(I read all the comments; the good, the bad and the ugly (some of mine have fallen in that category recently). And every so often a comment and its attached picture is worth a separate posting. This one by Stephen Cumming was left at my GM “New Look” transit bus CC. There’s some nice car spotting too.)
The GM “New Look” buses had a long and storied history – one of the best mass transit vehicles ever built. There were many variations of paint schemes out there through the years, but none were as unique as the downtown circulator buses in Dallas, TX, that were known as the “Hop A Bus.”
There were two routes, one that went in a circular pattern through town in an east-west configuration, and one that went in a circulator pattern in a north-south configuration. A flat fare of 10 cents was charged, and the rider paid a fare each time they boarded the bus. What really made these buses unique was that the transit agency, Dallas Transit System came up with the idea of painting some of the buses used on these routes all pink, complete with a bunny face painted on the front, and a large, white fuzzy cotton tail painted on the rear engine cover door. To complete the idea, the paint scheme included two large bunny ears on the top of the bus! These buses were known all over the country – and most certainly the world – as visitors to the city that rode them, or saw them in the Downtown area always talked about them! There were stories of people who would come to Dallas on vacation and would make a side trip to Downtown Dallas to ride one of the pink Bunny Buses! The paint schemes were certainly unique and fondly remembered by many.
I’ll bet the drivers loved them. “Hey Mack, lay off the jackrabbit starts” or “Woah, there were only two here when we parked them last night, and now look at all of ’em”.
But . . . why pink? Isn’t pink just for pigs and elephants?
Elephants are white, at least around Christmas. 🙂
they were all sorts of pastel colors if I remember right. I was a kid in the 80s when the New Looks were phased out.
Of course bunnies can be pink. Haven’t you seen A Christmas Story?
More seriously, if it was all sorts of pastels, it sounds a bit like an Easter Bunny theme to me.
Heffalumps were pink, and also blue, and brown. And they has many stitches everywhere.
I’m saying Grand Prix, Cressida, Regal & Torino. Some model of Audi and the one with the stripe has me stumped. Probably Japanese?
Dan, don’t forget the parked, brown 2nd-gen Celica ST notchback! (Oh, wait… that’s the car you were referring to. 🙂 )
Joseph, you burst my bubble! I was thinking that was a rare gray market import Opel Rekord coupé.
That model-specific cornering light in the fender of the Grand Prix at the edge of the shot was a dead giveaway. Those were the days when GM still put money into unique stampings and parts not shared across all lines.
I am slightly disturbed at how normal a bunny with four eyes appears 🙂
I wonder if the total number of passenger-miles ridden in New Look buses by CC readers is greater than for any other CC?
I hope the driver remembered to take that left turn at Albuquerque.
(I know, a local bus, and wrong state, but I couldn’t resist. 🙂)
This looks like a promotion that Hugh Hefner might have dreamed up.
I really miss the New Look buses, I wish I could ride one now and experience the surge forward as the torque converter locked up.
Wow, this is so cool to read about and the photo is nice to look at. Wonder what the ears were made of? Now I’m off to Google to see what they use in 2020.