Historic Truck and Bus Literature Collection Goes on Sale

Filed in archive Automobilia , Catalogs , Historic Transportation , Romantic Notions on October 26, 2007

I was astonished when, a few years ago, my former About Cars colleagues Aaron Gold and Colin Hefferon told me of the huge interest in collecting vintage buses. Imagine the size of the garages! Now comes word from Robert McLellan that his company was just presented with a thousand or so truck and bus brochures from the estate of a local collector who recently died. You can, as I did, peruse a sampling in McLellan's Automotive Chronicles newsletter. They're all so fascinating that I had difficulty choosing one to illustrate the blog but finally selected this Twin Coach Bus with Fageol engine, being used for airport transit. In that era cab-forward designs must have been quite fashionable as there were still a few of the old type around, with their long hoods and front engines.

The brochure includes 83 photo renderings and drawings, one of each model in 34, 37, 40 and 44-passenger sizes, and includes the original mailing envelope postmarked May 6 '49. It is priced at $100, quite reasonable for literature of this rarity. Aside from being acquired by collectors, retired buses are bought for a variety of reasons, such as band transports, mobile homes, cottages and even diners. Nice to see the old girls being put to good use, wouldn't you say?