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75-524: The GMC PD-4501 Scenicruiser , manufactured by General Motors (GM) for Greyhound Lines, Inc. , was a three-axle monocoque two-level coach that Greyhound used from July 1954 into the mid-1970s. 1001 were made between 1954 and 1956. The Scenicruiser became an icon of the American way of life due to its presence throughout the United States in cities and along highways and popularity with

150-441: A fluid coupling and arranged side by side in a shallow V formation. Two engines were necessary because GM had not yet built a V8 version of its Series 71 Diesel engine. Each coach had a single three-speed transmission with a manual two-speed clutch for six forward speeds. There were some problems when the coaches were new because all of Greyhound's other models had four-speed manual transmissions that shifted differently than those in

225-531: A 40-foot model for non-Greyhound operators. It was mechanically identical to the Scenicruiser, but the driver and passengers were all at nearly the same high level as the Scenicruiser's upper deck. Like the PD 4104, the PD 4901 had a flat floor so the seats were a few inches lower than in the PD 4501 which allowed larger overhead baggage racks. The only one produced was clad in gold anodized aluminum and GMC called it

300-530: A GMC truck crossed the country from Seattle to New York City in thirty days, and in 1926, a 2-ton GMC truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in five days and 30 minutes. During the First World War , the company provided the Model 16 3/4-ton truck, and modified its production to provide 1-ton troop carriers and aviation support vehicles, and by 1918, more than 90 percent of GMC truck production

375-577: A bus and taxicab manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois which was founded by John D. Hertz . The company was renamed Yellow Truck & Coach Manufacturing Company (YT&CMC), an affiliated subsidiary of General Motors . All manufacturing operations of General Motors Truck Company were placed under YT&CMC. In 1928 Plant 2 opened and all headquarters staff moved to the administration building at 660 South Boulevard E in Pontiac, MI. In 1943, GM purchased

450-505: A complicated machine to perform a simple task. Goldberg was born on July 4, 1883, in San Francisco , California , to Jewish parents Max and Hannah ( née Cohn) Goldberg. He was the third of seven children, three of whom died as children; older brother Garrett, younger brother Walter, and younger sister Lillian also survived. Goldberg began tracing illustrations when he was four years old, and he took his only drawing lessons with

525-479: A controlling interest in Motor Coach Industries (MCI), Limited, of Canada and by 1961 had full ownership of it. This led to the end of its need for GMC coaches by 1968. GMC's sales soon went into terminal decline as both Greyhound and Trailways were building their own coaches. Beck left the bus and coach market in 1957, a year after being taken over by Mack. In 1960 Mack left the market except for

600-456: A decade later. They had a less obvious "second level" which ran most of the length of the coach, side windows from GMC's line of transit coaches and a smaller upper scenic windshield in the front because second passenger seats were positioned higher than the driver and first row passenger seats. Unlike the Scenicruiser, these models were available for sale to all operators. As introduced, the Scenicruiser had some significant problems, particularly

675-670: A degree in Engineering and was hired by the city of San Francisco as an engineer for the Water and Sewers Department. After six months he resigned his position with the city to join the San Francisco Chronicle where he became a sports cartoonist . The following year, he took a job with the San Francisco Bulletin , where he remained until he moved to New York City in 1907, finding employment as

750-503: A habeas case that "Rube Goldberg would envy the scheme the Court has created." Rube Goldberg wrote the first feature film for the pre- Curly Howard version of The Three Stooges called Soup to Nuts , which was released in 1930 and starred Ted Healy . The film featured his machines and included cameos of Rube himself. In the 1962 John Wayne movie Hatari! , an invention to catch monkeys by character Pockets, played by Red Buttons ,

825-400: A high school division added in 1996. Devices must complete a simple task in a minimum of twenty steps and a maximum of seventy-five in the style of Goldberg. The contest is hosted nationwide by Rube Goldberg Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3), founded by Rube's son George W. George , and currently managed by Rube's granddaughter, Jennifer George. In 1998, Justice Scalia remarked in a dissent in

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900-560: A large baggage compartment underneath the second level. This design was called the GX-2 . Both the GX-1 and GX-2 were actually built by Greyhound from 1947 to 1949 with help from GMC. In late 1951, GMC started work on its first prototype, called the EXP 331. It was completed in 1954 and had some unique features that were not used on the production versions. After the last PD 4501 prototype was built, it

