Flxible

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A 1987 Metro-B, owned by WMATA, serves as a roadblock in Washington, D.C. on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2005.
A 1987 Metro-B, owned by WMATA, serves as a roadblock in Washington, D.C. on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2005.

The Flxible Co., (1913-1996), was a motorcycle sidecar, funeral car, ambulance, intercity coach and transit bus manufacturing company based in the United States which went out of business in 1996.

Contents

[edit] History

A New Jersey Transit Flxible Metro-D in Trenton, New Jersey.
A New Jersey Transit Flxible Metro-D in Trenton, New Jersey.

In 1913, Hugo H. Young and Carl F. Dudte founded the Flexible Sidecar Co. in Loudonville, OH 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. so the name could by copyrighted and used as a trademark (the name continued to be pronounced "flexible", however). After low-priced cars became available in the 1920's, the motorcycle sidecar demand dropped and in 1924 Flxible turned to production of funeral cars (hearses), ambulances, and intercity buses, which were primarily manufactured on Buick chassis, but also occasionally on Studebaker, Cadillac, and Reo chassis. In 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, AL and built small transit buses at the former Southern Coach factory until 1976. Flxible was purchased by the Rohr Industries in 1970, and a new factory and corporate headquarters was built in Delaware, OH in 1974, with the original factory in Loudonville being used to manufacture parts and subassemblies. 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-foot long CNG-fueled Metro buses that went to Monterey-Salinas Transit, in Monterey, Calif. The former Flxible factory in Loudonville is now a bus maintenance facility for Motor Coach Industries (MCI) while the former factory in Delaware now is now a parts facility for North American Bus Industries (NABI), which was one of the companies that grew at the time of Flxible's demise.

[edit] Production outside the USA

Mexican made DINA Flxliner bus, in second-class service, berthed in the Silao, Guanajuato central terminal, 2006.
Mexican made DINA Flxliner bus, in second-class service, berthed in the Silao, Guanajuato central terminal, 2006.

Flxible's intercity busses were very popular in Mexico and Latin American countries, however high import duties into these countries limited sales. In the early 1960's Flxible began licensing a producer in Mexico, DINA S.A. (Diesel Nacional), to manufacture Flxible designed intercity coaches, and this continued until the late 1980's. In 1965 and 1966, Flxible also licensed its "New Look" transit bus design to Canadair Ltd., an aircraft manufacturer in Ville St-Laurent, Quebec.

A Changzhou-Changjiang Flxible bus in Beijing, China. Instead of a Flxible plaque on the front, a Changzhou-Changjiang nameplate can be seen.
A Changzhou-Changjiang Flxible bus in Beijing, China. Instead of a Flxible plaque on the front, a Changzhou-Changjiang nameplate can be seen.

In 1994, Flxible's parent company General Automotive Corporation, and three other American companies; Roger Penske, Mark IV Industries, and Carrier, entered into a joint venture with Changzhou Changjiang, a Chinese manufacturer in Jiangsu, to produce buses based on the Flxible Metro design and with the Flxible name. The resulting company, China Flxible Auto Corporation, manufactures buses in a variety of lengths from 8 meters to 11 meters. These buses, which include both front and rear engine designs, and share only their general exterior appearance with the American-built Flxibles, are used by many transit operators in major Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

[edit] Charles Kettering and General Motors

Charles Kettering, a Loudonville native and vice president of General Motors, was closely associated with Flxible for almost the entire first half of the company's existence. In 1914 Flxible was incorporated with the help of Kettering, who then became president of the company and joined the board of directors. Kettering provided significant funding for the company in its early years, particularly after 1916 when Kettering sold his firm, the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco), to GM for $2.5 million. Kettering continued to serve as president of Flxible until he became chairman of the board in 1940, a position he held until his death in 1958. After selling Delco to GM in 1916, Kettering organized and ran a research laboratory at GM, and by the 1950's held the position of vice president at GM. As a result of Kettering's close relationship with GM and Flxible, many GM parts were used in the production of Flxible vehicles, particularly prior to GM's 1943 purchase of Yellow Coach (a competing bus manufacturer of which GM had been a majority owner since 1925). For example, most Flxible ambulances, hearses, and buses from the mid-1920s to the early-1940s were built on Buick chassis, and Flxible's "Airway" model buses of the mid-1930s were built on a Chevrolet chassis.

Charles F. Kettering
Charles F. Kettering

In 1958, and as a result of the consent decree from the 1956 anti-trust case United States v. General Motors Corp., GM was mandated to sell their bus components, engines, and transmissions to other manufacturers, free of royalties. However, in the early 1950's and prior to the consent decree, Flxible built a small number of buses with GM diesel engines while Kettering still served on the board. It has been postulated that GM may have made its diesel engines available to Flxible to reduce the criticisms of GM's business practices that some felt were monopolistic[1]. The same has been said about GM's decision in the 1960s and 1970s not to produce a 35-foot long "New Look" transit bus with an 8-cylinder engine, however it is also possible that GM chose not to enter this market because the potential sales did not warrant the added costs of engineering and production[2]. Another result of the consent decree (which was not settled in its entirety until 1965) was that GM was barred from having any of its officers or directors serve as an officer or director for any other bus manufacturing company. This provision would have applied to Kettering had he not passed away in 1958.

