BusTalk

[Q65A]

Flxible was founded at Loudonville, Ohio in 1913 as a builder of motorcycle sidecars. The intentionally mis-spelled corporate name was registered as a trademark in 1919. The company ultimately became a well-known manufacturer of intercity coaches, ambulances, funeral cars, and miscellaneous industrial products, but it was not originally a builder of transit buses. That changed in September 1952, when Flxible and Twin Coach joined forces to build transit buses. The joint venture was particularly beneficial to Flxible, who was feeling significant competitive pressure from GM in the intercity coach market. Eventually 1,034 “Flxible Twin Coach” transit buses were built between 1953 and 1960. These units had traditional Twin Coach design features (most notably a unique 6-piece windshield assembly) mated with classic “Old Look” body styling, but most were delivered to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), and none were sold to NYC bus operators. Flxible was determined to become a major competitor in the transit bus market, and they discontinued production of their “Old Look” line in 1960. On May 23 of that year, they produced a single unit (CTA 8499) that would propel the company into the “New Look” transit bus market. CTA 8499 originally had been built in exactly the same fashion as its older Flxible Twin Coach sisters, but Flxible then installed a totally redesigned front end that incorporated an enlarged version of the traditional 6-piece Twin Coach windshield. While 8499 went to work in The Windy City, Flxible engineers developed a modern body design to accompany the restyled face, and in July 1961 the first Flxible New Look transit buses were delivered to CTA. The Flxible New Looks still wore “Flxible Twin Coach” name plates (a practice that ended in 1963)and they clearly took many design cues from GM’s First Generation Fishbowls: fluted silver siding; large, horizontally-sliding “slant line” passenger windows; a full-length, tinted “standee strip” window; two-piece “slide-glide” entrance doors. Unlike the curvy Fishbowl windshield, the 6-piece Flxible windshield design used flat glass panes that allegedly cost much less to replace when broken. Flxible New Looks used shorter, single-arm wipers as compared to the dual-arm pantograph-style wipers used on Gen. 1 Fishbowls. Flx wiper motors were mounted in a visible location (at the junction of the upper and lower main windshield panels) which probably made them more easily accessible for maintenance. The Flx rear window initially had a 3-piece rear window arrangement that also used flat glass; this later was changed to a 4-piece design to further minimize window maintenance costs. Other subtle Flxible styling elements included fluted silver-sided panels on the exterior of the entry doors, conspicuous external hinge assemblies on the entry doors, prominent air vent grilles flanking the front destination sign, bullet-type or teardrop marker lamps, and a relatively simple tailgate design that included 2 large stop/turn signal lamps, 2 smaller tail lamps, and 2 reflectors; the latter 2 devices were grouped into 2 recessed panels. Many Flx New Looks used a small sliding “slant-line” window in the central “emergency door” position (Fishbowls used squared windows in this location). Bus operators familiar with Fishbowls also probably would have felt at home in the Flx New Look. One major interior difference on the Flx was a large, vertically-oriented “bug light” (telltale) panel mounted to the driver’s side A-pillar; in contrast, Fishbowls used 2 smaller dash-mounted telltale panels. The front dashboard was smaller and positioned at a flatter angle than GM’s design. It typically included a speedometer and air gauge mounted at the left side of the panel. The left side switch panel contained rotary master and ventilation dials, plus several stainless steel toggle switches; Fishbowls always used a small auxiliary panel for secondary toggle switches (this panel was of “tip-down” design on early Gen. 1 Fishbowls). The 3-position hydraulic transmission selector lever was floor mounted at the right side of the B/O, while the mechanical parking brake lever was floor-mounted to the left of the operator. Like Fishbowls, most Flxible New Looks also used 2 sets of paired, round headlamps. In later years, a small group of light transit models that were manufactured at Flxible’s Evergreen (AL) plant used single round headlamps. Front directional signals were mounted slightly higher than the headlamps on early Flx New Looks; later production New Looks had front turn signals that were mounted immediately adjacent to the headlamp assemblies. In keeping with standard transit industry practice, Flxible offered their New Looks in 31’, 35’ and 40 ‘ lengths and, in the latter 2 lengths, 96” or 102” widths. Earlier Flx New Looks generally lacked factory-installed air conditioning equipment, but A/C became a commonly-specified option soon thereafter. Flxible was a relatively late entrant into the transit bus market, but this situation enabled them to take advantage of some fundamental changes that had occurred in the bus marketplace during the mid 1950’s. In 1956, the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against GM alleging, among other charges, that GM had engaged in monopolistic business practices in the bus business. During these legal proceedings, it became clear that transit bus manufacturers such as Mack, White, Twin Coach and ACF-Brill were