975-564: A local sign painter. In 1911, he built the R. L. Goldberg Building at 182–198 Gough Street, San Francisco, for his widowed father to live in, as well as to collect rental income. Goldberg married Irma Seeman on October 17, 1916. They lived at 98 Central Park West in New York City and had two sons: Thomas and George . During World War II , as each of his sons headed off to college, Goldberg insisted that they change their surname because of antisemitic sentiment toward him stemming from

1050-407: A real-life Goldberg device. The iCarly (2007) episode iDon’t Want to Fight, Spencer built a Rube Goldberg Machine to feed his fish. The Suite Life on Deck episode A London Carol, Cody built a Rube Goldberg Machine to help Zack wake up at six a.m. The 2010 music video "This Too Shall Pass – RGM Version" by the rock band OK Go features a machine that, after four minutes of kinetic activity, shoots

1125-562: A remodeled 1955 Scenicruiser, purchased from Commander Cody , as his tour bus in the 1970s and '80's. "An Old Greyhound," a song he wrote about the bus, appears on his 1976 album Fearless . Scenicruiser 472, a 1955 model, gained regional fame as the tour bus for the Mission Mountain Wood Band from the mid-1970s to 1987. It was said to have traveled over two million miles and as of 2014, was still roadworthy. GM acquired Yellow Coach in 1943 and continued production of

1200-406: A second version of its signature coach based on the PD 4106's mechanicals and styling. Greyhound also bought some PD 4107 buses from GMC which were known as the "Buffalo" model. Greyhound purchased 362 of these buses in two orders (162 in 1966 and 200 more in 1967, with the 1966 units being trouble-prone). The company never bought another GMC coach afterwards. In 1958 The Greyhound Corporation acquired

1275-399: A series of seven short animated films which focus on humorous aspects of everyday situations in the form of an animated newsreel . The seven films were released on these dates in 1916: May 8, The Boob Weekly ; May 22, Leap Year ; June 5, The Fatal Pie ; Jun 19, From Kitchen Mechanic to Movie Star ; July 3, Nutty News ; July 17, Home Sweet Home ; July 31, Losing Weight . Goldberg

1350-466: A short time as an importer of rebadged Renault FR1 coaches between 1986 and 1989. In 1978, Flxible was sold to Grumman, with the sale including the sale of two prototypes of what would become the 870. Flxible built its last intercity coach in 1969 and its final transit coach in 1995. GMC exited the new coach market after producing the 1980 models and continued transit coach manufacturing until 1987. GMC also introduced its model PD 4901 in 1954 so as to have

1425-520: A single dealer to offer both trucks and entry-to-mid-level cars, using a similar approach already in use by Chevrolet . In 2002, GMC celebrated its 100th anniversary and released a book entitled GMC: The First 100 Years , a complete history of the company. In 2007, GMC introduced the Acadia , a crossover SUV , which was the division's second unibody vehicle (after the Vandura) whose predecessor,

1500-776: A sport version, the SP, was equivalent to the El Camino SS. It was renamed Caballero in 1978, and remained produced alongside the El Camino until its demise in 1987. In 1973, with GM's introduction of the new "rounded line" series trucks, GMC and Chevrolet trucks became even more similar, ending production of GMC's quad-headlight models, and setting the standard for the Chevrolet/GMC line of trucks for over thirty years. As of 2020 , GMC's vehicles were marketed as more premium, luxury vehicles positioned above similar vehicles from

1575-571: A sports cartoonist with the New York Evening Mail . Goldberg's first public hit was a comic strip called Foolish Questions , beginning in 1908. The invention cartoons began in 1912. The New York Evening Mail was syndicated to the first newspaper syndicate , the McClure Newspaper Syndicate , giving Goldberg's cartoons a wider distribution, and by 1915 he was earning $ 25,000 per year and being billed by

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1650-621: A subsidiary of his General Motors Company . In 1911, General Motors formed the "General Motors Truck Company" and folded Rapid and Reliance Motor Car Company (another early commercial vehicle manufacturer that Durant had acquired in 1908) into it. In 1912, the Rapid and Reliance names were dropped in favor of "GMC". All General Motors truck production was consolidated at the former Rapid Motor Plant 1 in Pontiac, Michigan. GMC maintained three manufacturing locations in Pontiac, Michigan, Oakland, California , and St. Louis, Missouri . In 1916,

