I received enough interest from various individuals on the list to
warrant posting this generally. In a previous posting I mentioned a
1944 Army bus which is available in Seattle for free to anyone who is
willing to drag it away. I looked at it on Saturday and am providing
further details. I also took photos; when I get them processed I will
scan them and e-mail them to anyone who's willing to post them for the
group.
The bus was made by GMC Bus and Truck Division, and the ID plate
identifies it as Type PGA 3301. The VIN is PGA 3301 432. I have no
means to verify it's year of manufacture. The title was apparently lost
by the Army. Current owner has an Army affidavit testifying to same
when it was purchased from an outfit called American Surplus in 1967.
It has not moved since.
General Description:
It's about 40 ft long (guess), rear engine, but the engine is missing.
It looks much like a city transit bus of that period, with no real
obvious signs of being purpose-built for the military. It is completely
smooth-sided, without corrugations. It's still in OD. It looked like
it had been repainted once or twice in OD, but no evidence it was ever
any other color. It has yellow diagonal stripes only on the back which
go about half way up. Passenger windows are small, about 10 inches tall
by 20 inches long, up rather high, and rounded in the corners. They
look like they slide forward or backward to open and also are hinged at
the bottom on the outside (perhaps an escape feature). It's single axle
in the rear and does not have dual wheels in the rear, unless someone
only has the single wheels mounted. Inside is just like an old city
bus. About half of the original passenger seats remain in the bus, but
I saw a large pile of seat frames in a separate storage shed. The floor
on either side under the passenger seats is raised up about 8 inches
from the aisle where you walk. There are luggage racks made of aluminum
rods which run the length of the bus on the ceiling on both sides.
There are no rear windows at all, but a hatch to access the engine from
the inside as well as outside. There is a larger emergency exit door,
rectangular shape on the right about 2/3 back from the front. On the
left side there is a smaller door more to the rear which is curved on
the back top corner to match the curve of the rear end. There is of
course an accordian type main door on the front left. I was unable to
tell whether the original engine would have been diesel or gasoline. It
does look like it was physically large. The transmission (a four speed)
is still there, and the bell housing is almost perfectly circular where
it mates to the engine, and about 24 inches in diameter. All the sheet
metal which would covers the engine compartment on the exterior is
gone. Also missing is radiator, and fuel tank I think.
Condition:
This is tough. Biggest problem is the missing engine. The body has
some evidence of rust, but no rust holes. The construction is mostly
riveted flat panels, so I suppose some could be replaced if necessary.
Also, some are aluminum, but not all. It looks bad right now because
it's got 30 years of mold and peeling paint on the body. If I look
beyond that, though, there is no real damage to the body. The front and
rear show signs of minor bumps and bruises. The Bumpers are removed
(the front was under the bus). The interior seems fairly decent other
than 30 years of dirt. It was heated most of the time, and used to
store junk. All the instruments and controls are at the driver's seat.
Odometer showed about 20,000 miles. No broken windows except one of the
flat plates on the front was cracked.
It's really hard to tell how much is missing in the engine compartment.
The front axle is up on blocks, and the steering moves freely from lock
to lock. The wheels do not turn. I'm sure the bus has air brakes
though, and I'm assuming lack of air pressure applies the brakes. Not
sure about this though. The rear axle was up on blocks at one time, but
the blocks have partially rotted, and the wheels touch the ground. All
of them appeared to hold air.
I don't know what else to say. Please e-mail me off-list, and I will
try to answer any other specific questions as well as provide contact
information if anyone gets serious. Also, if anyone can provide
additonal information based on the VIN, please pass it on.
I should throw in the standard caveats: I do not know this woman, all
observations I made are very subjective, and I do NOT profess to be a
bus expert!
-Rob Root
1942 GPW
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