Scenicruisin'..?

[amazinblue82]

Brill. A tale of corporate finance in the end.

Source: J. G. Brill Company - Wikipedia

In 1868, the Brill company was founded as J.G. Brill and Sons as a horsecar manufacturing firm in Philadelphia . After James Rawle joins the firm in 1872, it is renamed J.G. Brill & Company. The company manufactured streetcars, interurban coaches, and buses in the United States for almost ninety years.

In 1926, ACF Motors Company obtained a controlling interest in Brill, and in 1944 the two companies merged, forming the ACF-Brill Motors Company. ACF-Brill announced in 1944 that Canadian Car and Foundry of Montreal, Quebec were licensed to manufacture and sell throughout Canada motor buses and trolley coaches of their design as Canadian Car-Brill. The firm built about 1,100 trolley buses and a few thousand buses under the name.

On January 31, 1946, a controlling interest in ACF-Brill was acquired by Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation for $7.5 million. Consolidated Vultee was sold on November 6, 1947, to the Nashville Corporation, which sold its share to investment firm Allen & Co., headed by Charles Allen, Jr., on June 11, 1951. In early 1954, the Brill name disappeared when ACF-Brill ceased production and subcontracted remaining orders.​

 

[polara71]

Too many companies involved ....too many people, too many ideas destined to fail. Interesting looking bus

 

[300rag]

Too many companies involved ....too many people, too many ideas destined to fail.

Gee, is there anything that sounds familiar in that scenario?

 

[polara71]

Gee, is there anything that sounds familiar in that scenario?

I was thinking the same thing as I was typing that out

 

[amazinblue82]

Too many companies involved ....too many people, too many ideas destined to fail. Interesting looking bus

Gee, is there anything that sounds familiar in that scenario?

yeah, its happened/happening(?) to somebody we know.

at the risk of being all wonky/nerdy sounding, the data (neat Harvard Biz Revew article, 2006) supports that. long and short: the business equivalent of "too many cooks in the kitchen" almost always ends badly.

Companies rarely survive that trauma .. intact. those that do make it usally struggle operationally for years afterward in ways you can see in their products.

and if international "cooks" are involved, 9 in 10 of those combinations eventually wind up like Brill.

 

[amazinblue82]

Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Our friends down-under in Napier New Zealand had an idea. Convert two old school buses to art deco masterpieces, pay AUD $837,000, get em shipped over from US, discover they're undriveable, spend another AUD $300K, lose AUD $300K running them on a specialized route, then sell for AUD $25K each.

all that, and me personally am not sure I like them?

source: Napier's $1.3m tourist buses sold for $50k

 

[polara71]

That's a unique design that I like once. If everyone did it I'd be off the love train

 

[amazinblue82]

I dont think I would convert a pre-WWII Art Deco bus to an RV. all these pre-date 1941.

Except .. the 1941 Western Flyer. One of three purpose-built RV's. She's a bit "snouty" but a nice "caboose".

source: Vintage 'Western Flyer' RV is a Cure for the Summertime Blues - Boss Auto Sales : Used Cars Oshawa, Whitby, Bowmanville, Ajax, Pickering Dealership

Can't get the "Posse" in it but I'd bring "Mildred" along. She doesnt look it here, but she's really a fun lady and she can drive the rig too.

 

[cm23uoc]

Stumbled across this Food truck by a French Margarine factory used at the Tour de France in the 50s, at least the dental grille work says Ford F-series.

 

[300rag]

I didn't go through the whole thread to see if these had been posted already. If so, sorry.

 

[cantflip]

I didn't go through the whole thread to see if these had been posted already. If so, sorry.

At post #670... any repeats should be forgiven.

I don't recall seeing this before, and I think I would have remembered the shop if not the buses. I love the wood and leather work in this bus... I wonder how it measure's up to those who know this stuff better then me.

 

[polara71]

IT IS very impressive

 

[amazinblue82]

source: Curbside Classic: 1947 GM PD-3751 "Silversides" Greyhound Bus - The First Modern Diesel Bus

This GM bus revolutionized the industry, and set the template for all over-the road buses to come: forward control, rear transverse diesel engine, the famous fluted aluminum “Silversides” cladding, semi-monocoque construction, high floor and underfloor luggage compartments. But its wildest feature was not replicated: a four-on-the-tree shifter and its mechanical linkage back to the non-synchronized gear box; something had to be left to improve. Let’s check it out and delve into the history and workings of its legendary Detroit Diesel 6-71 engine, which first made its appearance here.​

longish but neat article. 1947 GM PD-3751 "Silversides". The progenitor, so this piece says, of the modern diesel bus. Stuff in here too about the Detroit Diesel 6-71 two strokes.

