Details of Cars

GMC New Look: the Fishbowl that carried North American cities for decades

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GMC New Look buses at the Seashore Trolley Museum
GMC New Look buses preserved at the Seashore Trolley Museum. Photo by 4300streetcar, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The GM New Look is a municipal transit bus that General Motors introduced in 1959 through its Truck and Coach Division to replace the previous coach, later known as the old-look bus. It is commonly called the Fishbowl after its original six-piece rounded windscreen, and more than 44,000 were built.

GMC New Look at a glance

GMC New Look key facts
Introduced 1959
Predecessor GM old-look transit bus of 1940
Nickname Fishbowl
Production until 1977 in the United States, 1985 in Canada
Built 44,484, of which 33,413 American and 11,071 Canadian
By length 510 at 29 ft, 9,355 at 35 ft, 31,348 at 40 ft, 3,271 suburban coaches
Construction stressed-skin aluminium body, no ladder frame
Engine Detroit Diesel Series 71, originally the 6V71
Transmission manual or Allison automatic
First city Washington, D.C., TDH-5301s of 1959
Successor Rapid Transit Series, 1977
Last built April 1986 for Santa Monica

Based on one source, the English Wikipedia article on the GM New Look bus.

History of the GMC New Look

A new transit bus for 1959

The New Look was introduced in 1959 by the Truck and Coach Division of General Motors to replace the coach retroactively known as the old-look transit bus, which had appeared in 1940. It had trapezoidal side windows with a forward slant, and GM gave it quad headlights, which had first appeared on cars in 1958. The design is listed as US patent D182,998 by Roland E. Gegoux and William P. Strong. A competing Flxible New Look bus arrived in the same year, similar in appearance but with flat panes of glass for the windscreen.

Preserved Columbus GM New Look bus 557
A preserved Columbus New Look bus. Photo by Darius Pinkston from Cincinnati, United States, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Production

In all 44,484 New Look buses were built, 33,413 in the United States and 11,071 in Canada by GM Diesel Division. By type they comprised 510 29-foot city buses, all American-built; 9,355 35-foot city buses, 7,804 American and 1,551 Canadian; 31,348 40-foot city buses, 22,034 American and 9,314 Canadian; and 3,271 suburban coaches, of which only 206 were built in Canada. Apart from demonstrators, Washington, D.C. was the first city to take delivery, with TDH-5301s built in 1959 for D.C. Transit.

Construction and drivetrain

Like GM’s over-the-road buses, including the Greyhound Scenicruiser, the air-sprung New Look had no traditional ladder frame. It used an aircraft-like stressed-skin construction in which a riveted aluminium skin carried the weight of the bus, with a wooden floor keeping its shape and the engine cradle hung off the back of the roof, which made it significantly lighter than competitors’ city buses. Almost all were powered by Detroit Diesel Series 71 two-stroke engines, originally the 6V71, in GM’s unique angle-drive layout with the engine mounted transversely and the transmission angled about 45 degrees to reach the rear axle. The engine was canted backwards for access, and the whole engine, transmission and radiator assembly sat on a cradle that could be removed and replaced quickly.

The end of production

American production ended in 1977, when the RTS replaced the New Look, but Canadian production continued because Canadian transit agencies rejected the RTS. The nameplate changed from GM to GMC, and few were produced after 1983, when GM Diesel Division introduced the Classic. The last New Looks were built for Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines, and the order was completed in April 1986. One transit property in Gatineau, Quebec, kept the type in service until at least 2015, nearly 60 years after its introduction. The last American-built buses were twelve 35-foot T6H-4523N ordered by Wausau, Wisconsin, the last of which arrived in March 1977.

Design and features

  • Fishbowl windscreen: the original rounded six-piece glass, later a two-piece curved pane.
  • Stressed-skin body: an aluminium riveted skin instead of a ladder frame.
  • Angle-drive engine: a transverse Detroit Diesel with the transmission set at an angle.
  • Removable powertrain cradle: quick engine changes kept buses in service.
  • Trapezoidal windows: side glass with a forward slant, a signature of the design.

GMC New Look versions

  • 29-foot city bus: 510 built, all in the United States.
  • 35-foot city bus: 9,355 built, including 1,551 in Canada.
  • 40-foot city bus: 31,348 built, the most common length.
  • Suburban coach: 3,271 built, only 206 of them in Canada.
  • TDH-3301: the 29-foot exception, with a GMC Toroflow V6 and a conventional T-drive.

The New Look was replaced by the GMC RTS and shared its stressed-skin approach with the Scenicruiser coach. Its predecessor was the old-look coach family. More buses are in the GMC collection.

Sources

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