Tuesday, June 18, 2013
The long-distance buses that Wright E. Austin designed were unique at the time. They had accommodations for people to sleep on the bus.
Another excellent website about cars and buses is coachbuilt.com. This site is an encyclopaedia of long-since closed down fabulous factories of a long-ago majestic era of American success!
Kenton's Pickwick Cast Iron Buses
There's lots of history about these fascinating "real" buses. I'll redirect to 2 excellent sites that talk about these buses. In brief, there was a bus company on the west coast of the USA called Pickwick Stage Lines. It started out in 1912 small, and soon business prospered. By the 1920's the company decided to manufacture their own bus (coach) bodies for long-distance passenger service.
The Patent for the Pickwick Nite Coach
In 1923, A young man by the name of Wright E. Austin was hired by Pickwick and he was given the title of designer and superintendent of its body works. If you visit the site below, you will get a wonderful history of these famous buses:
Another excellent website about cars and buses is coachbuilt.com. This site is an encyclopaedia of long-since closed down fabulous factories of a long-ago majestic era of American success!
Once you arrive at the Bertoia website, simply type in what you are looking for . In this case, Kenton Pickwick bus.
I've arranged the Kenton cast iron buses from largest to smallest.
There were 5 sizes in total , and their lengths were:
1. 14" .355M
2. 11" .279M
3. 9" .228M
4. 7 1/4" .184M
5. 5" .127M
Interestingly enough, these very unique style of toys are not high-priced in terms of buying them.
The above toy bus is a "modernized' (contemporary) design based on the original Pickwick Nite Coach bus. However,please visit the 2 websites that I added at the beginning of this blog. Not only will you get a wonderful history of the Pickwick Stage Lines company, but you'll see fantastic old photos and blueprints of those fantastic buses from a bygone era of travel!
Thanks for dropping by,
and have a great part of the day,
wherever you may be.
Stacey
