BusTalk

[Dieseljim]

Those Dodges of the mid fifties that Chet Hirsch had had Carpenter bodies that were about 25 feet long if that and the wipers were mounted at the top of the windshields in most cases with the vacuum motors in plain sight. These looked like they could seat 34 adults and about 52 children, while No.25 was a bit larger. Those buses from 1952 and 53 lasted until the mid 1960s, when they were replaced with the larger models from 1965 on. They did charter work on occasion. Nowadays, the charter business has all but dried up, with most groups preferring highway type coaches, for most trips.After Henry Hill died, so did the practice of new bus purchases. No.22, ended sounding more like a race car than a school bus and that bus was just about on its last legs. When Dodge got out of the heavy and medium duty truck business, that was the end of their school bus line as well. Hill/Hirsch sure got their money's worth out of them. And my bus riding all began with a GMC transit, too. I'd give anything to get that transit back.