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On the road with the
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Greyhound Crusader by Martin Hayes
• Initial reactions to Greyhound's Crusader MC8 vary, but usually the words "big", "bright" and "impressive" are well to the fore. To find out how the coach performs on British roads from a more practical standpoint I spent Monday this week riding on the vehicle and studying its detail features. My conclusions were that some of the MC8 technology undoubtedly has. some application this side of the Atlantic, though the overall package is just too unwieldy to be successful by itself.
When I arrived at Victoria coach station last Monday I found the National Bus Company's top men studying the coach. Chairman Freddie Wood, chief executive Jim Skyrme and central activities chief David Glassborow were all taking a keen interest. It is well known that Mr Wood visited — and was impressed by — Greyhound in America before he took his NBC post.
Enormous wheelbase NBC has provided assistance for the Greyhound while it is in this country and "loaned" a man to guide its American driver. Mr Wood will be meeting Mr J. L. Kerrigan, president of Greyhound Lines Inc, when the latter visits Britain this weekend. Mr Kerrigan, incidentally, is visiting several European bus manufacturers — including some British ones — during the vehicle's trip to Britain, France, Germany and Holland. It may be that he has some plans to establish some form of manufacturing agreement in Europe which would clearly have far-reaching implications for established coachbuilding practice.
NBC's co-operative attitude to Greyhound is noteworthy too. I understand that its National Travel subsidiary is currently looking at the possibility of acquiring a new breed of coaches featuring such items as air-conditioning, toilet, double-glazing and 80mph cruising. A pre-requisite of any such design would seem to be the high floor arrangement pioneered in America. However, the chances of NBC buying Greyhound coaches seems remote, though they may well be looking closely at some of the standard features which the American vehicle incorporates.
My trial journey took me from Victoria coach station, up the M1 to Loughborough, where the coach will be on view at the Yeates coach show for the next fortnight. The journey across London took less than 40 minutes but that was quite long enough to appreciate that the MC8 is not built for British cities. Even on apparently innocuous junctions reversing was sometimes necessary. The problem is not the vehicle length — only a foot or so more than our 12m coaches — but the enormous (23ft 9in.) wheelbase. Coupled with an indifferent lock this produced a turning circle which I estimated to be over 1001t. The cut-in was really tremendous. I thought that our coach station to motorway time was quite creditable — until, that is, the American driver told me he objected to spending as much as 7 minutes from "terminal to freeway" back home.
Though the MC 8's manoeuvrability is limited the driver does not have to work too hard. Power steering is fitted, together with automatic transmission. This second feature is even less common in the States than it is here. The MC8 — Greyhound's 1974 model — is the first line bus to feature an automatic. In this case the unit chosen is an Allison four-speed. Despite a comprehensive override control, the transmission did not seem to me to mate too well with the General Motors two-stroke V8 engine (for specification see CM, September 7). There were plenty of jerks and even the driver remarked that he could drive more smoothly with the four-speed constant-mesh
unit usually fitted.
Though there was no opportunity to take performance figures I noticed that the speedometer indicated maximum change-up points in the gears as: 1st 15mph, 2nd 29mph, and 3rd 46mph. In practice slightly higher speeds were possible. According to the driver maximum speed is 76mph and from our motorway performance I have no reason to doubt this.
Once out of the congested London streets and on to Ml the MC8 really got into its stride. Cruising at close to 70mph there was less noise in the front half of the vehicle than in any other coach I have ever been in. Even at the rear the characteristic highpitched note of the two-stroke . has been commendably well-damped. It was much more pleasant than another American bus, produced by the Bus and Car Co of Belgium, which I rode in earlier this year.
Ride, too, was first-rate. This was especially noticeable at the rear where the tandem-axle arrangement played its part. In the empty vehicle there were very few rattles and squeaks. Even on a blustery day, little steering correction seemed necessary.
With only 43 seats (up to 47 are offered) there was plenty of room to stretch out. Seat pitch is about 33in. and the seat backs only recline about 7in. I thought the seats themselves were both comfortable and spacious but I missed a footrest.
Passenger comfort is assisted by the comprehensive air-conditioning and heating system. Air to a preset temperature and humidity is fed through slots it the bottom of the double-glazed side windows. These are heavily tinted and undoubtedly prevent glare. For myself I thought they caused rather too much colour change. Above each pair of seats is a pair of reading lights. A rather crude bell pull-cord runs the length of each side. It should be stressed that the MC8 is designed as an express bus and
not a touring coach. There is no rear window at all . and forward visibility is restricted. However, it is no worse in this respect than, 'say, the Alexander M-type body.
With such a high floor (reached by three 9in. steps and a lft 2in. step from the ground) there are no intrusions from the wheelarches. Luggage space under the floor is 300 cu ft and a further 109 cu ft can be carried in the overhead racks which have aircraft-type-doors. The driver sits about 61n. lower than the passengers.
. The "driving environment" is exceptionally well planned. There are gauges for water temperature, air pressure, fuel and oil temperature. A large instrument matching the speedometer shows air pressure. There is no tachometer. A highly sophisticated "tell tale" board is provided. This has warning lights for all the following conditions: main beam, "hot" engine, low oil pressure, low water, low air pressure, low air pressure in trailing-axle bellows, parking brake, indicator, hazard warning lights, low fuel, reversing light, no-charge, emergency in toilet, heating on, stop lights working, and fire alarm. Some of these also have an audible warning.
In past issues of CM I have mentioned the type of high-mileage life Greyhound vehicles encounter. Because of this everything is really well designed and built of long-lasting materials. There is stainless steel everywhere but perhaps the best example of this philosophy is the driver's opening window. If you visit the Yeates show, just see how this detail compares with those we are used to.
According to my reckoning the American price for the MC8 is over £30,000. Even so there are plenty of features which could be incorporated on British coaches — both touring and express — for a fraction of the cost. All in all, the MC8 is well worth looking over. It is the centrepiece of the Yeates show which is open till October 16.