1725-552: Is currently owned by Wilson Bus Lines in Massachusetts who plan to restore it to its former glory. In 1961 and 1962, Marmon-Herrington rebuilt the existing Scenicruiser fleet for Greyhound, 22 having already been totaled in accidents. The rebuild included installing the newly available Detroit Diesel 8V-71 engine and a 4-speed unsynchronized Spicer manual transmission in place of the twin 4-71 engines and 3-speed transmission with 2-speed splitter. Side reinforcement plates above

1800-767: Is described as a "Rube Goldberg." In the late 1960s and early '70s, educational shows like Sesame Street , Vision On and The Electric Company routinely showed bits that involved Rube Goldberg devices, including the Rube Goldberg Alphabet Contraption , and the What Happens Next Machine . Various other films and cartoons have included highly complicated machines that perform simple tasks. Among these are Flåklypa Grand Prix , Looney Tunes , Tom and Jerry , Wallace and Gromit , Pee-wee's Big Adventure , The Way Things Go , Edward Scissorhands , Back to

1875-534: Is scheduled to launch in late 2021. The new Hummer EV was revealed on October 20, 2020. In 2022, the GMC brand was introduced in South Korea as a subsidiary of GM Korea . Beginning in 1920, GMC and Chevrolet trucks became largely similar, built as variants of the same platform , sharing much the same body sheetwork, except for nameplates and grilles – though their differences, especially engines, have varied over

1950-697: The Chevrolet Equinox . It replaced the Pontiac Torrent after the brand's demise. In 2020, General Motors announced the return of the Hummer nameplate, this time as a sub-brand of GMC instead of a stand-alone division. The Hummer lineup includes two models, an electric pickup truck and SUV, to be sold as the " GMC Hummer EV ". According to GM, the Edition 1 production electric pickup truck will feature 1,000 horsepower, hit 60 mph in 3 seconds and

2025-605: The National Cartoonists Society 's Gold T-Square Award in 1955, and the Banshees' Silver Lady Award in 1959. He was a founding member and first president of the National Cartoonists Society , which hosts the annual Reuben Award , honoring the top cartoonist of the year and named after Goldberg, who won the award in 1967. He is the inspiration for international competitions known as Rube Goldberg Machine Contests , which challenge participants to create

2100-622: The Register and Tribune Syndicate : Brad and Dad (1939–1941) and Side Show (1938–1941), a continuation of the invention drawings. Starting in 1938, Goldberg worked as the editorial cartoonist for the New York Sun . He won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning for a cartoon entitled " Peace Today ". He moved to the New York Journal-American in 1949 and worked there until his retirement in 1963. In

2175-520: The University of California , where Rube attended from 1901 to 1903. Frederick Slate gave his engineering students the task of building a scale that could weigh the Earth. The scale was called the “Barodik". To Goldberg, this exemplified a comical combination of seriousness and ridiculousness that would come to serve as an inspiration in his work. From 1938 to 1941, Goldberg drew two weekly strips for

2250-477: The "Old Look" bus originally designed by Yellow Coach. GM ended bus production in 1987 after selling its bus division and assets to Motor Coach Industries , which continued production of the New Look-derived Classic and RTS. GMC (automobile) While many of their vehicles are mechanically similar, GMC is positioned as a premium offering to the mainstream Chevrolet brand, and includes

2325-459: The 1955 models were being produced. The original clutch was electrically operated. That meant the drivers could not make the clutch smoothly engage; it was either in or out. This caused lurches and jolts every time the driver started from a stop or changed gears. Both the passengers and drivers didn't like it. The electrical clutch linkage was replaced by a mechanical one which solved the problem. GMC gave Greyhound enough sets of parts to convert all of

PD-4501 Scenicruiser - Misplaced Pages Continue

2400-588: The 1960s, Goldberg began a sculpture career, primarily creating busts . The popularity of Goldberg's cartoons was such that the term "Goldbergian" was in use in print by 1915, and "Rube Goldberg" by 1928. "Rube Goldberg" appeared in the Random House Dictionary of the English Language in 1966 meaning "having a fantastically complicated improvised appearance", or "deviously complex and impractical." The 1915 usage of "Goldbergian"

