Ever wondered why “Flxible” is missing an “e”? The spelling dates back to the early 1900s, when the company was founded around the invention of a flexible link that attached a sidecar to a motorcycle allowing both to lean simultaneously in turns – absolutely necessary for racing. The name of the company was Flexible Side Car Company. To facilitate acquisition of a trademark, the company dropped the “e” from its name in 1919. The company sold its product for about ten years before demand declined and a new venture was needed. The advent of ever cheaper automobiles prompted a move into professional cars – ambulances and hearses, for instance – and buses. Here on facebook Marketplace is a 1947 Flxible Clipper passenger bus project, with an asking price of $8000. The bus is located in Englewood, Colorado and since it doesn’t run, the new owner will need a very large trailer! Thanks to T.J. for this fantastic find.
Most Flxible buses were built on Buick chassis until the inter-city Clipper was introduced in the 1930s; it was situated on a GM truck chassis. The Clipper seated about 30 passengers and was originally powered by a Buick straight-8 or Cummins diesel engine. In 1958, as a result of an antitrust lawsuit brought against GM by the US government, GM diesels became available to outside buyers, and began showing up in Flxible buses. This engine, which the seller suspects has at least one burnt valve, is a GM 401 Magnum V6. The 401M was introduced in 1966, makes 210 bhp and generates 348 net lb-ft of torque; it’s paired with a manual transmission. This bus belonged to Monte Skinner, who used it on his ranch and beyond. Skinner was a professional ski instructor (just one of a long list of his vocations – including dude ranching, packing, elk hunt guide extraordinaire, etc!); apparently the bus transported Olympic hopeful skiers to various resorts.
The bus retains its seating and luggage racks. These items are often sold off or discarded when Clippers are made into RVs, which appears to be the most popular use for a bus these days. Here’s a very informative video featuring a later version of the Clipper that’s been meticulously restored and reformatted into living quarters.
Streamlined design was all the rage in the 1940s. The Clipper has a gentle wrap to its twin windshields, forward-tilted window frames along its flanks, and a neat rounded tail punctuated by a roof-top air scoop feeding the radiator in the engine bay. The heavy aluminum badge up front and dual side-by-side headlamps are just two of this Clipper’s appealing vintage fixtures. What do you think of this project? Would it make a cool RV?
Would it make a cool RV?
NO. That interior looks amazing. If it were not there or in bad shape, then yeah. Gut it. But that inside should be left alone
Thanks Michelle ✍️
SKINNER!!! I suppose I wondered about the “e”, but figured it was a sales gimmick, like PeterBILT, and such. Apparently, the Clipper was considered the “DC3” for buses. It was the 1st bus designed to do so. I read, a host of motors could be had, including a 4-71 DD, a 6 DD, a White flathead 6, Fageol bus motors, and many big block V8s, and eventually the 6V92, all going through a 5 speed manual, although some Allison automatics appeared too. It was the chariot for the masses and any vintage Hollywood film is guaranteed to have one. Rail was king for the main routes, but it was the bus that hit every Mayberry on the map. In fact, the still beautiful at 93, Barbara Eden climbs off a bus, a Brill IC-41, waaaaaay before Jeannie, much to the barber groups interest.
Not sure about this one, vintage buses are making a big comeback for limited passenger service, a better bet, if you had the pockets, make it into a motorhome for best appeal.
In all my driving, sharing the road with a “stagecoach” was an everyday thing. Nothing but the utmost in professional driving, and a tip of the hat to all bus drivers. They are responsible for all the passengers, and basically on their own, although the cell phone has helped greatly.
Tried to do a 👍🏻 for your insight Howard but apparently the algorithms have been changed..
Thumbs up, Howard. Well said, like always. I used to drive bus, a GM 4104. I have always since been a “bus nut”.
