This venerable Silversides is looking for a new garage – but this isn’t just any old bus: it’s been converted to an RV with all the comforts of home. Find it here on facebook Marketplace from an owner who apparently has more than one GM bus! This one runs so well that the seller offers delivery for the price of gas. It’s located in St Croix Falls, Wisconsin, and the price has been marked down to $11,000. Compared to most any other travel vehicle you want to consider, this is a bargain, despite a few warts. Thanks to NW Iowa Kevin for the great tip!
Raymond Loewy designed the Silversides – with its distinctive corrugated aluminum siding – in 1939, on behalf of Greyhound. Production under GM’s Yellow Coach brand began in 1940, drawing to a close when WWII began. The post-war version of the Silversides was made from 1947 through 1948. Two seating arrangements were available, for 37 or 41 passengers. Altogether, fewer than 2600 Silversides were made, and estimates suggest that only a small fraction survive. This is a PD-3751 – originally configured for 37 seats. The bus is powered by the fabled two-stroke, supercharged Detroit Diesel 6-71, mounted transversely in the rear to maximize cargo space. Factory-rated output from this inline six in 1947 was around 190 hp. The gearbox is a non-synchro four-speed with a verrrryyyy long linkage. The seller notes oil seepage and an exhaust leak, but the fan belts, starting batteries, water pump, alternator, and several other items are new.
The interior has been well-kept. The fridge, plumbing, and fresh water tank are new, and all the lights and gauges work. The relatively new air conditioning keeps everyone cool, and a battery/inverter combo will run components for 4-5 days. The bath is positively commodious compared to some trailers I’ve seen. The bedroom offers plenty of storage and a window by the bed, great for stargazing.
I’m slightly claustrophobic, so this bus with its generous helping of windows feels a lot better to me than the typical RV. And see that table there? Perfect for writing for Barn Finds! Of course, learning to drive this guy might take the rest of my life. The right buyer will find this PD-3751, fix its few niggling issues, polish it to radiance, and have a stylish rolling retreat. How about you – does this old Silversides fire your imagination?
Here’s a gear jammer for ya. ⚙️
Cool rig, thanks Michelle.
I thought we needed something like this for a while. There was something similar sold on (censored) a couple years ago. It came back up for sale a year later. I called and asked the guy why he was selling it. He said from parking on the street in SoCal he’d earned $1200 in parking tickets in 12 months!
“And I was born in the back seat of a Greyhound bus, rolling down Hy.41”,,actually born in Milwaukee, but considering my background, you’d think so. Couple things I’m sure the author won’t mind. The motor, was typically 238hp, and turbos could push it to almost 290hp, with catastrophic results. This bus had a V drive, and the shift linkage mentioned was indeed a marvel. Apparently, it was a 2 rod setup, and was a chore to drive. I read only ’47&’48 had those. The 1st Silverside was issued to a James F. Stone, for his 17 year safety record with Greyhound. As said, these were made by Yellow Coach and was Greyhounds idea to put the silver siding. The “fuel converter” motor ( converts diesel fuel into noise) isn’t “supercharged”, per se, the “supercharger” is actually a blower, and blew the exhaust out of the crankcase. It wasn’t until later, drag racers used it as a supercharger.
This is a good find, with a crash box and column shift, I can’t begin to say what is wrong for the future. I think I’d have issues with it,,,nah, I’ve driven much worse, but seriously, who could handle this today? Many here could, but we represent a small portion of the people that might even half consider it, needs an automatic and I’m sorry, those “camper terlets” are gross, being an expert on that subject(cough)
Now some say there is an age rule for campgrounds, generally 10 years old, and that’s true, but I read there is also what’s called a “judgement call”, and upon inspection, these are allowed in, provided they are nice. I’ve also dispelled any interest in a camper, I think driving this would be a hassle coupled to a bother. And don’t forget to slam your finger in the door, to get in the right frame of mind,,, it is a cool find.
Oh, one more thing( Columbo), don’t let a cop see that stack, as exhaust stacks like that need a guard. Ask me how I know,,,,and if a straight pipe, it may sound nice, but you’ll be glad that motor is 50 feet behind you, again, ask me how I know.
