Coach History

Initial Service

PD-4501-001 is the first of 1001 Scenicruisers ever made, and it’s coming to the Pacific Bus Museum 2025 Open House.

Service History

1954 GM PD4501 Scenicruiser

The Scenicruiser is obviously the star of the historic fleet. In addition to being the coach that started the Greyhound Historic Fleet, it represents the first production unit of the model generally considered to be the most iconic American coach. Having been unable to replace its aging fleet during the war, Greyhound placed a record order for Silverside coaches and then set about in 1947 looking for a new model for the future. This led to the doubledeck GX-1 or Highway Traveler that was impressive but considered too radical.

In 1949 General Motors built a prototype GX-2 that was a deckand-a-half design with a length of 40 feet. At that time prior to interstate highways the states controlled vehicle dimensions. Hence, the GX-2 was brought to state capitols to foster legislation approving the 40-foot length. The new technology from the GX2 went into developing the 35-foot GM PD4104 that was introduced in 1953 and the new Scenicruiser that was built for Greyhound starting in 1954.

Jim Michaud comments: “Obviously, the PD4501 has extreme significance as it has serial number PD4501-001. It is the very first one off the production line and has remained in Greyhound’s fleet its entire life. There is no other bus that is more iconic and represents the bus industry better than the Greyhound Scenicruiser. There are a few out there today that have undergone significant restorations that are on par with “001,” and each of those restorations were well over one million dollars. But they still do not have the significance or history of being the first production model.”

A total of 1,000 production Scenicruiser coaches were built from 1954 to 1956. They all went to Greyhound and became the new flagship model of the fleet. Since 2,000 PD4104 coaches were also added at this time, the Greyhound fleet was highly modernized and given a new appearance. An attempt to replace the Scenicruiser with the 102-inch wide MCI MC-6 model was not successful because of the width. Hence, the MCI MC-7 model was the effective replacement for the Scenicruisers in the Greyhound fleet.

As late as the gasoline crunch of 1973, half of the Scenicruiser fleet was still operating for Greyhound. Some of them racked up more than three million miles before being sold to other bus companies. By 1978, all of them had left Greyhound except for the preserved 001 and two units in San Francisco that were out of service. The asking price on the Scenicruiser is $980,000

National Bus Trader January 2023

What People Love

Scenicruisers are iconic, and this one is very special because it was the first.

Current Owner

Frank Gonzalez acquired this directly from the Greyhound Historic Fleet