Howard, I’m guessing you already know of their longevity. I only know about it due to a dip in my living circumstances. In Portland and Multnomah county most of the short feeder runs of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s were provided with the last of the Flexible Flyers. Or that is what one driver – an ex-professional basketball player – called them. I was bussing it for the usual reasons (divorce) while trying to re-establish some fiscal balance. The contrast of material and attention to detail was obvious between the then new GM coaches with their wide swathes of plastic and the 40 year old Flxibles. I pulled myself up and didn’t witness their complete retirement, but saw a few on my rounds looking for wandering the back forests of Oregon. Much like the Bluebird counterparts, I would imagine. They deserved better, but so did Greyhound.
👍
I worked on lots of buses powered by the “Toro-Flop” DH 478. It was essentially a stroked 401. Actually, aside from lack of power, they worked OK. Some problems with the “Intravance” injection pump camshaft. You would start it up cold and all would be well but when the oil pressure came up, the injection timing would advance to full, which was well and good, but sometimes, it shut down in the advanced mode, and was a bear to start afterwards. Saw some later ones with the 6V-71 but never with the 92 series. Of course I didn’t work on as many buses as I did trucks…
‘Just a little bit south of Saskatoon’ .. .
You couldn’t trademark a common word, like Flexible, so they dropped the “e” to make it unique.
I rode in a number of these back in the day and I always thought they had the best styling of any intercity bus.
I thought dual headlights were not DOT approved before 1958?
Quad headlights were approved nationwide for 1958, but some states allowed them earlier. Some manufacturers called the second pair “driving lights” or “fog lights” as a workaround.
All that said, this applied to passenger cars and light trucks, which had different regulations than heavier duty trucks and buses. For example, the GM Futurliner buses had a 4-headlight array as displayed at the 1939 Worlds Fair.
Cool on the outside, and, depending on how much $ you want to spend, can be really cool on the inside. Stopped to assist a “broken down” one on its way to Burning Man a few years ago, just overheated on local 10 mile 6% grade, owner confident once it cooled down the rest of the trip would be easy. Interior was entirely, including ceiling, wood paneled. Ceiling was wood slats like in station wagons of the day. All curved. It got there, going home, to S. Cal would be “easy” only a few of the grades going south were as long. It had a Caterpillar diesel and rear end, which was a bit wider than stock so rear wheels stuck out a bit from original and clearly were not stock.
Positively the most gorgeous bus of all time. I remember them in service in Continental Air Transport livery in Chicago for a qiick shuttle to Midway Airport. This amazing example should be restpred displayed at NATMUS museum in Auburn Indiana, This is a poor mans Futureliner,
Positively the most gorgeous bus of all time. I remember them in service in Continental Air Transport livery in Chicago for a qiick shuttle to Midway Airport. This amazing example should be restored and displayed at NATMUS museum in Auburn Indiana, This is a poor mans Futureliner,
Only thing I know about these is from the movie RV I nice one converted into a motor home don’t know what that would cost I would consider getting it running and driving then send it to mecum auction see if I can turn a profit
ugh…401 V6 I owned one in a blubird bus. don’t take it over 1800rpm for any length of time….
This has always been my Number One choice for “cool” buses. Number Two was the White Motors Model 798 with the huge horizontally-opposed twelve cylinder monster under the floorboards, between the axles.
The Roadmaster-powered Flxibles and the flat twelve Whites were gutless wonders with only a 3-speed gearbox but did they ever sound great going through the gears… what few there were of them. Split axles would have helped.
Back in the ’60s I worked with a dirt contractor in town who had two 2 1/2 ton Chevies with split rears, a ’53 with a 270 DIC GMC L-6 implanted, the other a ’55 with the 265 CID V-8. The axles helped get the most out of low power and a 4-speed gearboxes.
I was doing the bicycle thing back when the roads were well-populated with the Whites, the Flexies followed a little later.
Back when I first joined my fire department, we had a 58 Chevy tanker with a 283 and two speed behind a 4 speed. Boy, did that small block Chevy sound sweet revving thru the gears with a full 1300 gallon load of water. You gave me a flash of that memory when you mentioned your old Chevy trucks, and thanks for that.