[edit] The 870 frame fiasco

In the mid 1980s, several MTA New York City Transit 870 buses developed cracks in their underframes. This prompted then-president David Gunn to remove the entire fleet out of service. Soon several other companies reported cracked 870 frames. However, the frame issues primarily only affected NYCT 870s and not the 870s owned by NYCDOT-franchised carriers. NYCT attempted to get the remainder of its still-pending order for new buses transferred to General Motors, but was barred from doing so unless they could prove that the 870s were flawed and unsafe. The buses were eventually returned to Flxible and resold to Queen City Metro and New Jersey Transit. Grumman blamed the problems with the NYCT 870s on NYCT's maintenance practices despite Chicago's RTA (now PACE), Houston, and Los Angeles also reporting problems with their 870s. Ironically, NYCT would order fifty Metros in 1995. However, Flxible would close their doors while the order was being produced. NYCT would order the remaining new buses from Orion.

[edit] Flxible Owners International

Flxible Owners International was founded in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the Family Motor Coach Association, and is dedicated to the preservation of buses and coaches produced by Flxible. The organization holds a rally in Loudonville every even year, normally in mid-July, where many preserved Flxible coaches and buses may be seen. The majority of vehicles owned by members are of the Clipper series (Clipper, Visicoach, Starliner) that were produced from the 1930s until 1967. However, there are also quite a few "non-clipper" Flxible coaches that are owned, maintained, and operated by proud Flxible owners. This includes the Visicoach, VL100 (VistaLiner), Hi Level, and Flxliner as well as some of the more modern transit buses. Most of these vehicles have been converted to motorhomes, however there are still a few examples of seated coaches belonging to members.

[edit] Products

  • Motorcycle sidecar (1913-early 1920s)
  • Intercity coach (1924-1932)
  • Funeral car (1924-1942, 1946-1952, 1959-1964)
  • Ambulence (1924-1964)
  • "Airway" intercity coach (1932-1936)
  • "Clipper" intercity coach (1937-1942, 1944-1950)
  • Parts for Liberty ships, M4 tanks, F4U Corsair fighter aircraft, and Goodyear "L" type blimps (1942-1945)
  • "Airporter" intercity coach (1946-1950)
  • "C-1" intercity coach (1950)
  • "VisiCoach" intercity coach (1950-1958)
  • FL "Fageoliner" transit bus (1953-1954)
  • FT "Flxible Twin" transit bus (1953-1959)
  • VL-100 "VistaLiner" two-level intercity coach (1954-1959)
  • "StarLiner" intercity coach (1957-1967)
  • "Hi-Level" intercity coach (1959-1962)
  • "Clipper Eagle" intercity coach (1960)
  • "New Look" transit bus (1960-1978)
  • "FlxLiner" intercity coach (1963-1969)
  • "Flxette" light duty transit bus (1964-1976)
  • "Flxible" Cruiser Motor Home (1967-1969)
  • "870 Advanced Design Bus (ADB)" transit bus (1978-1983)
  • "Metro" transit bus (1983-1995)

[edit] Transit customers

Flxible sold thousands of buses to many major urban transit agencies between the 1950s and 1980s. Some of the larger customers included:

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ McKane, John H. & Squier, Gerald L. (2006), 17.
  2. ^ McKane, John H. & Squier, Gerald L. (2006), 58.

[edit] References

  • Georgano, G. N., Editor {1978). The Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-024-6.
  • Luke, William A. (2003). Flxible Intercity Buses: 1924-1970 Photo Archive, Hudson, WI: Iconografix. ISBN 1-58388-108-5.
  • Luke, William A. & Metler, Linda L. (2005). City Transit Buses of the 20th Century, Hudson, WI: Iconografix. ISBN 1-58388-146-8.
  • Luke, William A. & Metler, Linda L. (2004). Highway Buses of the 20th Century, Hudson, WI: Iconografix. ISBN 1-58388-121-2.
  • McKane, John (2001). Flxible Transit Buses: 1953-1995 Photo Archive, Hudson, WI: Iconografix. ISBN 1-58388-053-4.
  • McKane, John H. & Squier, Gerald L. (2006). Welcome Aboard the GM New Look Bus, Hudson, WI: Iconografix. ISBN 1-58388-167-0
  • Stauss, Ed (1988). The Bus World Encyclopedia of Buses, Woodland Hills, CA: Stauss Publications. ISBN 0-9619830-0-0.
  • Flxible, znet.com, retrieved on 2007-02-05.

[edit] External links

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