BusTalk

[timecruncher]

A group of us CTHA members took 1992 TANK Metro C #2005 up to the Flxible Rally in Loudonville, Ohio yesterday. The rally is held in Loudonville, ancestral home of Flxible, every other year, and is generally a gathering of Flx RV conversions. There are a few transits that make it, though, and this year was no exception:



Preparing for the parade through town, the purple Clipper is named "Plum Crazy!"



Here's one that is still outfitted as a passenger coach. It is equipped with a 4-71 Detroit Diesel that sounded sweet as it loaded up.



Loved this one - check out the paint job and that Flx builder's plate!



This one is ex-Queen City Metro Grumman 870 #301, which began its life as a MBSTOA unit.



Sometimes it is difficult to tell if some of these are converted from buses or if they were built as Motor Homes. Flx did both for many years.



This one-of-a-kind Spartan showed up again this year. The company only built around 54 of these creatures, and only one exists in the US as near as the owner can tell. The design was similar to the Flxible Clipper, but the engine overhang in the rear was too long and the bus had a bad habit of coming up off of its front wheels. This one is specially weighted to avoid that annoying trait!



The Spartan is a rare gem -- so the owners have a watch cat on board in case anyone tries anything fishy!



Right at home among the classics -- 2005 rubs elbows with a couple of motor homes at the campground.



A group of New York fans showed up with a nice-looking new look Flx. Yeah, it needs some paint, but it runs good and got up here in the Buckeye from New York under its own power! Here we pose both buses in front of the former Flxible factory:



Say it fast several times and see if you can do it without slobbering on yourself: Former Flxible factory...

Anyway, the FFF is now a parts and bus delivery point for MCI/Hausman, and besides the shiny new J4500 you see in the last photo, there were a couple of dozen east-coast ex-Liberty Lines, Peter Pan and some other Coach USA 102DL and D4500 units in various states of repair waiting rehab or resale.

Hope you enjoyed!

timecruncher

[Mr. Linsky]

Here's my contribution - albeit only a memory!

Regards,

Mr. 'L'

[timecruncher]

Nice! Back when a bus was still a bus and the industry hadn't yet restarted its slow decline into the abyss!

Thanks for posting --

timecruncher