[91ken]

Corgi Triboro Coach Bus GMC "Fishbowl"

1:50 scale, with a couple of attachable rear-view mirrors. Available from lots of online retailers. I like it, it's accurate. No opening doors.
This is typical of the buses used throughout New York City in the 1970's. The various private bus lines used these GMC buses, in different colors depending on the company, while buses operated by the New York Transit Authority were blue in color.

I got this because I used to ride this busline, in Queens, NYC, every day to and from high school for three years, back in the 70's.

There was a group of potheads, usually about a half-dozen, who would always sit in the rear and smoke joints. After a few minutes, the marijuana stench was unbearable. They were pretty much a harmless bunch, if you didn't mess with them.
If I'd have known how good the stuff is, I would have been one of them. Alas, I didn't get into that until about 20 years later, but then I did it with a vengeance. Hehehe...

It eventually got so bad, with the other bus riders complaining and such, that finally the high school principal called every student who rode on that bus line into the auditorium one day and gave a lecture. Since it was a specialized high school (Aviation, in case anyone is familiar with NYC high schools), he threatened to expell everyone, unless the situation improved.

The situation was resolved when the Triboro bus company decided to dedicate one of their buses just for us high school kids who went to that particular school. They didn't paint it yellow or anything, they just used one of their more run-down buses for us.
The windows were latched on the bottom and hinged on top, to be used for emergency exits, but the potheads quickly had the rearmost two windows permanently unlatched. Every time the bus turned a corner, all the windows would swing open. It was hilarious. People on the street, who didn't know this was our "special" bus, would stare in amazement. They would also wonder why the bus didn't stop for them, lol.











Trying out the taking of still pictures with my camcorder. I think these are slightly better than the first few I took with by older digital.

[1250ships]

Sounds like you need to install a model railroad smoke generator in the back of it.

[91ken]

Originally Posted by 1250ships

Sounds like you need to install a model railroad smoke generator in the back of it.

It was certainly a Cheech & Chong type of situation. NYC in the 70's was amazing, mostly in a bad way
I left the city in '83 and was just back there this past June for the first time in 25 years.

It's a better place now, I think. The buses and subways are cleaner and seem much safer. I didn't feel apprehensive carrying a $800 camcorder through the public transportation system. I wouldn't even have considered doing that 25 years ago. Of course, it was in a camera bag, but I did take it out a few times and filmed on the subway.

The old neighborhood, Ridgewood in Queens, was nicer too. At the time I left in '83, the streets were starting to get somewhat dirty, with newpapers and other trash blowing around more and more, especially after weekends. Many storefronts were closed because the economy was bad. None of that when I was there recently, with nary an empty storefront in sight. That particular neighborhood, Ridgewood, benefitted from many eastern European immigrants moving there over the past 20 years, mostly Poles, Rumanians and lesser numbers of others. Those people are productive and keep clean houses and streets.

I was reasonably impressed with the city. Manhattan seemed a lot cleaner too. The people also appeared more friendly than I remembered them.

Then again, living there as a teenager, people seemed to bug you more than someone in his late 40's.