Several weeks ago we looked at the Fitzjohn Roadrunner, an intercity coach built from 1954 to 1958 that failed in the marketplace due to the overwhelming might of General Motors and the transportation industry’s preference for GM’s products. The bus above unfortunately faced that same fate. It’s a Model P-372 built from 1950 to 1952 by the General American Aerocoach Corporation of Chicago Illinois.
Aerocoach is another bus manufacturer with an interesting history. It began as Gar Wood Industries which developed and marketed one of the most technically sophisticated buses of the 1930’s – the Model C and D, designed by noted aircraft engineer William Stout, yes, the same Bill Stout of “Stout Scarab” fame…
Stout approached designing buses similar to how he designed aircraft and cars. He used a steel-framed monocoque body fitted with aluminum outer panels, powered by a Ford flathead V8 engine in the back, driving the rear wheels. The monocoque body and chassis resulted in a very light bus with superior gas mileage and lower operating costs.
The D models featured streamlining, similar to the Scarab and came in 24, 33 and 37 seat versions. In 1939 the bus portion of Gar Wood Industries was sold to General American Corporation – forming GA Aerocoach. GAA continued building the Gar Wood models through 1942 when it switched to defense work for the duration of the war.
Post-war, the company introduced more mainstream urban transit and intercity models.
Their intercity coach was the P-371, 96 in wide 35 ft long, with seating for 37 passengers. Engine was typically an IHC Red Diamond 6 cylinder that could run on gas or propane. The “heart-shaped” front windows made them easy to identify.
The P-372 and 373 followed in 1950 with a restyled front and the option of a Cummins JT6 diesel.
As with the Roadrunner, the ad copy rarely squared with reality – by 1952 only a handful were sold and the company closed its doors that year. The Chicago factory was sold to a railroad tank car company who continued to build its products there until 2008.
A beautifully restored model resides at the Antique Auto Museum in Hershey PA.
*SO* pretty ! .
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In the mid 1960’s in Rural New Hampshire I discovered a Junk Yard full of old buses , cloth seats and no rust, several different makes from the 1940’s ~ could have been one of these, form follows function in those days .
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-Nate
Always loved the front windows on these. I did not know of the Stout connection, although I do remember reading about the Gar Wood coaches.
Thanks for keeping Bus Stop Classics going, it’s a treat every week for me. I hate to think of it ending. 🙁
Yes please, keep them coming. We do enjoy the classic buses. And trains. And working trucks. They are all a big part of Americana.
+2 I’m a lurker in these articles but I love some of these old shapes you’re bringing us Jim
Yes, please keep the buses coming!
Is this the bus that ‘George Kalan’ gets on in the middle of nowhere in Hitchcock`s ‘North by Northwest?
Sadly, apparently not
But what is this one?
Thank you, look forward to and read these every week.
That blue D is lovely, a bit locomotive-like in its mien.
The perforated destination board, esp in Trailways livery, lends a sort of southeast Asian feel. I like them better without.
This is the real place GM sinned, starting a trend where the US began to lose its regional diversity. Following along behind were motel chains, hardware big boxes, etc. that gutted small towns and discouraged small operators of all sorts.
There was at least one Aerocoach used by Gray Line in Seattle. The thing you remember most are those distinctive front windows. It also had overhead windows for sightseeing passengers. Obviously not very great in numbers it was probably saying about its popularity. I saw another one that someone owned in Texas.
This series is fascinating!
Thank you for this. I knew about the Gar Wood but not the later buses. The Gar Wood was produced under licence in France under the trade name Isobloc by Joseph Besset coachworks but it came out at the wrong time – just before WWII. After the war Besset re-started production but – although the coaches were liked by the public – they were penalized by having the Ford gasoline V8 which made them uneconomical to run. A Panhard diesel was offered later but by then it was too late and Besset went bust in 1951. However, the remains of the company were bought by Sylvain Floirat who continued production. Floirat was later taken over Saviem which is nowadays Irisbus which makes only integral buses… So in a sense Gar Wood is still with us.
Below is an Isobloc.
This is a Floirat. Yes the windscreens look suspiciously similar to the P372 but I don’t think there’s a connection other than possibly being influenced by the styling – the “non-Isobloc” Floirats I believe were conventional and front engined.
Irisbus in its turn became a part of CNH-IVECO (this becomes quite byzantine, I know). The below is the IVECO Magelys, the group’s flagship. It’s nice to think there’s a small part of Gar Wood in its genetic.
I believe that the railroad tank car manufacturing was actually the same company. General American Tank Car eventually was renamed GATX and continues to lease freight cars & locomotives today.
The name Gar Wood did ring a bell, I remember seeing that name on the back of cranes and recovery/tow trucks of yore. I haven’t looked into it any further, but were the cranes also part of “Gar Wood Industries” ?
Keep them coming Jim.
Source picture: http://www.trucks-cranes.nl/nederlands/hijskranen/garwood/garwoodm20.html
“The “heart-shaped” front windows made them easy to identify.”
Son of a gun! Sometimes the timing of when certain features are posted is too coincidental for words. I’m watching Perry Mason on MeTV as I write this (The Case of the Lover’s Gamble, from season 8 in 1965) and the woman who becomes Mason’s client arrives in town on one of these. The scene wasn’t long enough to get more than a good glimpse of the bus but the heart-shaped windshield and taller windows on the door gave it away.