I am gonna find some more examples of Silversides to put here. Made 1947 and 1948 only. 1,643 produced.

 

[commando1]

The Golden Era. Wow.

 

[amazinblue82]

source: http://www.bargainbusnews.com/Buses/7930-1948GMCGreyhoundPD3751/#imgiframediv

1948 PD-3571 Silverside Conversion

 

[amazinblue82]

 

[amazinblue82]

source:Greyhound Celebrates 100th Anniversary with Nationwide Events - The Hound: Greyhound Blog

On May 29, 2014 the company will launch its Centennial Tour, which will be comprised of two mobile museum tours simultaneously moving across the United States.

The tours will also feature restored classic coaches, such as the 1914 Hupmobile, 1931 Mack, 1937 Yellow Coach, 1947 Silversides, 1948 ACF Brill I-41, 1954 Scenicruiser, 1968 Scenicruiser and the 1984 Americruiser 2. ​

Just for fun, I wanted to look up the lineage of the Greyhound buseses the past 100 years. tho it wasnt their first bus, they picked a Silverside for the 2014 centennial poster.

anyway, a few we havent looked at much below.

1914 Hupmobile

1931 Mack. The state of the art "truck" coaches (front engine, truck chassis, etc)

1936 Yellow Bus (actually a GM design. "Uncle" of the Silversides). This was a revolutionary design too. Rear Engined transverse mounted, gasoline powered, (hey, anybody know this city? ya only need one clue .. the skyscraper )

1948 Brill iC-41

Then the PD's (Scenicruisers/Buffalos) we have done a lot on, then the Amercruisers of the 1970's/80's/90's (made by MCI .. a lotta MCI RV's out there btw)

Vid from 1984 .. all Americruisers.

 

[amazinblue82]

Tangent alert.

Anybody know what city had a regional transport system the was the biggest in the world .. without any subways? Detroit.

None of these city buses make good RV's (no underfloor space, other limitations). But I was looking for when RWD buses started to proliferate and it was in the 1930's and a LOT of city versions were being driven in Detroit.

This site is BIG. If you're not from here some of the georgraphic eferences make no sense.. but a LOTTA info for transportation historian-types.

source: DETROIT TRANSIT HISTORY.info: Bus Photos 1940's - Pg.1

 

[69monaco]

Wow , this one could be a AFX bus-project from the ramchargers.........

 

[amazinblue82]

My "Bus Whisperer" told me about the 1970-ish Greyhound "Supercruisers" made good conversions. They were MCI MC-6's.

Never saw any hanging around in the midwest .. that I knew of and now i know why. They have that "little wheel" trailing axle.

Saw a lot after they were finally retired but just didnt recognize them after conversion.

source: MCI Bus For Sale, MC-6 Bus

MC-6 SPECIFICATIONS

Length: 40 feet
Width: 102" = 8'
Height: 144" = 12'
Wheelbase: 282 inches
Turn radius: 47 feet
Original Engines: 12V-71
Luggage: 425 cubic feet
Aisle width: 15 inches
Front door width: 24 in​

​

MC-6 was MCI's and Greyhound's first experiment with a 102-inch wide and 12 ft high intercity bus. Two prototypes were built in 1967 and production began in 1969 for a total of 100.

Many States balked in the 1970s at providing operating approval for the buses. Fifteen of the MC-6 buses spent their entire Greyhound careers in Canada. The 85 U.S. MC-6's first operated on the East Coast, but were later sent to California to finish their Greyhound careers on the West Coast.

The engines in the California buses were changed to 8V-71's and the manual transmissions were changed to Allison Automatics in 1977. The 15 Canadian buses retained their 12V-71 engines and manual transmissions.

Greyhound retired them in 1980 and they were sold to independent operators.​

Some converted models. Some keep one/both of their "Scenicruiser' type panorama roof windows, some dont. Some keep that little "eave" over the front windshield, some dont.