Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Faegol Cast Iron Busses
My topic for today is Faegol Cast Iron Busses. I've written about cast iron busses before, but sometimes the history of the "real" item is more important than the toy itself.
The company was founded in 1916 to manufacture motor trucks, farm tractors and automobiles in Oakland,California.[1]
Fageol produced two luxury automobiles, but production was halted when the supply of Hall-Scott SOHC six-cylinder engines was diverted to build airplanes for the World War I effort.
The initial Fageol farm tractor was a re-labeled Hamilton model, designed and built by Rush Hamilton of Geyserville, California. As a result of the many tractor performance trials of the day, the tractor was redesigned to be more compatible with the needs of the West Coast. The Fageol version was designed by a team led by Horatio Smith with the cooperation of Hamilton. In about 1923, the tractor business was sold to the Great Western Motors Company of San Jose. Hamilton and Smith went with the sale.
In 1921, Fageol became the first company to build a bus from the ground up. This new style bus was initially called "Safety Bus".[2] The goal was to build a bus that was resistant to overturning when cornering. It had a wide track, and was lower to the ground for ease of entry and exit. Following the successful introduction, the vehicles were renamed "Safety Coaches", a term intended to imply greater value.
Fageol trucks were well built and became favorites of the industry, owing in part to the dual range, mid-mounted transmission. This gearbox allowed for extreme ranges in gearing for slow speed heavy hauling and for highway speeds with lighter loads. These vehicles were easily spotted by the large number "7" painted on the front of the radiator.
The Fageol brothers left the company in 1927 to form the Twin Coach Company, manufacturing buses in Kent, Ohio.
The company lead by the President, L.H. Bill, did not survive the depression of the early 1930s. It went into receivership, and the bank assumed control and re-organized under the name Fageol Truck and Coach. In 1938, T. A. Peterman bought the factory and its contents. In 1939, the first Peterbilt was produced in the Fageol tradition of building the best possible product.**
**Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fageol
Obviously, in the 1910's and 1920's there must have been a lot of terrible accidents and unfortunate deaths due to poor bus design. Of course, the car and bus had only been around for less than 15 years, so safety and progress were in their infancy. However, as the written narrative indicates,the Fageol Brothers created a new type of bus "from the ground up" that was designed with more safety in mind.
I found the 4 photos below on a great website : http://www.hankstruckpictures.ca/fageol.htm
The site's owner - Mr. Hank Suderman replied speedily to my e-mail asking for his permission to use the excellent photos of the Faegol company employees and the excellent photos of the bus. The photos were taken by Mr. Linus Joseph Garcia Junior.
You can see the "Fageol Safety Coach" logo on the front of the bus in the photo above. What I found interesting is that so far as I have found,, only Arcade and A.C.Williams had made these Fageol made these cast iron busses. As well, the value achieved at auctions is very good, but not "sky high".
I was fortunate to find a "real bus with people" of an actual 1920's photo courtesy of Wikipedia and the uploader - Magnus Manske. As well, I was thankfully able to use Mr. Hank Sunderman and his photos courtesy of Mr. Linus Joseph Garcia Jr.
Thanks for dropping by,
and always,
have a great part of the day wherever you may be,
and for my Australian readers,
G'day Mate
(I just couldn't resist this!)
Stacey
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