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Has anyone Done a Delivery List of Flxible Clippers

 
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Dieseljim
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Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 548
Location: Perry, NY

PostPosted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 6:59 am    Post subject: Has anyone Done a Delivery List of Flxible Clippers Reply with quote

I was wondering if anyone has ever done a delivery list of Flxible Clipper highway buses, particularly of the later models, particularly those that went into service in the late 1940s-early 1950s. I am still trying to get the f leet make up of Genesee Bus Lines together and am pretty sure they had more than one of these buses, painted red and silver and with the names of key stops above the windows.
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roymanning2000



Age: 75
Joined: 01 Aug 2007
Posts: 198

PostPosted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 7:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jim,

Here is a link to delivery lists at the Flxible Owners website:

http://www.flxibleowners.org/SERIALNOS/0serdex.htm

This shows deliveries of Clippers from 1944 until the end of production in 1950. It also lists the Visicoach and Starliner models that followed.

Roy
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Hart Bus



Age: 73
Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Posts: 1150

PostPosted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A quick glance from 6176-8199 reveals that Carey Transportation ordered 19 Clippers for their airport service. No other NYC area company ordered any. The closest company was Boro Bus Lines from NJ.

That leads me to ask two quiestions.....What did Carey use prior to the Clippers.

Also who owned the Clipper that Harran Coachways of Babylon donated to the MOBT when they closed up.
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Mr. Linsky
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 5071
Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 3:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ECA,

The Carey list that you speak of may reflect an order for 19 Clippers, but it certainly seems to me that they had many more than that when you consider that they were serving three major airports at their height with headways to NY International (JFK) running at fifteen minute intervals (they had more buses running Queens Boulevard than Green did!).

Some Carey history;

During the depression of the 1930s, Carey Cadillac added regularly scheduled service to the area's only airport, in Newark, New Jersey, first with touring cars and then with buses. When LaGuardia Airport opened, Carey served it as well. In 1939 the airport service was spun off into a separate company, operating under the name Carey Transportation.

And, to add to that, when Idlewild opened in 1948 Carey really came into its own as a premier airporter.

I don't know exactly when they changed from stretched limousines to buses and, for that matter, what buses they may have used if any before the Flxibles.

Photo courtesy of Port Authority of NY/NJ.

WCA

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Hart Bus



Age: 73
Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Posts: 1150

PostPosted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

WCA - I didn't have time to go through every section of the Clipper pages. So the 19 is a rough count.

I agree that 19 seemed too small a number to provide service to all 3 NY airports. When I get some time, after 4/15 , I will carefully go through every page and list each unit by serial number. If I don't find a lot more listings then the hunt is one for there history.

You did remind me that the once was a Carey Cadillac. I looking at some of the pages, a Summer or Sumner Chevolet in New Jersey ordered some buses.

ECA
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roymanning2000



Age: 75
Joined: 01 Aug 2007
Posts: 198

PostPosted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

HartBus,

Here is a link to a page on Pacific Bus Museum's website showing their preserved Visicoach. It is painted identically to the former Harran bus.

http://www.pacbus.org/roster/pbm77.html

The PBM bus started out with Utah Parks Co., a Union Pacific subsidiary, and then went to Glacier Park Transportation. Maybe the Harran bus was also originally Utah Parks. The delivery list does not show any deliveries of Visicoaches to Glacier Park but, Utah Parks got several of them new.

Roy
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roymanning2000



Age: 75
Joined: 01 Aug 2007
Posts: 198

PostPosted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hart Bus and Mr. L,

Carey bought 54 Visicoaches between 1950 and 1953. They started buying GM PD4104's at some point and apparently, never returned to Flxible. The list for the Starliner model, which was the successor to the Visicoach, does not list any deliveries to Carey.

Roy
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Mr. Linsky
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 5071
Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Roy,

Your information is more in line with how many Clippers I remember in the Carey fleet during the 50's.

They were fast and powered by straight eight Buick 'Fireball' engines coupled with four speed mechanical transmissions.

But, as fast as they were, they took a back seat to the 4104' and 4106's that eventually replaced them (model below).

Reproduction courtesy of Bob Redden.

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



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