Motor Coaches (ii): Early chassis and bodies. A dream come true.

[This is one of a series of articles written by Merrill Weekes for the newspaper Old Autos, starting in April, 2004. The series is written with the collective title of "Model T's to Motor Coaches."]

Before the advent of railways, horse drawn stage coaches provided the only means of travel on land between towns and cities. It was a slow, bumpy, dusty ride and passengers arrived at their destination tired and grumpy. However, railways only provided service between major cities and passengers traveling between many towns and communities had to rely on the stage coach.

Then, along came Buick, Ford, Haynes, Olds, Winton and many other inventors and the introduction of the automobile. Roads were improved and larger models were constructed with stronger chassis and more powerful engines to haul freight and produce. The truck industry as we know it today was off and running. If trucks can carry freight it seemed reasonable that they could carry passengers. Carpenters, blacksmiths and others began building bus bodies to replace the truck cabs and platforms.

Companies were formed and factories built to construct bodies for the fledgling bus industry. Truck chassis were purchased from Gotfredson, Studebaker, Reo, White, GMC, Mack and several other manufacturers.

Initially, bus bodies could accommodate 14 to 20 passengers, but the demand for more seats soon developed. More seating capacity required larger bodies which in turn necessitated longer and more heavily constructed chassis. The common truck configuration did not meet those requirements.

Yellow Coach and Truck (acquired in the 1920's by General Motors), White Motor Co., Mack, Reo and other companies began building special motor coach chassis and bodies. They were big, heavy vehicles and very luxurious for their time. Prevost, Fitzjohn, Flexible, Twin Coach, Courier, Western Flyer, to name just a few, constructed lower priced models, available for the smaller operators and others starting a new service.

I became employed with Colonial Coach Lines and their subsidiary Kingston City Coach Ltd. in February 1944. Early 1930's model coaches that had been retired from service and relegated to the back lot were returned to active duty to assist the fleet of Model 742 Yellow Coaches handle the wartime passenger traffic. Motor coach factories were producing equipment for the armed forces and new coaches were non-existent. With gasoline and tire rationing, travel by automobile was not an option. Seats filled and standing in the aisle could be expected on most trips.

With that big steering wheel and the growl of the heavy duty transmission, I was living a dream come true.

Merrill S. Weekes, July 2004