By Rick Laubscher, Market Street Railway President
The Mack Truck company built the first bus in America, but by the 1950s, Mack’s bus sales were dwindling, aced out by General Motors’ transit buses. In the mid 1950s, Muni needed new buses. In their definitive history of Muni, The People’s Railway, authors Anthony Perles and John McKane pick up the story.
“The 450 Mack C-49DT buses came to the Municipal Railway primarily because of the failure of the voters to authorize a 1953 bond issue to buy new buses, which almost certainly would have come from General Motors. Muni’s need for new buses was acute, however, and a way was found to invite the manufacturers to provide the vehicles on long-term lease.”
Reportedly, GM would only offer a lease if Muni would convert some of its trolley coach lines to GM’s diesel buses. So, Mack, hungry for business, was the only bidder on the lease.
The first bus in the order, Coach 2100, left the builder’s Allentown, Pennsylvania plant in October 1955. Inside the standee windows, signs carried the company’s slogan: “Sure, it’s a Mack!”
Well, a “new” vintage Mack has just rejoined Muni’s fleet, and it sure is wonderful.
Third Mack’s a charm
That would be Coach 2230, which first arrived in San Francisco in 1956, led a full life, and was sold off when its useful life to Muni was over. The Mack fleet had been replaced by GM “New Look” coaches in 1969-70 (including one coach, 3287, preserved by Muni). Mack still owned the buses and scrapped most of them. In 1997, though, a group of bus fans raised the money needed to purchase 2230 from a private party in Arizona. Eventually, in forlorn condition, it was presented to Muni as a replacement for another Mack (2246) that Market Street Railway had acquired and given to Muni. That bus, 2246, had fallen victim to the elements when stored outdoor at Pier 72 and was scrapped by Muni. A third Mack, 2607, had been ordered preserved earlier by then-Muni General Manager Harold Geissenheimer, but was ordered scrapped after he left.
But for 2230, magic happened after many years of years in storage at Muni. Muni’s great body shop at Woods Division (named for John Woods, the Muni GM who hated streetcars and loved buses) brought the tired 2230 into its body shop on Tubbs Street in the Dogpatch neighborhood in 2016. This shop had done a wonderful job restoring an older Muni bus, 1938 White Motor Company Coach 042, for Muni’s 2012 Centennial. With the okay from Woods Superintendent Tom Curran (now retired), Louis Guzzo managed the 2230 project, with mechanics, machinists, painters, and other craft workers volunteering many hours of additional time as needed.
Market Street Railway steps up
The first task was new tires, since the size wasn’t carried under Muni’s tire contract. Market Street Railway stepped up and donated $6,000 from our Restoration Fund for the tires.
The restored 2230 made its debut at last year’s Muni Heritage Weekend as a work in progress, without windows or seats and still needing more engine and electrical work. Finding a wiring diagram for part of the electrical system proved frustrating, but Louis finally located one after both he and Market Street Railway reached out to bus museums, the New York City Transit Authority (which has this model in its vintage bus collection), the Motor Bus Society, and to Mack itself.
The last big cosmetic issue was seat cushions. New regulations require fire retardant filling for buses in service, so Louis came back to Market Street Railway and we came through, thanks to an exceptionally generous donation by long-time member and valued volunteer Bill Wong, who had participated in originally bringing the bus back to San Francisco. Bill’s generosity was augmented by a Facebook fundraiser we ran last fall, which added another $2,200 toward the total cost of $11,400.
When the seats went in, expertly reupholstered by D&D Upholstery in San Francisco (who also repair Muni’s PCC seats), the transformation was complete. The paint job, inside and out, is stunning, better than factory quality. In prepping the interior, the painters noticed vintage graffiti above the rear seat (a one-time couples’ hangout) with a heart and “Gus + Gloria, 5-8-69” scratched inside. For nostalgia’s sake, they preserved it painting expertly around it and clear coating it (and the rest of the bus) to discourage any repeats.
Louis Guzzo’s attention to detail is astonishing, including an original Grant farebox, a transfer cutter, and many more great touches, including authentic 1956 Exempt (government vehicle) license plates. The talented Mike Bingum hand-painted the famous “O’Shaughnessy” (SF-Municipal Railway) logo on the bus, just as was done when the coach was new, and recreated the Pepsi bottlecap ad on the front of the bus, an iconic part of Muni buses in that era. Vendors Borden Decal and Theisen Glass also lent their expertise.
A few final issues remained, including a balky water pump and a leaky heat exchanger, but Louis is hopeful those will be resolved and the 2230 can carry passengers for the first time in well over 40 years on Heritage Weekend.
If any example shows that persistence pays and leadership means everything in transit preservation, the saga of 2230 is it. From rescue to rehabilitation, the project spanned 39 years and generations of supporters and volunteers. One of the original donors to the rescue of the bus, Cameron Beach, worked for Sacramento Regional Transit back in 1979, and after retiring there as Chief Operations Officer moved to San Francisco, joined the Market Street Railway board, where he met, fell in love with and married our current board chair Carmen Clark, and capped his career with a term on Muni’s governing board of directors before his untimely death in 2012. Cam was known and very well-liked by front line people throughout SFMTA, especially the bus and rail teams, because he understood their operations inside out and loved talking shop with them. They no doubt knew he loved this bus, because he rode Macks all over town as a kid. While both Cam and John McKane, who spearheaded the reacquisition of the bus, are no longer with us, the bus is, and how! In the words of Bill Wong, whose personal generosity to the project made the difference at key moments, “John McKane and Cam Beach are smiling.”
So are we. Thanks to all those involved in bringing this bus—and a piece of San Francisco’s history—back to life. We’ve listed them below.
Muni’s Restoration Team
Mauro Benedetti, Richard Bernal, Tim Constantine, Feliciano Chavez, Chris Denny, Steve Galileo, Tony Gelardi, Michael Graham, Louis Guzzo, Robin Hippler, Randy Kinder, Tony Lamperti, Chad Lujan, Thomas McDermont, William Murawshi, Henry Pegueros, Dave Roberts, Francisco Villalba, Bill Wallace, John Wiggum, Michael Wong
(apologies to any volunteers inadvertently omitted)
1997 fundraiser to purchase Mack coach 2230
(Only last names are available for some)
David Banbury, Cameron Beach, James Beeler, Larry Birch, Caronetti, W. Eugene Caywood/Mark Hart, Andy Goddard, Golden/Ryan, George Gong, Hardie, Loring Jensen, Frank Lichtanski, Dave Longa, John McKane, Ron Medaglia, Robert Midgley, Royce Ong, Marcel Sales, Michael Sheridan, Steve Souza, Jack Smith, Peter Straus, Thomas, Ed Vadnais, Frank Zepeda
2017 restoration donors via Facebook
Bruce Agid. Carmen Clark, Rick Closson, Traci Cox, Art Curtis, Ian Dailey, Bob Davis, Steve Drew, Amit Ghosh, James Giraudo, Bob Goldsborough, James Haas, Rick Laubscher, Matthew Lee, Val Lupiz, Joseph Macasocol, Tod Martin, Tim McGinnis, Kevin Mueller, Peter Necarsulmer, Clark Newby, Jim Pavelle, Robert Parks, Curley Reed, Stefan Sipl, Andy Schilling, Vince Senatore, Steve Sousa, Bob Strachan, Michael Strauch, Antjuan Taswell, Deb Tuitele, Karen White, Jeremy Whiteman, Bill Wong, Nicholas Yee