SOLD!
The engine and trans are similar to the 4104 i used to drive. Non synchro Spicer box, double clutch up and down. If you got the engine rpm versus road speed right it would slip into gear without the clutch but a lot of the time you grind hamburger. The engine is 35 feet away and loud as it is hard to hear when you have a noisy load and no tach, so you need finesse. One thing, if it was below zero and the coach sat outside all night, even if you got the engine started, the long long clutch cable froze solid. Frustrated a few early morning ski trippers ( and drivers).
O man, a 6-71. When my dad taught me the trucking business in the early 1970’s he said, “There’s only one way to drive a Detroit—slam your hand in the door and drive it like you are mad at it…” Every person in the back half of the coach will need hearing protection! I’m not a buyer, but I’d love to drive her for a few miles. The discussion then was “Minimum Horsepower” (Detroit) vs “Reserve Horsepower.” (Cat, Cummins). Yep, Minimum Horsepower meant that you were going to have a sore arm from shifting gears!
Ayup, my hearing loss (24/7 tinnitus) is without a doubt attributed to countless miles in 6v53’s, 6-71’s, 318’s, and to max it off, a Freightliner with a 425hp with a Jake Brake which I drove for thousands of miles a week. Best of luck for the dude who buys that coach’ for family use. BTW—I wonder where that dinette set ends up if you clamp on the brakes !!
cool looking. not going to see another.
There’s a great You Tube site, Bus Grease Monkey, to which I subscribe. The lead guy has a 47 Silverside that he calls ‘Lenny’. They do bus repairs in detail. Watching their videos, I, as someone who has wrenched on cars and small trucks for decades, am totally daunted by the effort it takes, as well as the detailed knowledge, to repair a bus. Almost all of them that they work on are pushers, from the 40s to present day. Pick any of the videos. The tools required and the heft of everything they touch is amazing. Well worth a viewing.
I was thinking the very same thing when I saw this article!
That dinette does not have proper seatbelts. I’m out!
The table & chairs are gonna be airborne.
Wow! Looks like the first tour bus
I rode on in 1970. Midwest Entertainment had a few of these
marked with those cheesy “Shower Of Stars” decals that really detracted from the looks of
the coach IMHO. Ours had a booth setup with bolted down seats and a table, a fridge, two couches, four sleeping bunks, and a very small bathroom. And
my 15 year old self thought for a
while that I REALLY was a star! Far from it! In those days, if you
had a hit record in 3 states you
were considered to be a big star.
I never had any of that, but I sure
had a damned good time playing
music over the road for nearly 22
years! Wouldn’t mind doing a small tour today if my health would allow it. I’d take Angel with
me to show her what touring was
like back then. And hopefully, she’d enjoy it as much as I did.
Michelle, Thanks for bringing us this bus. Howard has hit the high spots, but if this shift linkage has been converted from the original floor to column shift it must be a nightmare!! Agree this should be changed to an Allison automatic. I think that exhaust stack is mostly for “bling” and does not look right, but might be an attempt to get the “Detroit Noise” further from the occupants. The overall camper conversion looks well done, so basically this can be an easily used vehicle. To add to Ron’s previous Flxible history many of their busses have been converted to motor homes. There is a large club for them in Australia. This picture was taken during the Alice Springs NT AU Truckie’s Reunion parade in 2015.
I had never seen one that wasn’t column shift – I believe they did not go to floor shifts until the next models (4102 and 4103).
Those transmission linkages. Actually they were well designed and the guides all kept them in place. The person(s) that designed them out must’ve used them.
If that’s the original engine, that could be the old 2-valve with the Crown injectors. 180 hp would be the max on that, with a deluge of black smoke to. Well, there were some 4-valve versions that had modified Crown injectors.
Those old Crown injectors, you could test them by dribbling some fuel through the inlet port then squeezing the plunger down as if you were playing with a squirt gun. If the fuel sprayed out of the orifices evenly you would be tempted to continue using them. You could do the same with a set of Needle injectors but you would need a lot stronger set of fingers than I have.
