We take it for granted today that any vehicle we get into – from the smallest, cheapest compact car to the largest truck or bus will come standard with a full HVAC system. I’m ancient enough to know that wasn’t always the case. I still have vivid memories of riding in GM Old Look diesels and Marmon-Herrington trolley buses in the Ohio summers of the early 1960’s – and baking like in an oven. But thanks to some clever engineering some seventy-five years ago, we can now travel in cool comfort.
Air-conditioning was introduced on long-haul intercity buses in 1938 with the Greyhound Yellow Coach 743. A few engineering challenges related to the constant opening of doors and WW II resulted in the transition of A/C to urban transit coaches taking a little longer.
While there were likely many “one-offs”, the first production air-conditioned transit bus was the ACF-Brill C-36, one-hundred of which were purchased by San Antonio Transit in 1948. You may see some info on the web that the first A/C transit bus was a NYMTA GM Old Look in 1956 but that is incorrect.
These buses used a small pony motor and A/C components from the Friedrich Air Conditioning Company – still in business today.
Brill’s C-Series coaches came in a variety of lengths, and were powered by an underfloor 477 cu. in. Hall-Scott gas six-cylinder. Never as popular as the GM Old Look, it still sold fairly well in the early post-war market.
San Antonio is beautiful, but having spent weeks and months there during my military career, most during the peak of summer, I can only assume the good people of the city viewed these buses as a godsend.
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Good looking too .
-Nate
I’ve never heard of Brill, and don’t remember when intercity buses weren’t air-conditioned, but do know of Friedrich which made the window A/C box that kept me cool in my mid-’80s home. I also remember when my local D.C. Transit (Metrobus after a 1973 government-forced merger/city takeover) buses had “AIR CONDITIONED” markings on them in frosted-over lettering on the older buses. It can be seen in the green bus on the left; the bus on the right is a newer bus in Metrobus livery, no mention of A/C on them because it was assumed by that point. They still kept several on the green buses in service long after new operator WMATA took over, changing nothing but the signage.
I spent the summer of 1972 in DC as a teenager and rode the busses quite a bit. I don’t recall any bus with A/C, or at least A/C that worked. And the windows always either seemed stuck closed – no fresh air; or jammed open – with even more heat and exhaust fumes and traffic noise. At that age I was riding busses a lot in the San Francisco Bay Area, AC Transit and SF Muni, but DC was a whole different ordeal.
I recall them being hot inside as well, even though they were supposed to be air conditioned. The windows opened on the GM New Looks and on the Flxibles that looked similar. Not sure about the AM General buses that had back then. The early GM RTS buses had flush-mounted windows that did not open. Later versions of this bus (and retrofits of old ones?) had slide-open windows that looked less sleek but were more functional. Later buses also had a rear cap that squared off the formerly rakish angle at the back of the bus; I recall that was done in part for better air conditioning.
Always enjoy your offbeat investigative work on bus history. Thanks!
Unlike in the US, the vast majority of the thousands of GMC New Look buses used in Canada, never had air conditioning. Nor did the newer GMC Classic buses of the 1980s. It wasn’t until the 1990s, and the New Flyer era, that AC became commonplace here.
Even distribution of cool air is generally not a problem on most buses. I recall the New Flyer Invero bus, with its air conditioning unit visible on the forward roof, didn’t do a great job of send chilled air to the rear of the bus.
Did someone say Air Conditioning? My favorite subject!
I am genuinely surprised that the first air conditioned city bus was that long ago. Up here in the northern climate of the US (Ohio), non-air conditioned city buses were still a common site well into the 1970s and 1980s.
I’d wondered about who deserved that title.
GM highway coaches all used pony motors for their a/c units through the 4104; the 4106 finally got the new 8V-71 engine, big enough to handle the a/c too.
I saw some GM old-look transit buses with obvious a/c units on their back ends, but they were not common. Baltimore’s certainly didn’t have them as I remember all too vividly.
The new look buses I drove in Iowa City all had a/c, but the 35′ footers with the 6C-71 engine struggled some when the units were turned on. The 40′ footers with the V8 did much better in that regard.
And 75 years on, one can still enjoy the cooling delights of hot, polluted air barely leaking in through not-adequate windows on certain trams on the world’s largest tram network (Melbourne, Aus). Admittedly, these ’80’s trams are being phased out, but sheesh! On 100 degree days, with masses of sweaty armpits in your face as you strap-hang and stick to eachother in misery, it really is a bit much.
Aircon on buses really only turned up in perhaps the last 15-20 years, which was crazy in this climate. Half the potential displeasure of bus travel is the stink from its own powerplant with windows open: a/c really does make a huge difference. Give me the thrill of the chill in a Brill any day.
Great piece, Mr B. That handsome ’38 Yellow Greyhound has the smallest windows I’ve ever seen – is that related to the a/c, I wonder?
Back in my Melbourne days they still had the old W-class classics (as they’re fondly thought of now) as the main workhorses. In original form with drop-down canvas doors there was plenty of ventilation, whether you wanted it or not! But they were a lovely ride on the St. Kilda Beach route on a hot summer day. When the Z-class were introduced, they were thought to be stuffy and overheated. Somewhere I’ve still got the brochure and postcards from my first-day ride on one. And now you say they’re being phased out? Pardon me while I find that walking stick…
I’ve noticed the tiny windows on older American buses; strange look, eh?
Very interesting, I had no idea Brill was the first with an air-conditioned transit coach. A railroad museum that I spend a lot of time at has a 1967 GMC TDH-3501A, originally from Modesto, CA.. The coach was originally equipped with air conditioning. Being that the 3501 was one of the last ‘Old Look’ coaches built, the A/C system was something of an add-on affair, looking like the public transit equivalent of one of those 60’s era aftermarket A/C units. Unfortunately the compressor was removed long ago, so we have virtually no hope of ever restoring the system. Like most 3501’s our coach is (under) powered by a 145 h.p. D478 Toroflow, I can’t imagine how leisurely the acceleration was with a full passenger load and the A/C on.
Chill, Brill…
Your opening sentence suddenly made me feel very old, Jim. I have distinct memories of being driven to school in a neighbour’s ’62 Falcon with no heater, and being told not to touch the fogged-up windows. Air conditioning was just a far-off dream, something I had never experienced.
Buses around here were old thirties British AECs – they had a neat preselector gearbox for the driver, but just hard upholstered benches down the side for the passengers, with windows which seemed to be either jammed open or jammed shut. I had no experience of coaches until much later; they might have been different.