This Glorious Diesel Transit Bus Used To Carry People To A Nuke Site, Now It’s An Extremely Affordable Camper

Transit buses and their drivers serve a critical, yet thankless role in getting countless people to work every day. When those buses are done with their service lives, they’re often scrapped, but some escape to live the easy life. This 1964 Flxible New Look used to carry 53 people to and from a nuclear plant. Nowadays, it lives an easy life as a simple camper dressed up like a log cabin. Oh, and this diesel coach is affordable; almost cheap enough to buy for the giggles.

The General Motors New Look transit bus is an American icon. Look at vintage pictures of American cities and it won’t take you long to find one of GM’s greatest vehicles in the background. Tens of thousands of these buses delivered countless Americans to work safely each day in style. General Motors was such a dominator in the bus market that “New Look” became a generic term to describe the era’s buses, not unlike how “Kleenex” is a generic term for facial tissue regardless of actual brand name.

The bus on your screen today is not a GM New Look. Yes, it looks like one, or at least the video game clone of one. It, too, even carries the name New Look. However, this is not a GM product. Instead, it came from one of GM’s competitors of the day, Flxible.

A New Generation Of Buses

While Flxible was best-known for its buses, it actually got its start by innovating motorcycle sidecars. In 1912, Hugo H. Young ran a Harley-Davidson dealership in Mansfield, Ohio. His calling to the motorcycle world would be to revolutionize the sidecar by removing the hard mount to the motorcycle and replacing it with a flexible connection. This allowed the motorcycle to have a sidecar while retaining the ability to lean. In 1913, Young launched the Flexible Side Car Company to market his idea and the company would be incorporated for $25,000 a year later.

This caught the attention of a figure who frequently shows up in old car history: Charles F. Kettering. Yep, the same guy behind the infamous Copper-Cooled Chevrolet engine and GM’s diesel development program also had his hands in flexible motorcycle sidecars. Kettering would serve as Flxible’s president of its board of directors from 1915 to 1940 and as chairman from 1940 until his death in 1958. Kettering also sat on a stack of cash from selling Delco to GM and he injected it straight into Flxible.

By 1919, the Flexible Side Car Company became large enough that it wanted to change its name and apply for a trademark. As Flxible Owners International notes, the company found out that it couldn’t trademark “Flexible.” The solution was simple. “Flexible” is a word, but “Flxible” is not, and that was the ticket. The Flxible Company was born. Yep, removing vowels from company names predated the modern day’s silicon valley nonsense.

The sidecar business wasn’t one that would last long-term. Flxible’s sidecars were expensive, but Ford Model Ts were not, and Flxible began losing ground to the automobile. Eventually, Flxible jumped ship and began constructing service vehicles. Flxible’s first bus was a 12-passenger Studebaker sedan built in 1924. The company quickly diversified its portfolio, adding ambulances and hearses to its sales, too. Yet, by the end of the 1920s, buses made for half of Flxible’s vehicle production.

Skipping ahead to 1951, Flxible joined forces with Fageol Twin Coach to build transit buses. Flxible would absorb Fageol’s bus manufacturing business only a few years later. This was a win for Flxible as it gave the company a set of proper transit bus to sell to fleets all over North America. Chicago in particular loved the Flxible Twin Coach FT series and had a few hundred in its fleet. The Chicago Transit Authority says some of these buses were fueled by propane!

Unfortunately, these successes would be short-lived as GM hit the market with a whole new bus in 1959. The GM New Look brought bus design into the modern day with large windows, a sleek look, and the performance craved by fleets. Suddenly, Flxible had to catch up.

Its response launched in 1961 as the Flxible New Look. Now, to be clear, this bus does have a real name, but an example of a Flxible New Look model name is “FD6V401-7.” Instead, the common name for these buses is New Look, just like the GM offering.

The Flxible New Look is similar to the GM New Look in more than visuals. It rides on an air suspension and features aluminum fluted siding. The New Look also had a fishbowl-style windshield, doors that slide open, and parallelogram side windows. The Flxible model also had diesel power just like the GM coach. Yet, despite having a similar bus, Flxible didn’t sell nearly as many units. GM made over 44,000 of its New Look to just 13,121 Flxible New Look buses.