unable to obtain GM diesel engines, and had to rely either on their own engines (Mack) or on diesels built by various other engine vendors such as Cummins, Hercules, Continental et al. Flxible had tried to obtain GM diesels for their intercity coaches, but they were unable to do so, allegedly because GM did not want to supply competitors with what GM felt was a superior power plant. Possibly as a consequence of this lawsuit, Flxible eventually was able to obtain Detroit Diesel engines by 1958, and when their line of New Looks was ready for introduction, they were made available with the new 6V-71 engine. Flxible New Looks built from 1961-1967 used Dana Model 184 Torque Converter hydraulic transmissions, which in field service proved to be much less reliable than contemporary Allison units. Although Allison transmissions and V-drives regularly became available from 1967 onward, Flxible spent a great deal of money on warranty repairs related to the poor performance of Dana transmissions. This situation undoubtedly weakened Flxible’s reputation while strengthening GM’s already considerable grip on the North American transit bus market. Not unlike contemporary GM Fishbowls, Flxible New Looks were produced in a series of evolutionary “generations”. For their First Generation New Looks (built from 1961 to 1967) Flxible employed a rather complex alphanumeric nomenclature with VIN-like model numbers. Under this system, “F” stood for Flxible; “2” indicated a 102-inch wide bus; “D” indicated a diesel engine; the next numeral and letter described the specific engine type (“6V” indicated a DD 6V-71); “-40” indicated a 40-foot long unit; “1” indicated a transverse engine installation; “-1” indicated a transit-type bus, and “-7” indicated a suburban; suffixes “-UL” and “-AC” signified underfloor luggage compartments (suburbans only) and air conditioning, respectively. In NYC , the larger fleets (i.e. NYCTA, MaBSTOA, FACCO, and NYCO) tended to be the first purchasers of new models, but this was not the case with the early Flx New Looks. Triboro Coach was the first NYC area operator to buy the Model F2D6V401-1 (meaning a 40-foot long, 102” wide non-air conditioned transit coach powered by a transversely-mounted 6V-71N Detroit Diesel engine). TCC bought 25 tan and cream units in 2 orders: TCC 801-815 and 820-829 were built in 1964. NYCTA was not far behind the folks from Jackson Heights, taking delivery of 165 dark green F26V401-1’s under contract MB-15: NYCTA 5001-5165 were built in 1964 and were assigned to Flatbush Depot. Apparently pleased with the performance of the early Flx New Looks, the TA came back two years later for 190 additional units. NYCTA 5601-5790 were built in 1966 under contract MB-16; 5601-5700 were assigned to East New York Depot, while 5701-5790 went first to Jamaica Depot and later to Flushing Depot. Like their Fishbowl sisters, the Flx New Looks received radios (with rooftop pods to protect their antennae from damage), PA systems, and exact-change fareboxes. They also underwent a shift from dark green to 2-tone blue livery. These units lasted until 1983. NYCT 5117 was restored in its original dark green color scheme, and is part of the DOB’s Vintage Bus Fleet; it is based at Queens Village Depot when not on display. Avenue B & East Broadway departed from its all-Mack status in 1965 when they purchased 5 unusual (for the NYC area) Model F26V5351-1’s (AB&EB 601-605). These were 35-feet long, 102” wide non-air conditioned transits equipped with transversely mounted 6V-53N Detroit Diesel engines. Built at Flxible’s Evergreen AL plant, they sported single round headlamps. Painted in red and cream, these units served the little bus line until 1979. Jamaica Buses Inc. was unique among the PBL’s in owning a 5 unit fleet of First Generation Flx New Look suburbans. Designated as Model FD6V-401-7-UL-AC (translated as 40-foot long, 96-inch wide air-conditioned suburban coach powered by a 6V-71N Detroit Diesel equipped with underfloor luggage compartments) JBI 110-114 were built between 1964 and 1966, and like JBI’s GM Old Look suburbans they probably were used for racetrack service and charters.

[44toEmmons]

Thanks for these highly informative posts.
Do you have any figures on gross vehicle weight of Flx vs GM? Were they close to identical or was weight a difference between the two makes?

Also, did Flxible overcome the transmission problems you mention? I recall visiting the Flatbush Depot in the very early 70's and seeing GMs on the hydraulic lifts all the time, but the 5000-5165 series buses were the backbone of that depot's fleet at the time.

Thanks
Steve DeLuca

[Q65A]

[44toEmmons]

Maybe you or one of our comrades can answer a question about the vents that flanked the front destination sign. I was never clear on what functionality they had and never thought to ask a driver when I was a youngster and the buses were still running in service.
Where did the air captured by those vents go? How effective were they at doing whatever it was they were supposed to do?
Were they designed to throw air onto the inside of the windshield? They couldn't have been too important if they didn't mind covering 50% of their surface area with the 'hoodlum lights' after 1969.

Thanks again
Steve

[Waynejay]

[Q65A]

[Q65A]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[Q65A]

Thanks WB and very good questions, indeed!
I defer to any current or former DOB professionals who may be on this board for their knowledge of this subject.