2475-517: The American alternative rock/indie band The Bravery released a video for their debut single, "An Honest Mistake," which features the band performing the song in the middle of a Rube Goldberg machine. In 1999, an episode of The X-Files was titled " The Goldberg Variation ". The episode intertwined characters FBI agents Mulder and Scully, a simple apartment super, Henry Weems (Willie Garson) and an ailing young boy, Ritchie Lupone ( Shia LaBeouf ) in

2550-521: The English illustrator with an equal devotion to odd machinery, also portraying sequential or chain reaction elements. The Danish equivalent was the painter, author and cartoonist Robert Storm Petersen , better known under his pen name Storm P. To this day, an overly complicated and/or useless object is known as a Storm P.-machine in Denmark. Goldberg's work was commemorated posthumously in 1995 with

2625-774: The Future , Honey, I Shrunk the Kids , The Goonies , Gremlins , the Saw film series , Chitty Chitty Bang Bang , The Cat from Outer Space , Malcolm , Hotel for Dogs , the Home Alone film series , Family Guy , American Dad! , Casper , and Waiting... In the Final Destination film series the characters often die in Rube Goldberg-esque ways. In the film The Great Mouse Detective ,

2700-570: The GMT-360 based Envoy , was discontinued with the closure of GM's Moraine, Ohio plant on December 23, 2008. In 2009, GMC ended production of medium-duty commercial trucks after over 100 years. They became exclusive to Chevrolet with the launch of the 4500HD/5500HD Silverado in 2018. Also in 2009, GMC introduced the Terrain , a mid-size crossover SUV based on the GM Theta platform shared with

2775-467: The Golden Chariot. No American operators in the country wanted to take on the additional complexity and fuel consumption of this dual engine model. Greyhound's troubles with its Scenicruisers were already well known, keeping potential buyers away and none were ordered. GMC leased it to Greyhound and then to several other smaller carriers in the northeast and finally sold it as a used bus. This coach

2850-466: The Scenicruiser was a constant headache – partly because of the complicated nature of some of the new systems (in the manner of Rube Goldberg , some of the critics suggested), partly because some of the components were too new and unimproved (using new, unproved, and unimproved technology), partly because the diagnostic tools and techniques were inadequate, partly because the training and availability of mechanics (and maintenance supervisors and managers) for

2925-540: The Scenicruiser were the Western Flyer T-36-2L, and the impressive four-axle twin-steer Sultana Crucero Imperial. The problems with the Scenicruisers greatly soured relations between Greyhound and GMC. Greyhound continued to buy GMC coaches with the PD 4104 up through 1960 and the PD 4106 from 1961 to 1964. Given the problems with the PD 4501, Greyhound had no interest in asking GMC to produce

3000-426: The Scenicruiser. Other manufacturers also make similar split-level coaches, such as Mexico's Sultana Panoramico, first manufactured in 1956. The Pulitzer Prize -winning novel A Confederacy of Dunces , by John Kennedy Toole , includes many obsessively sarcastic references by his main character to a trip in a Scenicruiser coach, which he recounts as a traumatic ordeal. Country singer Hoyt Axton (1938–1999) used

3075-525: The Scenicruiser. This meant additional training for drivers, who mostly disliked the new system. This installation proved to be less than successful, and the 979 buses remaining in 1961-62 were rebuilt with 8V-71 engines and four-speed manual Spicer transmissions by the Marmon-Herrington Company . The Scenicruiser's popularity with the public inspired GM's later PD 4107 and PD 4903 Buffalo bus 35- and 40-foot models, which arrived nearly

PD-4501 Scenicruiser - Misplaced Pages Continue

3150-499: The United States and were resold as used buses. A number of Vista-Liner 100s and at least one of the later Becks have been converted to motor homes and are still on the road. Mack Truck and Bus also produced a single model MV-620-D prototype in 1957 that was also 40 feet long, but it found no takers, even though Greyhound leased it for several months. This coach still exists in private hands in Ohio. Other two-level models introduced after

3225-403: The band members in the face with paint. "RGM" presumably stands for Rube Goldberg Machine. 2012 The CBS show Elementary features a machine in its opening sequence. The 2012 Discovery Channel show Unchained Reaction pitted two teams against each other to create an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine. It was judged and executive-produced by Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman , known for hosting