Crowns operate with less than 300 psi while Needles are 3000+. Trouble with Crowns is that they could seep when sitting, which would allow fuel to run down into the combustion chamber where you could possibly hydraulic lock the cylinder.
The 4-Valve engine with the N-type injectors could get up to 238 hp, 265 with turbo and N-75 injectors. Leave the turbo off and you got a mosquito killer. For that matter you probably have a mosquito killer anyways…
What a refreshing seller’s description for a change.
Mom, didn’t have a license or car back in the 40’s. We rode these things all the time in Western Pennsylvania. Used to dart out in the road to see if it was coming.
LOOKS like FUN! (but then again, NOT)
The summer of 1968 was the first summer I worked at the dude ranch in the central Colorado Rockies. They had 2 of these buses, used to take people who didn’t drive to the ranch back and forth from the Denver Airport, 125 miles on a then dangerous 2 lane (Colorado 285, not much better now). They actually leased them from an outfit called Leadville Transit, but after 2 brake failures (thankfully on pretty level road) and regular non-starts the ranch bought a much newer bus and hired a driver for the next year.
I did one trip to the airport and back and it was white knuckle the whole way….
Hi Mike, I had a friend who was a tour guide and rode a bus like this for an outfit. He was the guy on the mike, “and on the left”. These typically had no emergency “piggy-back” brakes, and loss of air, meant no brakes. On a long down grade, he noticed the driver having a bit of a problem, but but kept up,, “and on the right”,,,As the bus gained speed, the driver fought successfully to kept it under control, and at the bottom, pulled off, and got out, and was seen smoking a cigarette behind the bus,, :D
Hi Mike, I had a friend who was a tour guide and rode a bus like this for an outfit. He was the guy on the mike, “and on the left”. These typically had no emergency “piggy-back” brakes, and loss of air, meant no brakes. On a long down grade, he noticed the driver having a bit of a problem, but but kept up,, “and on the right”,,,As the bus gained speed, the driver fought successfully to kept it under control, and at the bottom, pulled off, and got out, and was seen with a cigarette behind the bus,, :D
Will this site ever get over the commenting snafus? Getting powerful annoying.
The bus company I retired from bought one of these for parades & shows & sourced another one for parts. This one was black with the silver and underwent a complete restoration. It’s model # PD3751-122; P- parlor coach, D- diesel, 37- seating capacity, 51-post -war production, 122- 122nd produced. I grabbed a brochure before I retired.
In the April 2023 issue’s “Collectible Comments” or letters to the editor section, there was a question about how the transmission shifts. I asked our shop foreman and he confirmed it is a 4-speed with a button to be used for shifting into reverse. Driver selects 1st gear, pushes & holds the button, shifts into second gear, then releases the button at which time it’ll be in reverse.
The article itself appears in the December 2022 issue of Collectible Automobile if you can find it.
……..Do you need a CDL to drive this ? 😂😂
Basically NO as long as you have Motor Home plates on it.
A Detroit Diesel leaking oil? If it didn’t, there’s something wrong with it! LOL! When I was a teenager, I was in a drum and bugle corps, and these were fairly common among the corps. My group didn’t have one – we had a 4103, which was the next generation after the Silversides. They ran well, despite the lack of HP. We had to borrow one from another corps when one of our coaches crapped out on the freeway, andto watch our driver shift on the “4 on the tree” was pretty cool! I thought they looked cool with the Art Deco look. This one looks pretty good, but where I am at, it would not be feasible to own. Someone should snap it up – they are tanks!
One of the names we shared in relation to Detroit Diesels was “Green Leakers.” Basically, if they stopped leaking oil you better check it, because it’s probably out…
Mom and Dad paid their bookkeeper to ride with me in a Greyhound bus to the next town when I was about 5 – it was big Scenicruiser! Years later, I got to drive my brother’s older Silver Eagle with a standard transmission – the long linkage did NOT help things. We headed out on I-65 uphill from Montgomery and my shifting scared the shift out of a lot of other motorists. The biggest question I ever had about driving a bus was answered – “How do you keep from running over other cars in that big thing?” The answer is “Don’t worry about it”. When you swerve going up the interstate, the other cars will go into the median if they have to!