Though I am loath to admit it, I’m ancient enough to remember airport travel before the now ubiquitous “cutaway” mini-bus. A time when factory vans, limousines, and full-sized buses whisked you away from the airport to your hotel or rental car. Here’s one I wish I could have experienced in my younger days. This is an American Quality Coach (AQC) Jetway 707 – obviously based off of a Gen 1 Olds Toronado. Catchy name – Jetway; the same as the passenger boarding bridge, and 707; the iconic airliner. One wonders if the boarding bridge company and Boeing had any trademark concerns.
Cotner-Bevington Corporation was a division of Divco-Wayne Industries that built professional cars based on an Oldsmobile chassis. Miller-Meteor, another long-term maker of similar cars, was also a subsidiary of Divco-Wayne, using mostly Cadillacs. Based off the new 1966 Toronado, Cotner-Bevington built a prototype 12-15 passenger limousine. When Miller-Meteor executives saw this striking new model, they panicked and urged the parent company to refuse funding – which they did. Mr Cotner and Mr Bevington were so incensed that they left Divco-Wayne, cashed in their company stock, and in 1968 formed American Quality Coach.
AQC’s first model was the Jetway 707. It was 28 feet long with a wheelbase of 185 inches, had eight doors, and in a limousine first, featured tandem rear wheels. From the firewall forward it was a factory 1968 Toronado with the new 455 cu in engine putting out 375 hp and a stout 510 ft lbs of torque. AQC then fabricated a vista-cruiser-style raised roof passenger area, with integral sky-lights and an enclosed cargo area with a hinged rear door. I was curious about the rear suspension but found little info online, though I did see one comment from a former fleet manager that had six of these who related they used rear airbags.
The front-wheel drive power-pack allowed for a flat floor all the way back, which made for more room and comfort, similar to the later GM Motorhome.
AQC had high hopes that the limousine version would be a hit, enabling it to expand and offer ambulance and hearse models…but unfortunately that didn’t occur. Operators reported premature transmission and front axle wear, likely due to the constant demands of hard fleet use. Over a two year period, between 52 and 150 Jetways were sent to customers (total production records were lost). Unable to continue, AQC shut operations in 1970.
Speaking of the GM Motorhome, since the Jetway used the Toronado’s Unitized Power Package and had a tandem-wheel rear suspension, there is a fairly lively internet debate on whether GM bought the chassis rights during AQC’s bankruptcy and modified it as the basis for that model – but I didn’t see any credible source that could confirm that one way or the other.
These Jetways are fascinating. A while back I stumbled upon a YouTube video of a couple of guys in the early stages of restoring one. They have a few other videos about it also, although I have not watched them.
Great video! Thanks for sharing. I’m a sucker for ‘unconventional’ resto projects like this, and look forward to seeing what their final vision. Looks like they’ve certainly got their work cut out for them.
The Jetway just oozes mid-century, skinny-tie-wearing, space-age cool. It must have looked right at home in the era of sexy 707s, Caravelles, etc.
To be fair regarding the transmission and axle issues, I’m sure nothing like this was part of the UPP design brief. I’m sure there were changes and upgrades in the 5 years between this and the GMC motorhome. With the amount of work it took to create these, I have to believe they were incredibly expensive to purchase.
In modern times, an operator can buy a reasonably comfortable Mercedes or Ford van “off the shelf” fairly inexpensively (relative to this coach, in comparable currency) or a number of upfitters – some of whom are descendants of these original coachbuilders – will outfit a basic one-ton cargo van into something that resembles an executive jet inside.
Excellent research Jim. They would have looked more elegant and attractive with the original Toronado nose. As the earlier George Barris Toronado limousine shows. The sixties styling would not have aged that well moving into the 1970s, so this design had a somewhat limited shelf-life.
George Barris-styled Toronado limo.
Jetway 707 convertible used in the 1978 version of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band movie.
It could had been interesting to see how Bill Mitchell would have reacted if he saw that Toronado limousine.
Barris apparently did the finishing on the limo design. They were started by another customizer. Probably, why the limo is not more radically altered.
The Toronado limo, or just a regular four-door sedan, should have been the first use of FWD. There’s no reason to flatten the hump in a sport coupe with a console.
The Chateau Laurier four star hotel here in Ottawa, used a small fleet of Flxible Clippers up until 1974, for transporting guests to the Ottawa International Airport. Twenty-two kilometres, or thirteen miles away. The Clippers were contracted from Blue Line Taxi, and probably should have been fully restored, and made more luxurious. But they were never seriously criticized in their role. The Clippers were parked in Blue Line’s Coventry Road storage yard, for a number of years afterwards. Before disappearing for good, around 1980. Hopefully, they found good homes.
I quite like it though see the obvious limitations in length vs passenger capacity and drivability..
Now I’m interested in seeing what a regular Toronado Station Wagon would have been like inside and out.
I remember seeing these Toro limos in downtown Washington, D.C. during 1970 and 1971. They never failed to catch my attention, and I’m sorry that I never caught a ride in one.
Dang, these puppy dogs are big!
Thanks for this article! Last year when I was writing my article on Armbruster-Stageway limousine, I came across numerous references to these AQC Toronados, which were one of the unique competitors in the airport/business limo market.
One of the more well-known examples at the time was owned by the All-American Redheads ladies basketball team. The Redheads had used a series of Armbruster Pontiac limos, but at some point switched to the Toronado pictured below.
And although I’ve seen several pictures of these Toronados, it occurred to me while reading this that I’ve never seen a photo of the rear. Those four round lights and hearse-style rear door look pretty odd, and I see that the example in Jason’s video above has a different rear end, so I wonder when one changed to the other?
Speaking of the GM Motorhome, since the Jetway used the Toronado’s Unitized Power Package and had a tandem-wheel rear suspension, there is a fairly lively internet debate on whether GM bought the chassis rights during AQC’s bankruptcy and modified it as the basis for that model
Lively debate? One quick Google search (not that I needed it) makes it quite clear that the Jetway used beam axles in the rear, most likely the same ones used on the Toronado, with air bags. The GMC Motorhome didn’t have “axles” in the usual sense at all; just a leading and trailing arm on both sides, which allowed the floor to be extremely low. The GMC “frame” was also very unique and different. The simple reality is that AQC did not have the resources to do what GMC did, by any stretch of the imagination. They had to keep it as simple and cheap as possible, unlike GMC, which created a very unique and pricey basis for the motorhome.
Debate over. 🙂
Let’s just hope that if they had managed to expand it into ambulance and hearse models they would have opted for a shorter version. Most hearses and ambulances don’t need to carry more than a single “passenger” at a time. This thing looks like it could easily pack in 3 or 4 coffins. An interesting concept/business model.
I think these things are way cool. I do understand how the current airport transport short bus is much more practical, but these things have a kind of 20th century other-world (moonbase) transport effect that can’t be beat.
Pretty neat I think .
-Nate
This was not a failure as much as it was just confirmation that the 15 passenger van was the way to go in the future.
From the sounds of it, it doesn’t sound like the premise was bad, the hardware just wasn’t up to the task. The LWB vans while crude, were really trucks so outside of being top heavy fully loaded with passengers, it was just what they were designed for.
I think AQC’s marketing choices are interesting, Jetway to refer to the newly introduced boarding ramps and 707 referring to the still very common Boeing 707 jets.