3300-584: The buses' retirement. The influence of the Scenicruiser and its predecessor the Spanish Pegaso Z-403 may be seen in GM's 1964 Buick Sport Wagon and Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser station wagons , both of which had stepped-up roofs and a raised skylight over the second row of seats. The coaches of the Aerotrain , which GM's Electro-Motive Division introduced in 1955, had bodies that resembled parts of

3375-551: The colors of their new owners for some years after leaving Greyhound. A few even ended up wearing Trailways red and white after they were bought by Trailways affiliate carriers. Despite large amounts of quality problems, the Sceniccruiser (like the GM New Look bus which shared many design similarities and parts with transit buses) became the definitive Greyhound bus for decades and an icon of 1950s design, even well past

3450-400: The drivetrain and cracking of the frame structure around the side windows in the rear quarter of the coach. GMC was not about to put a non-GM engine into its flagship coach nor did it have a V8 version of its Series 71 Diesel engine at the time. Therefore, GM's solution was to use a pair of 4-71 engines. One Greyhound historian wrote of the Scenicruiser's early technical issues: "Maintenance on

3525-471: The inclusion of Rube Goldberg's Inventions , depicting his 1931 "Self-Operating Napkin" in the Comic Strip Classics series of U.S. postage stamps . The Rube Goldberg Machine Contest originated in 1949 as a competition at Purdue University between two fraternities. It ran until 1956, and was revived in 1983 as a university-wide competition. In 1989 it became a national competition, with

3600-644: The inline sixes known as "Jimmy's" from 1939 to 1959, and then their own V6 from 1960 until 1974, of which a V8 and a V12 version also existed. Additionally, from 1955 through 1959, the less than 2-ton, domestic GMC gasoline trucks were equipped with Pontiac V8s , and Oldsmobile V8s —whereas the Canadian models used Chevrolet engines. GMC dealerships were partnered with Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick dealerships. Between 1962 and 1972, most GMC vehicles were equipped with quad-headlights, while their Chevrolet clones were equipped with dual-headlights. The platform has been

3675-716: The late 1970s and 1980s. Rights to the RTS model were sold to Transportation Manufacturing Corporation , while Motor Coach Industries of Canada purchased the Classic design. In 1998, GMC's official branding on vehicles was shortened from "GMC Truck" to simply "GMC". In 1996, GM merged GMC Truck Division with the Pontiac Motor Division in order to "give the combined division a brand image projecting physical power and outdoor activity". This coincided with many GMC dealerships merging with Pontiac dealerships, allowing

3750-409: The lower deck and the driver seated on the upper deck. It was soon decided that a split-level design would be better because the GX-1 was too tall for many Greyhound garages and lacked luggage space for 50 people. The GX-2 had a lower level containing the driver's area and entrance with ten seats plus a restroom on the passenger's side and an upper level with 33 more seats. This arrangement also allowed

3825-576: The luxury trim Denali . In North America , GMC vehicles are almost always sold alongside Buick (another premium brand) vehicles at multi-brand dealerships . Roots to the GMC brand can be traced to 1900, when the "Grabowsky Motor Company" was established by brothers Max (1874-1946) and Morris Grabowsky, in Detroit, and renamed Rapid Motor Vehicle Company in 1902 when the brothers moved operations to Pontiac, Michigan . In 1909, William C. Durant gained control of Rapid Motor Vehicle Company and made it

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3900-462: The more mainstream Chevrolet division. Chevrolet vehicles are priced lower than a comparable GMC, but GMC vehicles have features not found in a comparable Chevrolet. In North America , Chevrolet offers a full lineup of cars , crossover vehicles , sport utility vehicles , and pickup trucks . GMC, however, does not offer any car models, so typically they are sold along Buick (or sometimes Cadillac ) vehicles at multi-brand dealerships , allowing

3975-808: The most profitable for General Motors, as it was shared with the Chevrolet Blazer / GMC Jimmy , the Chevrolet Suburban and the Chevrolet Tahoe / GMC Denali . In 1998 the platform was introduced as the Cadillac Escalade . In 1971, GMC marketed their version of the Chevrolet El Camino , which was based on the Chevrolet Chevelle . Called Sprint , it was virtually identical to the El Camino, and

