The Flxible Co. was a motorcycle
sidecarA sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, producing a three-wheeled vehicle.-History:A sidecar appeared in a cartoon by George Moore in the January 7, 1903, issue of the British newspaper Motor Cycling. Three weeks later, a provisional patent was...
, funeral car, ambulance, intercity coach and transit bus manufacturing company based in the United States that was founded in 1913, and which closed in 1996.
History
In 1913, Hugo H. Young and Carl F. Dudte founded the
Flexible Sidecar Co. in
Loudonville, OhioLoudonville is a village in Ashland and Holmes counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 2,906 at the 2000 census. Loudonville is nicknamed the "Canoe Capital of Ohio" for the many canoe liveries along the Mohican River...
, to manufacture motorcycle sidecars with a flexible mounting to the
motorcycleA motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
. 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. (still pronounced "flexible") so that the name could be registered as a
trademarkA trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
.
After low-priced automobiles became available in the 1920s, the motorcycle sidecar demand dropped and in 1924, Flxible turned to production of
funeral cars (hearses)A hearse is a funerary vehicle used to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to a cemetery. In the funeral trade, hearses are often called funeral coaches.-History:...
, and
ambulanceAn ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
s, which were primarily manufactured on
BuickBuick is a premium brand of General Motors . Buick models are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Israel, with China being its largest market. Buick holds the distinction as the oldest active American make...
chassis, but also occasionally on
StudebakerStudebaker Corporation was a United States wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers, miners, and the...
,
CadillacCadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
and
REOThe REO Motor Car Company was a Lansing, Michigan based company that produced automobiles and trucks from 1905 to 1975. At one point the company also manufactured buses on its truck platforms.REO was initiated by Ransom E. Olds during August 1904...
chassis, and
intercity busesA coach is a large motor vehicle, a type of bus, used for conveying passengers on excursions and on longer distance express coach scheduled transport between cities - or even between countries...
, initially (1930's and early 40's) built on GMC truck chassis, and powered with Buick Straight 8 engines.
In 1953, Flxible absorbed the
busA bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
-manufacturing portion of the
FageolFageol Motors was a U.S. manufacturer of buses, trucks and farm tractors.-History:The company was founded in 1916 to manufacture motor trucks, farm tractors and automobiles in Oakland, California....
Twin CoachTwin Coach was an American vehicle manufacturing company from 1927 to 1955, based in Kent, Ohio, and a maker of marine engines and airplane parts until the 1960s. It was formed by brothers Frank and William Fageol when they left the Fageol Motor Company in 1927. They established the company in...
Company, and accepted its first order for transit buses from the
Chicago Transit AuthorityChicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs....
. In 1964, Flxible purchased Southern Coach Manufacturing Co. of
Evergreen, AlabamaEvergreen is a city in Conecuh County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census the population was 3,944. The city is the county seat of Conecuh County.-History:Early settlers to the area came from Georgia and South Carolina beginning in 1818...
and built small
transit busA transit bus , also known as a commuter bus, city bus, or public bus, is a bus used for short-distance public transport purposes...
es at the former Southern Coach factory until 1976. Flxible was purchased by
Rohr IndustriesGoodrich Aerostructures Group, formerly Rohr, Inc., is an aerospace manufacturing company based in Chula Vista, California, south of San Diego...
in 1970, and a new
factoryA factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
and corporate headquarters were built in
Delaware, OhioThe City of Delaware is a city in and the county seat of Delaware County in the United States state of Ohio. Delaware was founded in 1808 and was incorporated in 1816. It is located near the center of Ohio, is about north of Columbus, and is part of the Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Area...
in 1974, with the original factory in Loudonville, Ohio being used to manufacture parts and sub-assemblies. Flxible was sold to
Grumman CorporationThe Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading 20th century U.S. producer of military and civilian aircraft...
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
bankruptcyBankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
and its assets were auctioned. The last Flxible vehicles produced were eight 35 ft (10.7 m)
CNGCompressed natural gas is a fossil fuel substitute for gasoline , diesel, or propane/LPG. Although its combustion does produce greenhouse gases, it is a more environmentally clean alternative to those fuels, and it is much safer than other fuels in the event of a spill...
-fueled Metro buses that went to Monterey-Salinas Transit in
MontereyThe City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The former Flxible factory in Loudonville, Ohio is now a bus maintenance facility for
Motor Coach IndustriesMotor Coach Industries International Inc. is an American bus manufacturer based in Schaumburg, Illinois, and is a leading participant in the North American coach bus industry. It has various operating subsidiaries:...
, while the former factory in Delaware, Ohio is now a parts facility for
North American Bus IndustriesNorth American Bus Industries, commonly known as NABI, is a major transit bus manufacturing company based in Anniston, Alabama. NABI was founded in 1992 when the Hungarian firm Ikarus Bus, a key bus supplier to Central, Eastern Europe, spun off a majority share of their American operations to...