Forgot to mention that both of those Chevies were with six yard dump bodies. Boss was smart, had them licensed for 32K lbs. Sent me out for a load of bank run gravel one time to a yard where I had to pass the NJ weigh station on NJ 17 at the NY line on the way out of the yard. It was on a long upgrade to the south.
Well, I made sure there were no tailings on the outside of the body and that the gate chains weren’t swinging free, left the yard and headed up the grade, split shifting all the way. One of the DOT vehicles was behind me all the way and when I topped the grade after a mile at about 35 MPH, he pulled aside and signaled me to follow him back to the scales. I did.
There was a trick at the yards that got customers to pay for the weight of the driver. Pull onto the scales empty, go inside and place the order. Get in, go into the yard and get loaded, then get back to the scales.
The scale operator already had the bill in the printer and as soon as the scale bed stopped oscillating it stamped the bill with the total weight out, minus the empty weight in. They weighed the truck with driver in the office on the way in so it was light. They tried to nail the outgoing weight with the driver aboard. Sneaky.
We learned how far to pull on the long parking brake lever beside the shifter so that the truck would come to a stop from a slow walk, then jumped out and off the scale before it actually stopped. THEN go inside and pick up the tab. Lotsa dirty looks from that trick. Just a smart a$$ college architecture student on summer break who learned the ropes.
Oh, that mandatory state weigh-out came to 31,980 lbs. using the above mentioned trick. And I weighed more than 20 lbs. Saved the boss a bundle on that one as NJ charged a buck a pound back then for overload.
Will, hope your boss at least bought you a beer for saving him some money. I knew some steel haulers that would have to be careful how they loaded in the winter as if it rained then froze on the load there could be as much as 5000 pounds of ice. I knew one guy who got busted on overweight that way. He learned to try to thaw out his load to de-ice it if he could. Structural steel with base plates and end plates can hold a lot of water.
Among the Flixible Clipper’s notable movie roles is in the opening of Storm Warning (1951) starring Ronald Reagan, Ginger Rogers. and Doris Day. Recipe for a musical comedy? Wrong! Southern DA Ronnie takes on the KKK in this no holds barred noir thriller. One of Ronnie’s best, if not his very best roles and almost unknown.
A man by the name of Anseth imported and/or built under license many Flxibls to Australia under the name Ansair Flxilbe Clipper.. They are still a very many of them converted to RV’s Down Under.
Saw on at the Bathurst Motor Museum several years ago. Going back 20 years there was a derelict one at Coonabarbran, NSW.
There one year, gone the next.
I initially thought there might be a restroom in the back.
GM had pioneered that. Proir to that you had to hold it until a rest stop.
David,
I’m thinking Flxible was the first.
Many buses had a “restroom” in the back, whether they had one, or not. Apparently, Greg Allman was born in the back seat of one, rolling down Hy. 41.
A coke bottle or improvised thunder mug. If ya gotta go, ya gotta go.
Chris,
There was close to a dozen at the Truckie’s Reunion in Alice Springs NT when I attended in 2015. I have heard that there is a large Flxible club in AU???
Michelle,
Did you know that the Flex Clippers other rear engine Flexs were unibody/monocoque construction.
Our Duesenbarge is a 1945 Clipper that was converted in 59.
Last year for the Frog Face. Many think the rounded front, curved windshield and sculpting around the 4 7″ lamps is sexier.
A couple of serious collector/vintage racers toured our bus conversion. They both liked the round front better and one said to the other “Let’s go half on a Flexible and a DC3.”
Some of these had 2, 3 and I heard of a 4 front bumper bus.
Ours has 2 or 3? One above the lamps and one in the normal position for sure.
Howard, JoeNYWF64,
Yup. Duesenbarge still has the original small toilet and little SS corner sink in the back on one side. Engine dog house is in the middle and the rest in back is luggage compartment. It was a 26 or 28 passenger coach.