66c Scenicruiser

[ChFalkensteiner]

I have finally seen one of these in real life:





On display outside the Classic Park museum in Boxtel, the Netherlands.

Internet research shows that apparently six of these exist in the Netherlands, compared with two in Germany and none in Austria - out of a total of 1001 examples produced from 1954 to 1956.

It is also noteworthy that when the Matchbox model of this vehicle was introduced, the real thing was already over ten years old.

[johnboy]

That's very impressive Christian. It's interesting to see how the Matchbox model was shortened compared to a real one. I'd love a ride in one of those although it doesn't look like it's got much ground clearance.

[Tinman]

With a thousand of them running around, they obviously were kept on certain routes. I never saw one of these until the late1970's, after Greyhound had retired them all.

While the design looks impressive, the interior layout and view is not nearly as nice as modern coaches with elevated seating. They also suffered issues early on with a sagging frame and all of them had to be modified with gussets. The entire drive train was replaced in the remaining fleet of these in the early 1960's. This GM bus (and a small purchase of similar ones from the mid 60's made by GMC) were so mechanically problematic (bad) that Grey Hound never bought another bus from General Motors.

[zBret]

Must have been great to see one Christian

Interesting background info on the beast, Joe

Here is a video link that shows what the interior looks like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYcE5Xl6zmY

zBret

[Tinman]

The main reason these stayed around so long, even with all of it's mechanical and structural flaws, was because of the luggage/cargo space. That elevated deck provided a ton of space for luggage and cargo. Back in the day, if you wanted to ship something you had the United States Postal Service (slow), REA (Railway Express Agency) which carried parcels via passenger trains and the Bus. The Bus was fast enough and parcels were reasonably priced too. It went to so many small towns as well as large towns.

When I was working in my teens, seems like I was always running down to the Bus station to either send something out or pick something up. It was the cheapest same day and next day shipping method.

[kwakers]

Hi Guys! The low parked height of this Bus is because I believe it had air ride suspension all around which would be inflated only when the Bus was running and took to the road with its passengers and cargo. A friend of mine out West still owns one of these, but his later single 871 Diesel motor has its problems. We have quite a few of these Scenicruisers still hidden around the U.S. by Bus Hoarders such as myself, but few are ever seen on the road or at Shows. I know I rode on a couple of these when riding down to the 1964-65 Worlds Fair in New York City, and even got to sit in the "Upstairs" seats as I remember with my Aunt.
The problems Joe mentioned with the drivetrain of these early Scenicruisers is that these Buses were originally powered by 2 GM 471 straight 4 cylinder noisy Diesels that were side by side in the rear of the Bus, and were poorly coupled together at their flywheel end into a power box/transmission that fed the rear wheels. Each motor was rated at 160 Horsepower, so imagine trying to keep two motors synchronized together and running well for commercial use. This unique drivetrain design proved to be very problematic at best. I have seen several of these Buses, but I have only seen one of these original slide out "Twin" power units that came only out of this style Bus. I saw it and immediately knew exactly what it was, and also what it had come out of. I now wish I had bought it from a local widow who was cleaning up some of her husband's collection 20+ years ago now. It later became apparent to me that it may well have been the only surviving intact "Twin" power unit of its type still left in existence from that original lot of troubled Grayhound Buses.
GM designers were able to eventually come up with a single 871 V8 GM Diesel that was 318 horsepower, and by coupling it to a then current design standard transmission (and later an automatic (?)) they had a relatively sound and far more conventional drivetrain.
We own a PD series 1948 GM overtheroad Bus/Camper conversion that is powered by its original single 471 160 horsepower Detroit that was O.K. on its Southern flat ground runs it had when it was new 70 years ago, but is way underpowered for the Adirondack mountain region our family lives in today.
Lots of memories in these early Toys......Cheers! Kwakers

[motorman]

Fantastic information and a great story, thanks Dick.

[Tinman]

Don't forget the "electric" clutch. It was either engaged or disengaged so the bus always started with a jolt. These were soon enough converted to a manual clutch with mechanical linkage for smooth starts.

I should also mention that the prototype had the driver sitting up on the elevated deck. That was all changed before the bus went into production as it created a host of safety problems.

[AJR]

into a power box/transmission that fed the rear wheels.

Actually these buses were FRONT wheel drive despite having twin tyred rear axles. They were very light on the handlebars and the drivers hated them.

[AJR]

Actually these buses were FRONT wheel drive despite having twin tyred rear axles. They were very light on the handlebars and the drivers hated them.

The GMC PD-4501 (Parlour / Diesel / 45 seats / Type 01) was a concept long distance bus, 40 feet long and 8 feet wide designed by Greyhound and built by GMC, 1,000 being built between 1954 and 1956. It was designed to be Greyhound's iconic flagship but it became a GMC embarrassment as it transpired to be (as Greyhound phrased it) a crock of $#!+.
Two different prototype ideas had been built ... the GX-1 and the GX-2 (Greyhound eXperimental 1 and 2) and it was decided to follow the GX-2 design. An initial plan for 2,000 "Scenicruisers" (as they were to be known) was reduced to an order of 1,000 after GMC announced that they could not supply a V8 two stroke diesel engine for it and instead offered twin 4 cylinder 4.7 litre engines. GMC had also raised the price of each bus from $24,000 to $49.000 both of which Greyhound were displeased with.
Two 4-cylinder two stroke diesels were mounted side by side at the extreme rear coupled to a single manual gearbox with electric clutch and strangely drove the front wheels only despite the rear axles having twin wheels. The suspension was air cushion but the ride was rough due to the electric clutch which was either in or out with no in between. Engine failures were frequent but could limp home on one engine so long as the exhaust on the dead engine was blocked to avoid dirt ingress via suction from the still driven crankshaft. Greyhound sued GMC as within 5 to 6 years most were out of service pending serious repairs. GMC by now had a V8 to offer and these were retro fitted to create the "Super Scenicruisers" all being released for service by 1961 ... but the problems didn't end, the bodies were starting to crack at stress points around the windows neccesitating steel plates being rivetted on to strengthen them. At the same time, the aluminium fluted panels were removed as they were hiding serious body rot.
The most iconic bus of all time was in reality a disaster with most giving barely 15 years service. They were all finally retired in 1975.

The GX1 idea prototype (driver sat upstairs)

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The GX2 idea prototype (this idea was chosen though the production Scenicruiser was altered in many ways. This saw service with the 1000 production examples)

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There were many companies jumping on the deck and a half bandwagon but the the most blatant copy must be the Beck DH 1040. The Beck Bus Company cloned many GM buses and the Scenicruiser was no exception. GM didn't sue Beck on copyright grounds probably because they were already losing a case against Greyhound on the disappointing quality of their own Scenicruisers. Besides, only a dozen Beck DH 1040 Scenicruisers were made ... almost exact replicas apart from the giveaway detail of twin headlights.

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