More Busses

[tryagin]

Anyone else out there into older busses? Here are a couple pix of Macks from my archives:
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Rose City Transit (Portland, OR) Macks just before retirement in 1971

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After retirement, in 1973, for sale.

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My Mack 1940 Model CG before a flood in 1984 ruined the electrics. Paint scheme is of the original 1940 Portland Traction colors.

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My 1940 Mack after I pulled it out of the wrecking yard, 1983. Note the unusual windshield wipers, that ran on a track along the tube, and wiped horizontally, back and forth, - wierd. Some of PTC's later streetcars had the same type air-actuated wipers. This bus was built like a streetcar, and had lots of similarities in appearance to Brill Master Units. Solid as a rock, and rode like a Cadillac!

Cheers!

[runaway_b_unit]

Still have the bus? Those "streamlined" buses look nicer than the boxy ones we have today.

[tryagin]

No, I ended up trading it straight across for this in 1984:
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/40f4bdeb3af3d070.jpg
1949 DeSoto DeLux Coupe', 75K Original Miles, rebuilt motor, brakes, transmisiion (fluid drive).It hadn't been driven for a couple decades when I got it. I drove this car everyday for three years, until the birth of my son, when I had to sell it. :-( it supposedly went to a museum, but never heard which one.

I would very much like to have the bus still, but the realities of owning such a large, old, and cumbersome piece of history was too much for me to handle at the time. I don't know what ever became of the Mack. The guy I traded with used it for a guest cabin for a couple years, then traded it for another vehicle.

[bradhig]

Is that what they were using before the GM New Looks went into widespread use?

[tryagin]

Yes, In Portland anyway. Rose City Transit was mostly Macks, and a few Twin Coaches like #450 below, next to the ACF 42"gauge PAYE car #558 ( in Portland Traction Days):

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/40f6233173f23ccd.jpg
Photo courtesy Mark Moore, http://pdxhistory.com.tripod.com/index.htm

My favorite bus to ride to high school in the sixties was the Macks. I liked the sounds, smells (!!), and comfort (leather seats). The new GM buses felt like riding in a fish bowl, compared to the older units.

[KeltikSylk]

Amazing...You restore cars too?

Having had to ride buses exclusively until I got old enough to drive (my dad had heart trouble and gave up his license when I was a little) I'm not a big fan. I do wax nostalgic once in awhile, and enjoyed riding the trackless trolley in Philly about a year ago.

I do like the art deco buses from the "streamline" era. Course, I even like the toasters from that era, so I can't vouch for my tastes. Every once in a while I still see one running (bus, not toater). I think there's a TV commercial now with one.

I like the design philosophy of earlier eras. Form didn't have to reflect function so there is a character that I think is missing in modern designs. Many new designs on our roads and railways lack a certain something that appeals to me personally.

I've noticed that the auto industry is trying a lot of retro looks or stretching the form follows function envelope. Some of them work pretty well. I'm hoping the industrial designers will try the same thing. I could use a new toaster :-)

Frank Musick

Moving America into the 19th Century!
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3e159ecd600b805c.jpg
www.kelticsylk.com

[tryagin]

Hey , my T-Fal toaster ( about 4 years old now) is pretty aero-dynamic, even "Buck Rogers" if you will ;-), but doesn't work half as good as my old 1940's Sunbeam. Toast seems to taste better from the Sunbeam for some reason!

Yah, I have to agree about the asthetics of modern - anything. The old goodies came from an era where everything had style, toasters, gas pumps, staplers, telephones, locomotives, etc. What we have to be aware of is that before the "art deco" and "streamlined" eras, things were built in the style much like they were today, form following function, and it was because of a few innovative designers, like Dreyfuss and Leowey, who were employed to boost lagging sales of just about everything (depression), that prompted the move towards these artful trends.

No, I don't restore cars. Just maintained what I had. I did work for an outfit that did restore cars for a short while, in the 70's. 1936 De Soto "Airflow" , 1932 Packard 2-door sedan, 1941 Packard hurse, 1940's Chris-Craft wooden speedboat. That was a fun "job". Too bad it didn't last.

[tryagin]

Frank, going over your question...no I don't restore cars too. But going back over my "adventures" with the Mack Bus 21 years ago, I did restore that - even tho I was not able to complete it, I did save it from oblivion, so that others could carry on. It was a big job getting that thing out of the wreckers, towed 15 miles to where I could work on it. The owner had used it to store radiators for many years.

Tearing into it revealed that sometime ago, the water in the cooling systems froze, busting both the top and bottom tanks of the radiator, split the engine cylider-head, and the air compressor cylinder head. The wreckers I bought it from didn't have any parts, so there began the most exhaustive and "fun" bits:
1.Searching the city over for a shop that was willing to take on the job of repairing the huge old radiator.
2. Searching the town for replacement heads for the engine and compressor.
3. Searching the city for the gaskets for the heads!!!

And of course trying to find the correct, or close to correct belts and hoses that were all rotted.

This was in 1983, before there was such a thing as an internet to search for parts. All was done by good old-fashioned foot-work.

I did find a shop way up in North Portland that was glad to fix the radiator ( after every other shop declined). The owner was a kindly old gent that built live steam locos in his spare time, and there were photos of his models all over the office walls. He charged $85 to fix it!!!

I located a truck wrecking yard in Portland that just so happened to have one of these engines in the yard, even tho they needed to pull 25 years accumulation of junk off it. They also just happened to have the compressor I needed, so I bought these items, found a good machine shop to resurface the heads, which also built a custom copper head gasket. I made my own compressor head gasket.

After much blood sweat and tears, and many weeks later, I was very satisfied when i fired it up for the first time!!

This rig was first owned by Portland Traction Company, as their #294, Model CQ (not CG as I first stated above) 1940 Mack City Coach. It was bought by the Portland Police Bureau sometime in the 1950's and converted to the "Mobile Driver Testing Unit".
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/40f6d2202c8402eb.jpg

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/40f6d3f132499819.jpg

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The 1983 flood in Neskowin, Oregon, which curtailed anymore work on my part towards the restoration. After drying out the electrics, and moving it inland, I was offered the trade for the De Soto, and leaped on it. The new owner finished the exterior paintwork in original 1940 scheme, and installed a wood heater, tables and seating, refridgerator, and other comforts of home. He ended up trading it in on another old car, and I don't know anything more about it's history. I just hope it went to a good home, or better, a transport museum.

Now, why did I do this? Why spend all that money and energy to restore an old city bus? I dont know, it seems frivolous now, in retrospect.

One reason maybe? My grandpa, 1935, on the right:

http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/40f6dcac56b94234.jpg

[KeltikSylk]

I was wondering who the guy in the little picture was...Didn't think it was you.

We have all done frivoloous things. I have a motorcycle and a Datsun 280Z in the garage hoping to be restored. I had a 76 Cutlass towed out to make room for them. Most of my cars have been older models that needed to be fussed over to keep running.

I even tried to restore a basket case 57 Chevy once, but it was pretty far gone, and beyond my resources. It was a dumb idea, but I did learn a lot from it. The car is gone, but I keep that unique looking dashboard on my desk. It's part of a shrine to my own folly.

As I get older and more sensible I'm content with keeping the damn things running. It's nowhere near as adventurous, but it does give me an excuse to keep all the cool tools I've accumulated. If my body holds togther I might even have a chance to actually use them. I'm noting growing old gracefully :-)

Frank Musick

Moving America into the 19th Century!
http://forums.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3e159ecd600b805c.jpg
www.kelticsylk.com