Re: Possible origin of the Silver & Golden Eagle Emblem
Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2020 12:00 pm
Thanks Double Eagle for those illustrations and their text.
The first illustration has what must be a typo in it as it says that Kässbohrer joined the Eagle project in 1975 rather than 1955.
The other one is a late model ACF Brill. No way could that compete with GM's 4104, even with diesel power and airco so ACF left the bus
business the same year the 4104 was introduced, 1953. They may have continued building transit buses, trolley buses and light rail vehicles
for a while but no more coaches. ACF also tried to compete with the PCC streetcar but they were quickly blown into the weeds.
That late model ACF was one of the types that would have used the CONTINENTAL TRAILWAYS version of the banner as it wasn't an Eagle.
Same for other ACF's, Becks, Aerocoaches, Fitzjohns and whatever else was out there at the time. As American bought Burlington, I'm sure they had
a very interesting fleet between them. By the way, this is the first time I've seen one of those with the Continental name but no mention of Eagle..
Yes there were two basic banner designs. The first had the banner just above the lower half of the ring or circle and the second had it going right
through the middle.
That Brill Semi Deck and a Half coach was a one of a kind built at Continental's request. Had it worked out, Continental would have ordered 150 of them. It was
only 35 feet long (the legal limit in most places back then) and they were heavier and had more aerodynamic drag than any other coach on the road back then. I also suspect that it was underpowered. Not withstanding the progress in diesel engines that was made during WW2, American manufacturers of diesel engines were unable to design an engine back then that made at least 200 HP for road use and were totally reliable. In case no one remembers, Continental and Flxible nearly came to blows because the VL-100 was underpowered and unreliable. The entire fleet of them (113) were repowered with GM 6-71's with 211 HP.
OK, what's a 'Semi' deck and a half? This ACF was the first postwar version. The difference between a semi and a full deck and a half was the height of the
upper level. This bus and those later made by Beck and Flxible (Vista-Liner 100) had an upper deck half as tall as the GM 4501, which is a full deck and a half..
The first illustration has what must be a typo in it as it says that Kässbohrer joined the Eagle project in 1975 rather than 1955.
The other one is a late model ACF Brill. No way could that compete with GM's 4104, even with diesel power and airco so ACF left the bus
business the same year the 4104 was introduced, 1953. They may have continued building transit buses, trolley buses and light rail vehicles
for a while but no more coaches. ACF also tried to compete with the PCC streetcar but they were quickly blown into the weeds.
That late model ACF was one of the types that would have used the CONTINENTAL TRAILWAYS version of the banner as it wasn't an Eagle.
Same for other ACF's, Becks, Aerocoaches, Fitzjohns and whatever else was out there at the time. As American bought Burlington, I'm sure they had
a very interesting fleet between them. By the way, this is the first time I've seen one of those with the Continental name but no mention of Eagle..
Yes there were two basic banner designs. The first had the banner just above the lower half of the ring or circle and the second had it going right
through the middle.
That Brill Semi Deck and a Half coach was a one of a kind built at Continental's request. Had it worked out, Continental would have ordered 150 of them. It was
only 35 feet long (the legal limit in most places back then) and they were heavier and had more aerodynamic drag than any other coach on the road back then. I also suspect that it was underpowered. Not withstanding the progress in diesel engines that was made during WW2, American manufacturers of diesel engines were unable to design an engine back then that made at least 200 HP for road use and were totally reliable. In case no one remembers, Continental and Flxible nearly came to blows because the VL-100 was underpowered and unreliable. The entire fleet of them (113) were repowered with GM 6-71's with 211 HP.
OK, what's a 'Semi' deck and a half? This ACF was the first postwar version. The difference between a semi and a full deck and a half was the height of the
upper level. This bus and those later made by Beck and Flxible (Vista-Liner 100) had an upper deck half as tall as the GM 4501, which is a full deck and a half..