro-style bodies to the Hangzhou Changjiang Bus Company, that company equipped them as trolleybuses. Charles Kettering, a Loudonville, Ohio native and vice president of General Motors, was associated with Flxible for the entire first half of the company's existence. In 1914, Flxible was incorporated with the help of Kettering, who became president of the company and joined the board of directors. Kettering provided significant funding for the company in its early years after 1916, when Kettering sold his firm, the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, to GM for $2.5 million. Kettering continued to serve as president of Flxible, until he became chairman of the board in 1940, a position he held until his death in 1958. After selling Delco to GM in 1916, Kettering organized and ran a research laboratory at GM, by the 1950s, held the position of vice president at GM.
As a result of Kettering's close relationship with both GM and Flxible, many GM parts were used in the production of Flxible vehicles prior to GM's 1943 purchase of Yellow Coach. For example, most Flxible ambulances and buses from the mid-1920s to the early 1940s were built on Buick chassis, Flxible's "Airway" model buses of the mid-1930s were built on a Chevrolet chassis. In 1958, as a result of the consent decree from the 1956 anti-trust case, United States v. General Motors Corp. GM was mandated to sell their bus components and transmissions to other manufacturers, free of royalties. However, in the early 1950s and prior to the consent decree, Flxible built a small number of buses with GM diesel engines while Kettering still served on the board, it has been postulated that GM may have made its diesel engines available to Flxible to reduce the criticisms of GM's business practices that some felt were
Eagle Bus
The Eagle was a make of motor coach with a long and interesting history. During a period of over four decades, some 8,000 Eagle coaches were built in four countries on two continents; the coaches were a common sight on American highways and were associated with Continental Trailways for over three decades. In 1954, Greyhound introduced two level General Motors PD 4501 Scenicruiser; this sent Continental Trailways, on a hunt for a unique design of its own. It first contacted Flxible of Ohio. Flxible agreed to produce Continental's dream coach on condition that Continental paid all design and tooling costs up front; as Continental had bought the Santa Fe Trail Transportation Company in 1948 and transcontinental carrier American Buslines in 1953, they were not flush with cash at the time and started looking elsewhere. Mack and Fitzjohn either couldn't or wouldn't build this new bus unless the upfront costs were paid in advance; that sent Continental's CEO, to Europe looking for a supplier. He made an agreement with the German manufacturer Kässbohrer for the production of a prototype, completed in 1956 and shipped to Houston.
In the meantime Moore ordered 113 Vista-Liner 100 coaches from Flxible for delivery in 1955 and 1956. The Vista-Liner was an advanced two level design but it was only 35 feet long with eight fewer seats than the Scenicruiser; the difference in height between decks was about of half that of the Scenicruiser so it had much less space underneath for baggage and package express shipments. The VL100 had some design input from Continental, it was noticeably underpowered which caused certain timetables to be adjusted on longer journeys. On the other hand, the VL100 had BF Goodrich Torsilastic suspension for an excellent ride and a fresh exterior design; the suspension and certain visual design aspects of the VL100 were integrated into the design of the future Eagle coaches that Kässbohrer built as Setras. The first 55 Golden Eagles were built by Kässbohrer; the first Golden Eagle was a prototype that differed in a number of ways from the production versions. After about a year in service Continental placed an order for 50 more modified versions based on lessons learned from the prototype.
The largest external difference was a new design for the six-piece windshield because drivers complained that the original design had them baking in the Texas sun with air conditioning. They were part of an order for 185 highway coaches manufactured under a contract with Continental Trailways. Of this original group, four were articulated Super Golden Eagles. All of these coaches were of the'Setra Design' which meant that they were'integral' coaches without a separate body and chassis. Kässbohrer took the German words selbst tragend for a trademark in the form of Setra, a name formed from the first letters of those two words. Golden Eagles contained an aircraft-style galley plus a rear lounge that had two tables with pairs of facing seats, observation windows and other luxury features such as piped in music and magazines. An on-board hostess served snacks and drinks en route and other amenities such as pillows and blankets were available; the exterior aluminum siding was anodized in gold, hence the Golden Eagle name.
The standard version without the galley and lounge was called the Silver Eagle because the aluminum siding was in silver. 41 Silver Eagles followed their Golden Eagle sisters down Kässbohrer's production line in 1958 and became the standard fleet bus for Continental Trailways. The first Eagle buses were powered by MAN D1566 diesel engines and ZF Media preselector six speed transmissions from Germany; the four Super Golden Eagles had more powerful Rolls Royce diesel engines. No Eagles were produced in 1959. Continental suggested a number of design changes to Kässbohrer that included a new front end and a standard American powertrain; the result was the NEW Silver Eagle model, to be produced in 1960 and 1961. Most NEW Silver Eagles had Cummins 300 HP NRTO engines but the last ones made arrived in the USA without engines as General Motors released the Detroit Diesel 8V-71 engine and these were installed when the buses arrived. All older Eagles, except the four Super Golden Eagles, received 8V-71 engines and Spicer four-speed manual transmissions to replace their original power packages.