This 1964 Flxible New Look Motorhome

That makes the bus you see here a rare sight. I mean, GM New Looks are already rare today and these are only rarer.

According to the seller, this bus was delivered new to the United States Atomic Energy Commission in 1964. They go on to claim that the coach was used as a 53-seat transit bus to get VIPs to the Hanford Site in Washington. This was no normal nuclear facility, from the Department of Energy:

The Hanford site, a 580-square-mile section of semi-arid desert in southeast Washington, was established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project to produce plutonium for national defense. Hanford produced nearly two-thirds of the plutonium used in the US nuclear weapons stockpile, including materials for the Trinity Test and atomic bombs used to help end World War II. Cleanup of the Hanford site is managed by two DOE offices, the Richland Operations Office and the Office of River Protection. Watch the video below to learn more about the Hanford site.

If the seller’s story is true, this isn’t just any transit bus. Eventually, the government let this bus go and in 1984, the coach was repowered and had a new braking system fitted. Then, the bus underwent a motorhome conversion.

The conversion on the bus wasn’t an extensive one. The exterior was left largely alone, which I like. Some transit bus builds look a little goofy as builders blank out windows and make other changes. This bus looks clean and like the piece of history that it is. Your only clue that it’s a motorhome are the two RV air-conditioners on the coach’s roof.

What we’re looking at here is a Flxible FD6V401-7. That mishmash of letters and steering do mean something. The “F” indicates that the bus was made by Flxible while “D” indicates a diesel engine. Meanwhile, “6V” means a Detroit Diesel 6V-71 engine while “40” means a 40-foot model and “1” indicates a transit bus rather than a suburban model.

This bus did not have an air-conditioner when new and the coach has been repowered with a Detroit Diesel 6V-71T. That engine is a 7.0-liter turbodiesel V6 making around 262 HP and 725 lb-ft of torque. It also has a new transmission. Sadly, the seller doesn’t tell us what the top speed is.

What I can tell you is that the bus was given a clearly DIY, but still nice motorhome conversion. The seller says:

Large Center Kitchen: Cook up your favorite meals in the fully equipped kitchen, featuring an RV refrigerator, propane oven/stove, and a 110v 5-gallon water heater for instant hot water. The kitchen also includes a Fan-Tastic fan that is thermostatically controlled and closes automatically when it rains, ensuring a comfortable cooking environment.

Ample Water Storage: Enjoy extended stays off-grid with a 50-gallon water storage tank.
Septic System: Includes both black and gray water tanks with RV dumping capabilities for easy waste management.
Advanced Power System: Stay powered up with a battery system and a 3000W inverter. The power switches automatically from campground plugs to running from the batteries. The batteries recharge when plugged in or when the bus is running, providing reliable power wherever you are.
Cooling Comfort: Stay cool with two roof-mounted Coleman air-conditioning units, ensuring comfort throughout the bus.

Sleeping Arrangements: Comfortably sleep up to 9 people with a variety of sleeping options:
Rear cabin with a private door and 3 beds.
Center bunks offering 2 beds.
Front cabin with 2 couches that convert into double beds.
Bathroom: Convenient bathroom with a sink and potty, ensuring all the comforts of home while on the road.

The seller notes a few caveats. While the air suspension is fine, they note a leak in one of the air lines, leading to the bus airing down overnight. The engine is said to be reliable, but has an oil leak that you’ll want to check on from time to time. Finally, the tires are said to be in good condition, but they’re also 13 years old, which isn’t great. So, you have some work to do.

Do Some Bus Stuff

Still, none of that work has to be building out the interior if you don’t want it to. This bus has working plumbing, shore power, and air-conditioners. In my eye, you just need to figure out a shower and this thing would be great. I already want to take it on a road trip.

Now, I’ll be clear when I say I don’t think this is a beautiful conversion. This is not a conversion that looks like it rolled out of the Flxible factory that way. With that said, the seller, out of Columbia City, Indiana, is asking just $12,000. That’s not a ton of money for a whole 40-foot bus with most of the hard work done for you. There isn’t a new camper for sale right now that could beat the price.

If that isn’t enough, this bus is a piece of American transit history. You’ll almost certainly get people turning their heads and asking you questions wherever you go. If not, you’ll still have me begging you to let me take it for a spin.

(Images: Facebook Seller, unless otherwise noted.)

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