.
Production outside the USA
Flxible's intercity buses were very popular in
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and in Latin American countries. However, high import duties into these countries limited sales. In the early 1960s, Flxible began licensing a producer in Mexico,
DINA S.A.DINA is a Mexican automotive producer of heavy duty and specialty trucks, urban buses, armored military vehicles and intercity coaches...
(Diesel Nacional), to manufacture Flxible designed intercity coaches, and this continued until the late 1980s. In 1965 and 1966, Flxible also licensed its "New Look" transit bus design to Canadair Ltd., an
aircraftAn aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
manufacturer in Ville St-Laurent, Quebec.
In 1994, Flxible's parent company, General Automotive Corporation, and three other American companies, Roger Penske, Mark IV Industries, and
CarrierThe Carrier Corporation is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and distributors of heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, and a global leader in the commercial refrigeration and food service equipment industry...
, entered into a joint venture with Changzhou Changjiang, a
ChineseChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
manufacturer in
Jiangsu' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...
, to produce buses based on the Flxible Metro design and with the Flxible name. The resulting company, China Flxible Auto Corporation, manufactured buses in a variety of lengths, from 8 metre to 11 metre. These buses, which include both front- and rear-
engineAn engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...
designs, and share only their general exterior appearance with the American-built Flxibles, are used by many transit operators in major Chinese cities, including
BeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
and
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
.
Charles Kettering and General Motors
Charles KetteringCharles Franklin Kettering was an American inventor, engineer, businessman, and the holder of 186 patents. He was a founder of Delco, and was head of research for General Motors for 27 years from 1920 to 1947. Among his most widely used automotive inventions were the electrical starting motor and...
, a Loudonville, Ohio native and vice president of
General MotorsGeneral Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
, 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)Delco Electronics Corporation was the automotive electronics design and manufacturing subsidiary of General Motors based in Kokomo, Indiana.The name Delco came from the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co., founded in Dayton, Ohio by Charles Kettering and Edward A...
, 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 1950s, held the position of vice president at GM. As a result of Kettering's close relationship with both GM and Flxible, many GM parts were used in the production of Flxible vehicles, particularly prior to GM's 1943 purchase of
Yellow CoachThe Yellow Coach Manufacturing Company was an early manufacturer of passenger buses in the United States. It was founded in Chicago as a subsidiary of the Yellow Cab Company in 1923 by John D. Hertz...
(a competing bus manufacturer, of which GM had been a majority owner since 1925). For example, most Flxible
ambulanceAn ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
s,
hearseA hearse is a funerary vehicle used to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to a cemetery. In the funeral trade, hearses are often called funeral coaches.-History:...
s, and buses from the mid-1920s to the early-1940s were built on
BuickBuick is a premium brand of General Motors . Buick models are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Israel, with China being its largest market. Buick holds the distinction as the oldest active American make...
chassis, and Flxible's "Airway" model buses of the mid-1930s were built on a
ChevroletChevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
chassis.
In 1958, and as a result of the
consent decreeA consent decree is a final, binding judicial decree or judgment memorializing a voluntary agreement between parties to a suit in return for withdrawal of a criminal charge or an end to a civil litigation...
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 1950s and prior to the consent decree, Flxible built a small number of buses with GM
diesel engineA diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
s 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
monopolisticA monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
. The same has been said about GM's decision in the 1960s and 1970s not to produce a 35 ft (10.7 m) "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. 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 died in 1958.
870 frame problems
In the mid-1980s, several MTA New York City Transit 870 buses developed cracks in their underframes. This prompted then-president
David GunnDavid L. Gunn is a transportation system administrator who has headed several significant railroads and transit systems in North America....
to remove the entire fleet from 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 (New York City Department of Transportation) franchised carriers. NYCT (New York City Transit) attempted to get the remainder of its pending order for new buses transferred to GM, 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 TransitNew Jersey Transit Bus Operations is the bus division of New Jersey Transit, providing bus service throughout New Jersey along with service along one light rail line, with many routes going to New York City and Philadelphia.-History:...
. Grumman blamed the problems with the NYCT 870s on NYCT's maintenance practices, despite Chicago's RTA (now
PACEPace is the suburban bus division of the Regional Transportation Authority in the Chicago metropolitan area. It was created in 1983 by the RTA Act, which established the formula that provides funding to CTA, Metra and Pace. In 2010, Pace had 35.077 million riders. Pace's headquarters are in...
), Washington, D.C.' s
MetrobusMetrobus is a bus service operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority . Its fleet consists of 1,480 buses covering an area of in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. There are over 300 bus routes serving 12,216 stops, including 2,398 bus shelters. In fiscal year 2009,...
