ghosts of the Cycleliner?

[OhioTed]

At Mid-Ohio last year, I spotted two motorhomes in the camping area, which bore more than a passing resemblence to the famed Penton Cycleliner.  While I failed at that time to snap pictures of those particular units, this is in effect what they looked like:





Whattaya think?  Kinda remind you of the 'Liner?  Well, I thought they did, anyway.  Regardless, the style of these things really intrigued me.  I mean, they definitely have that "40's/50's" kinda roundy-swoopy vintage style-looking thing going on.  The thing is, the ones at VMD looked brand new!  

Considering that I'm really into any kind of stuff which is old and funky, plus really dig campers and motorhomes -



- I wanted to find out more about these super cool rv's.

I filed the mental images way, way in the back of my brain, and this morning finally decided to track down some info on them.  What I found turned out to be much more interesting than I expected.  

Turns out the units I saw at Mid-Ohio were not new, retro-styled, rv's, but rather the real McCoy - classic, vintage, converted buses, from a company with a motorcycle-related background.  Dig this exerpt, taken from Wikipedia:

In 1913, Hugo H. Young and Carl F. Dudte founded the Flexible Sidecar Co. in Loudonville, Ohio, to manufacture motorcycle sidecars with a flexible mounting to the motorcycle. The flexible mounting allowed the sidecar to lean on corners along with the motorcycle, and was based on a design patented by Young.

In 1919, the company's name was changed to The Flxible Co. (still pronounced "flexible") so that the name could be registered as a trademark.

After low-priced automobiles became available in the 1920s, the motorcycle sidecar demand dropped and in 1924, Flxible turned to production of funeral cars (hearses), and ambulances, which were primarily manufactured on Buick chassis, but also occasionally on Studebaker, Cadillac and REO chassis, and intercity buses, initially (1930's and early 40's) built on GMC truck chassis, and powered with Buick Straight 8 engines.

 
1947 Flxible Clipper highway coachIn 1953, Flxible absorbed the bus-manufacturing portion of the Fageol Twin Coach Company, and accepted its first order for transit buses from the Chicago Transit Authority. In 1964, Flxible purchased Southern Coach Manufacturing Co. of Evergreen, Alabama and built small transit buses at the former Southern Coach factory until 1976. Flxible was purchased by Rohr Industries in 1970, and a new factory and corporate headquarters were built in Delaware, Ohio in 1974, with the original factory in Loudonville, Ohio being used to manufacture parts and sub-assemblies. Flxible was sold to Grumman Corporation in 1978 and became known as Grumman Flxible. The name reverted to Flxible when Grumman sold the company in 1983 to General Automotive Corporation. In 1996, Flxible declared bankruptcy and its assets were auctioned. The last Flxible vehicles produced were eight 35 ft (11 m) CNG-fueled Metro buses that went to Monterey-Salinas Transit in Monterey, California. The former Flxible factory in Loudonville, Ohio is now a bus maintenance facility for Motor Coach Industries, while the former factory in Delaware, Ohio is now a parts facility for North American Bus Industries.

Is that cool or what?  I understand these thing were, and still are, super-popular, with clubs, and a very loyal following.  They were the cat's arse back in the day - THE trick rv/coach to be had.  While researching them, I found that celebs such as Roy Rogers (one of the coolest dudes to ever throw a leg over a horse, or a motorcycle) owned one.  So, whether you agree with me that the Flxible buses look like our fondly-remembered Penton Cycliner is up to you, you've got to admit that they're a cool item, and a neat story.  Hope you dig this info.

[firstturn]

Great post...I wish I would have had built one way back, but it takes so much space.

Ron Carbaugh

[Paul Danik]

Ted,

   Interesting post, it reminded me of something that happened back in 2000.

   John was the VMD Grand Marshall, back then there was a west coast VMD event at what was then Sears Point Raceway, now known as Infeneon Raceway, as well as the Mid-Ohio event. I made the trip with John and Al Born in John's diesel powered pickup pulling his Hi-Point trailer loaded with the POG display.

   John was driving as we left the track heading home, as we were making our way through Vallejo on our way to Interstate 80 I happened to look to the left and saw what looked to be the old Penton Cycleliner in a used truck lot. I pointed it out and John was instantly captivated by it, he said he should buy it and build another Cycleliner, but we kept moving forward.  As we moved along he kept looking back, eventually as it was getting out of sight he said it would be an awfully big job....and we kept going.

The bus was a Crown bus like the one he converted into the Cycleliners, and for a moment I thought we might be bringing it home. Just goes to show, you never know what you might bring home from a VMD event

Paul

[OhioTed]

Here's a Crown for sale!  http://crownbusdepot.com/.  What year(s) were the original Cycleliners?  This one's a '77.  Only $6750.  It's got a Detroit Diesel 671, rebuilt tranny, two new batteries, and half-a tank of fuel.  Also, it's got a "working wheelchair (bike) lift", and all but two of the seats have already been removed.    Location:  Arizona.  How 'bout we start a "Resurrect the Cycleliner" fund?  My check is in the mail.  Also, I'll be first volunteer of the team we'll need to go out and drive it back.

Here's another one:  http://thebusstore.com/vehicle/DisplayAd.asp?id=359.  Only $5300!  It's a beauty!

This one's not a Crown, and it's a bit more expensive, but what a looker!  http://www.bargainbusnews.com/Buses/2103-1940GeneralMotorsFuturliner/.  I think "Penton Cycleliner" would look quite good, lettered onto the side of this baby.