Continental bought two other Setra articulated buses in 1957 for service from Denver to the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs. They were not lacked underfloor luggage space, they were standard Setra buses with separate Setra bodies and Henschel chassis for their European customers rather than something designed for the US market. They had nothing in common with the Eagle coaches that Setra built for Continental and were powered with Cummins underfloor engines. Around the same time in 1959 that Continental and Kässbohrer were agreeing on the details of the second generation of the Eagle, Kässbohrer decided to concentrate on building coaches for the growing European market. At this point, Continental Trailways was forced to find a European partner, they found one in the form of the Belgian transportation equipment manufacturer La Brugeoise et Nivelles. La Brugeoise, as they were known, helped Continental to form its own bus manufacturing company, Bus & Car Co, NV. La Brug
GM New Look bus
The GM New Look bus commonly known by the nickname "Fishbowl", is a transit bus introduced in 1959 by the Truck and Coach Division of General Motors and produced until 1986. More than 44,000 New Look buses were built, its high production figures and long service career made it an iconic North American transit bus. The design is listed as U. S. Patent D182,998 by William P. Strong. 44,484 New Look buses were built over the production lifespan, of which 33,413 were built in the U. S. and 11,071 were built in Canada. Separated by general type, the production figures comprised 510 29-foot city buses; the total production of New Looks was 3,271 suburban coaches. Other than demonstrators, Washington, D. C. was the first city to take delivery of any GM New Look buses TDH-5301s built in 1959 for O. Roy Chalk's D. C. Transit System, which operated in Washington, D. C. and the suburbs of Maryland and Virginia. Several different models were introduced over the following years, modifications made to the design. See the section below, headed "Description".
Production of the New Look in the U. S. ceased in 1977. Production continued after this, however, at General Motors Diesel Division in Canada, due to the RTS design being rejected by Canadian transit agencies, with the name plate changing from "GM" to "GMC". Few were produced after 1983 due to the GMDD's introduction of the Classic in that year; the last New Looks to be built were an order for Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines of Santa Monica, California in 1986. The completion of that order brought a final end to New Look production in April 1986. A few transit systems are still operating them to this day, nearly 60 years after introduction and more than 30 years after mass production ended; the last American-built New Look GM buses were ordered by the city of Wausau, which placed an order for twelve 35-foot transit buses, model T6H-4523N, the last of, delivered in March 1977. The GM Buffalo bus, a group of intercity bus models built between 1966 and 1980, shared many mechanical and body parts with the fishbowl models, were discontinued by the Pontiac, Michigan plant shortly after the RTS replaced fishbowl model production there.
GM sold the rights to produce both Classic and RTS models to other manufacturers, exited the heavy-duty transit and intercity markets for full-sized buses, although production of some medium-duty and light-duty chassis products sold in these markets continued. Like GM's over-the-road buses, including the Greyhound Scenicruiser, the air-sprung New Look did not have a traditional ladder frame. Instead it used an airplane-like stressed-skin construction in which an aluminum riveted skin supported the weight of the bus; the wooden floor kept the bus's shape. The engine cradle was hung off the back of the roof; as a result, the GM New Look weighed less than competitors' city buses. All New Look buses were powered by Detroit Diesel 71-series two-cycle Diesel engines; the original engine was the 6V71. GM buses used; the transmission angled off at a 45-or-so degree angle to connect to the rear axle. The engines were canted backwards for maintenance access; the entire engine-transmission-radiator assembly was mounted on a cradle that could be removed and replaced, allowing the bus to return to service with minimal delay when the powertrain required major maintenance.
All New Looks were powered by the 6V-71. GM resisted V8 power but gave in to pressure from customers. Original transmission choices were a four-speed non-synchronized manual transmission with solenoid reverse and the Allison Automatic VH hydraulic transmission; the latter was a one-speed automatic transmission which drove the wheels through a torque converter. At sufficient speed a clutch bypassed the torque converter and the engine drove the rear wheels directly. A option was the VS-2, similar to the VH but with a two-speed planetary gearset with three modes: Hydraulic and direct-overdrive; the last batch of American-built New Looks and most Canadian-built New Looks from 1977 through 1987 use the Allison V730 transmission, a traditional three-speed automatic with a lockup torque converter. These four transmissions were the only V-drive transmissions made. New Looks were available in both Suburban versions. Transits were traditional city buses with two doors; the floor beneath the seats was higher than the center aisle to accommodate the luggage bays.
There were "Suburban-style" transits which had forward-facing seats on raised platforms that gave the appearance of a dropped center aisle. GM refused to install lavatories on its buses; the New Look was built in 35 ft and 40 ft lengths and 96 and 102 in widths. 35 and 40
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