, Houston, and
Los AngelesThe Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is the California state-chartered regional transportation planning agency and public transportation operating agency for the County of Los Angeles formed in 1993 out of a merger of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the...
also reporting problems with their 870s. Ironically, NYCT ordered fifty Metros in 1995 but Flxible closed its doors while the order was being produced, and NYCT obtained the remaining new buses from
OrionOrion International, previously Orion Bus Industries and Ontario Bus Industries in Canada and Bus Industries of America in the United States, is a bus manufacturer based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada and established by the Government of Ontario in 1975...
.
Flxible Owners International
Flxible Owners International (see external link) was founded in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the
Family Motor Coach AssociationThe Family Motor Coach Association is an international organization of families who own and enjoy the recreational use of motorhomes. Since 1963 FMCA has issued more than 390,000 memberships to families who look to the association as their source of information about all facets of motorhome...
, and is dedicated to the preservation of buses and coaches produced by Flxible. The organization holds a rally in Loudonville, Ohio 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 Starliner, VL100 (VistaLiner), Hi Level, and Flxliner as well as some of the more modern transit buses. Most of these vehicles have been converted to motor homes; however, there are still a few examples of seated coaches belonging to members.
Products
- Motorcycle sidecar (1913-early 1920s)
- Intercity coach (1924–1932)
- Funeral car (1925–1942, 1946–1952, 1959–1964)
- Ambulance (1925–1952, 1946–1952, 1959–1964)
- "Airway" intercity coach (1932–1936)
- "Clipper" intercity coach (1937–1942, 1944–1950)
- Parts for Liberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
s, M4 tanksThe M4 Sherman, formally Medium Tank, M4, was the primary tank used by the United States during World War II. Thousands were also distributed to the Allies, including the British Commonwealth and Soviet armies, via lend-lease...
, F4U CorsairThe Vought F4U Corsair was a carrier-capable fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Demand for the aircraft soon overwhelmed Vought's manufacturing capability, resulting in production by Goodyear and Brewster: Goodyear-built Corsairs were designated FG and...
fighter aircraft, and Goodyear "L" type blimpsA blimp, or non-rigid airship, is a floating airship without an internal supporting framework or keel. A non-rigid airship differs from a semi-rigid airship and a rigid airship in that it does not have any rigid structure, neither a complete framework nor a partial keel, to help the airbag...
(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
The Flxible New Look bus is a transit bus introduced in 1960 by The Flxible Company, and produced from 1960 until 1978, when the New Look was replaced by the "870" Advanced Design Bus. Over its 17-year production run 13,121 Flxible New Look buses were manufactured.-Design:The Flxible New Look 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"
The Flxible Metro is a transit bus that was manufactured by the Flxible Corporation from 1978 until 1996. From 1978 until 1983, when Flxible was owned by Grumman, the model was known as the Grumman 870, with a Grumman nameplate.-History:...
transit bus (1978–1982)
- METRO "Advanced Design Bus"
The Flxible Metro is a transit bus that was manufactured by the Flxible Corporation from 1978 until 1996. From 1978 until 1983, when Flxible was owned by Grumman, the model was known as the Grumman 870, with a Grumman nameplate.-History:...
(1983–1996); METRO "A" (1983–1987), METRO "B" (1988–1991), METRO "C" (1992), METRO "D" (1993–1994) and METRO "E" (1995–1996)
Further reading
- Georgano, G. N., Editor (1978). The Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. Krause Publications. ISBN 0-87341-024-6.
- Ebert, Robert R. (2001). Flxible: A History of the Bus and the Company, Yellow Springs, OH: Antique Power, Inc. ISBN 0-9660751-2-9.
- 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
McPherson, Thomas A. (1993) "Flxible Professioal Vehicles: The Complete History" Toronto, Ontario, Specialty Vehicle Press, ISBN
- Stauss, Ed (1988). The Bus World Encyclopedia of Buses, Woodland Hills, CA: Stauss Publications. ISBN 0-9619830-0-0.
- Coach Information Network, coachinfo.com, retrieved on 2007-02-04.
- Coachbuilt.com – Yellow Coach, coachbuilt.com, retrieved on 2007-02-07.
- Flxible, znet.com, retrieved on 2007-02-05.
- History: The Flxible Corporation, flxibleowners.org, retrieved on 2007-02-04.
- History and Analysis of the Flxible Company, bw.edu, retrieved on 2007-02-07.
- Ohio Museum of Transportation, omot.org, retrieved on 2007-02-04.
- Ohio Museum of Transportation – Flxible Transit Coach Production Lists, omot.org, archived on 2005-08-28 on archive.org, retrieved on 2007-02-04.
- The Flxible Company and Buick, prewarbuick.com, retrieved on 2007-02-05.
- Twin Coach Company, Records, 1914–56, library.kent.edu, retrieved on 2007-02-04.
External links