BusTalk

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 12:08 am Post subject: 'TODAY (5/30) IN WEST L.A.'

While in the throws of making a dental appointment in West Hollywood this AM, I managed to capture a couple of interesting photos.

Can anyone tell me what the cut-away sightseer in the lowest frame might have been or was it built that way originally?

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

Hart Bus · Age: 74 Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 1150

WCA:

Excellent work as usual. The few comment I have are as folllows:

1 - NIce Picture of the MTA address, but you should have stood to the left of the tree and perhaps gotten a part of the S&M shops that are down the streeet. I think htey may have some devices and techniques to ease the pain of going to the dentist Very Happy

2 - The front of the Setra is certainly sharp looking. I think I see a Mercedes Hood Ornament below the windows. Is this a Mercedes made bus or do they have a piece of Setra?

3 - My first reaction to the cutaway is that it MIGHT be a chopped MCI-8
Just a hunch!

ECA

Cyberider · Joined: 27 Apr 2007 Posts: 501 Location: Tempe, AZ

Nice photography, Mr. Linsky. Nice to see some of the scenery of what once was briefly home for me. Big change in the buses but everything else looks about the same! Sorry, can't help you identify the cut-away sight-seer.

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 4:05 pm Post subject:

ECA/Dave,

Thanks for the comments - they are always appreciated.

I don't want to disappoint you but my trip to the dentist was for a regular cleaning of what teeth I have left! (my teeth are like the stars - they come out at night!).

An MCI would be as good of a guess as any, and one of the fellows at NorCal seems to agree - I will say that whatever customizer worked on it did a beautiful job.

I also saw the Mercedes trademark on the front of the Setra and the following may shed some light on that;

The name "Setra" comes from "Selbsttragend" (self supporting). This refers to the integral nature of the construction of the vehicles back in the 1950s when competitor vehicles still featured a separate chassis and body (often manufactured by separate companies). It is also possible that, with an eye to export markets, the company was mindful that for non-German speakers, the name "Kässbohrer" is difficult to pronounce. Until 1995 the firm operated under the name Kässbohrer-Setra, but in that year economic difficulties enforced its sale to Daimler Benz (after 1998 known, especially in the US, by the name of its then newly created holding company Daimler Chrysler). Since 1995, Setra has been a member of the Daimler Benz subsidiary, EvoBus GmbH.

Mr. 'L'

Hart Bus · Age: 74 Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 1150

A similar debate is raging on another bus board about a similar "Frankenbus" bus running in NYC

http://www.subchat.com/buschat/read.asp?Id=152362