4050-405: The new model were less than optimum, partly because the technical support and repair-parts support were less than optimum, and largely because of a combination of several of those factors – along with a few other explanations – including, sadly, occasional incidents of careless or intentional abuse of the new coaches by disgusted drivers or mechanics." GMC solved one major problem in the factory as

4125-605: The paper as America's most popular cartoonist. Arthur Brisbane had offered Goldberg $ 2,600 per year in 1911 in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to move to William Randolph Hearst 's newspaper chain, and in 1915 raised the offer to $ 50,000 per year. Rather than lose Goldberg to Hearst, the New York Evening Mail matched the salary offer and formed the Evening Mail Syndicate to syndicate Goldberg's cartoons nationally. In 1916, Goldberg created

4200-423: The political nature of his cartoons. Thomas chose the surname George, and his brother, also named George, followed suit. In adopting the same surname, George wanted to keep a sense of family cohesiveness. Goldberg's father was a San Francisco police and fire commissioner, who encouraged the young Reuben to pursue a career in engineering . Rube graduated from the University of California, Berkeley , in 1904 with

4275-466: The previously made coaches. At the same time the windshield wipers were changed to a pantograph design, which kept them in full contact with the glass at all times and this was also retrofitted to older coaches. The other problems were mostly solved starting in 1961 when all 979 Scenicruisers were rebuilt, costing Greyhound over US$ 13 million. The Scenicruiser caused GMC's top competitors, Flxible and Beck, to bring out similar offerings. Flxible introduced

4350-876: The rear wheels and below the upper deck windows under the skin were added. The interiors were also freshened up, but this was done by Greyhound. After the rebuilding the Super Scenicruiser name replaced the Scenicruiser name on the sides of each coach. In spite of the reinforcements, structural problems continued and the Scenicruisers that made it into the 1970s again had some external panels removed and further reinforcements added. About 200 Scenicruisers were still in service when Greyhound withdrew them around 1975. As of 2015, some of these remain, many converted to motorhomes. Other owners are committed bus enthusiasts who have restored their buses to like-new condition. A number of them were bought as used buses and ran in

4425-612: The remaining interest in YT&;CMC and renamed it GMC Truck and Coach Division. In 1981, GMC Truck & Coach Division became part of GM Worldwide Truck & Bus Group. Bus production ended in May 1987 and the division name was changed from GMC Truck & Coach to GMC Truck Division. The Canadian plant (in London, Ontario ) produced buses from 1962 until July 1987. GM withdrew from the bus and coach market because of increased competition in

4500-400: The same dealer to sell a full lineup of upscale vehicles, including both cars and trucks. However some standalone GMC dealerships do exist, primarily for dealers who have a focus on selling to the commercial and fleet vehicle markets. Rube Goldberg Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), better known as Rube Goldberg ( / ˈ r uː b / ),

4575-481: The same hospital and finally meet. Both board games and video games have been inspired by Goldberg's creations, such as the '60s board game Mouse Trap , the 1990s series of The Incredible Machine games, and Crazy Machines . The Humongous Entertainment game Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse involves searching for the missing pieces to a Rube Goldberg machine to complete

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4650-477: The science entertainment series MythBusters . The 2014 web series Deadbeat on Hulu features an episode titled "The Ghost in the Machine," which features the protagonist Kevin helping the ghost of Rube Goldberg complete a contraption. It will bring his grandchildren together after they make a collection of random items into a machine that ends up systematically injuring two of his grandchildren so they end up in

4725-602: The semi-deck and a half Vista-Liner 100, a 35-foot coach (208 produced between 1955 and 1959) and Beck produced three similar 35-foot coach models for a total of 29 coaches. Beck also built twelve 40-foot Scenicruiser lookalikes in 1955 powered by the 300 HP Cummins NHRBS Diesel engine. They were Beck's model DH1040 and some were delivered new to Queen City Trailways (later Continental Southeastern Lines). Most of Beck's 40-foot coaches were sold to operators in Cuba and Mexico. Beck had to repossess several of them and they later returned to

4800-466: The transportation infrastructure was rebuilt. Before the earthquake struck, most of Japan's transportation of commerce and people was by wooden carts and government owned railroads, which were severely damaged when the train tracks were twisted beyond use. Autonomous trucks were much more effective at traveling to heavily damaged areas. In 1925, GM purchased a controlling interest in Yellow Coach ,

4875-481: The traveling public. The name was a portmanteau of the words "scenic" and "cruiser". The high-level design concept of Scenicruiser resembles some of the rolling stock of the passenger-carrying railroads of the United States and Canada, particularly their popular stainless steel dome cars . This type of two-level motorcoach body was common in the late 1940s in Western Europe, including Great Britain, where it

4950-499: The villain Ratigan attempts to kill the film's heroes, Basil of Baker Street and David Q. Dawson, with a Rube Goldberg style device. The classic video in this genre was done by the artist duo Peter Fischli & David Weiss in 1987 with their 30-minute video Der Lauf der Dinge or The Way Things Go. Honda produced a video in 2003 called " The Cog " using many of the same principles that Fischli and Weiss had done in 1987. In 2005,

5025-467: The years. GMC advertising marketed its trucks to commercial buyers and businesses, whereas Chevrolet's advertising was directed towards private owners. Beginning in 1928, GMCs used Pontiac's 186 cu in six-cylinder engines in their lighter trucks. Medium-duty trucks relied on Oldsmobile straight-6 engines , while the heaviest trucks used GMC's own "Standard Big Brute" engine. From 1939 to 1974 GMC had its own line of six-cylinder engines , first

5100-532: Was The Inventions of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts, A.K. , which ran in Collier's Weekly from January 26, 1929, to December 26, 1931. In that series, Goldberg drew labeled schematics in the form of patent applications of the comically intricate "inventions" that would later bear his name. The character of Professor Butts was based on Rube's professor Frederick Slate at the College of Mining and Engineering at

5175-420: Was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadgets performing simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. The cartoons led to the expression " Rube Goldberg machines " to describe similar gadgets and processes. Goldberg received many honors in his lifetime, including a Pulitzer Prize for political cartooning in 1948,

5250-477: Was based on a design by Raymond Loewy as U.S. patent 2,563,917 . Originally conceived as a 35-foot (10.67 m) bus, Greyhound later used a tandem-axle 40-foot (12.19 m) prototype by Loewy called the GX-2 to lobby for the lifting of length restrictions of buses longer than 35 feet in most states at the time. The first design prototype for the Scenicruiser, the GX-1, was a double decker with access from

5325-635: Was for military use. GMTC provided a total of 8512 trucks to the U.S. government during the war years and earned a Distinguished Service Award . During the Second World War , GMC Truck produced 600,000 trucks for use by the United States Armed Forces . In 1923, GMC trucks were exported to Japan to help recovery and reconstruction as a result of the Great Kantō earthquake , and the company continued to provide vehicles as

5400-477: Was in reference to Goldberg's early comic strip Foolish Questions , which he drew from 1909 to 1934, while later use of the terms "Goldbergian", "Rube Goldberg" and "Rube Goldberg machine" refer to the crazy inventions for which he is now best known from his strip The Inventions of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts , drawn from 1914 to 1964. The corresponding term in the UK was, and still is, " Heath Robinson ", after

5475-424: Was known as Observation coach . The concept of two-level monocoque body had been used earlier in the Spanish Pegaso Z-403 two-axle coach, designed in 1949 and entered production in 1951. The Model PD-4501, as GMC called it, was the most distinctive American parlor bus design of the modern era. It was the result of seven years of effort by Greyhound and GM Truck and Coach Division. The first GX-1 prototype

5550-412: Was rebuilt as a production model with serial number PD 4501-1001. The Scenicruiser was equipped with air-ride suspension and air conditioning. The coaches were unusual in having ten wheels. Each of the two rear axles had four wheels but only the forward axle was powered. Power for the production models was originally provided by a pair of GM Diesel 4-71 four cylinder engines of 160 HP each connected by

5625-693: Was syndicated by the McNaught Syndicate from 1922 until 1934. A prolific artist, it has been estimated that Goldberg created 50,000 cartoons during his lifetime. Some of these cartoons include Mike and Ike (They Look Alike) , Boob McNutt , Foolish Questions , What Are You Kicking About , Telephonies , Lala Palooza , The Weekly Meeting of the Tuesday Women's Club , and the uncharacteristically serious soap-opera strip, Doc Wright , which ran for 10 months beginning January 29, 1933. The cartoon series that brought him lasting fame

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