A car enthusiast in Calgary, Canada spent his pandemic downtime restoring a GM New Look bus and is now the proud owner of a widely celebrated piece of North American transit history.
The owner of the bus, Nick Blonski, is a pilot that suddenly had a lot of free time on his hands when the airline industry went quiet in early 2020. He’d spend his days driving around Calgary looking for old transit vehicles to take photos of, he told CBC Calgary, until one day a friend informed him of a somewhat rare GM New Look bus that was sitting on a piece of property just outside the of the city. While GM produced more than 44,000 examples of the New Look Bus, many have now been retired and scrapped, so enthusiasts are naturally attracted to restoration-worthy examples.
Photo via bus1130.ca
Blonski spoke to the owner of the bus, who agreed to sell him the vehicle for $2,000. While the bus was in good shape and even retained the original blue and red Calgary Transit paint job, a previous owner had set to work converting the vehicle into a camper van and had thus removed the original bus seats. Blonski managed to acquire some of the regular chair-style seats from other GM New Look buses, but couldn’t locate the bench seat that contours around the back of the bus, so he had to build his own out of wood and have it upholstered. While restoring the bus was a time- and money-consuming endeavor, Blonski told the CBC it was worth it to see the bus he rode as a kid driving around downtown Calgary.
“If you have an old bus, it’s preserved, and you climb onto it you kind of relive that moment, you know?” Blonski told the CBC. “I took this thing downtown and had my friend drive it past the bus stop where I would always catch these in service. I just stood there and just watched this thing pull up.”
Photo via bus1130.ca
GM Authority readers who want to know more about Blonski’s journey restoring his “Fishbowl,” bus can check out his dedicated website, bus1130.ca, where he documented the restoration process in great detail.
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Comments
A gm classic!
I remember when these were introduced into service in Los Angeles. They had one on exhibit in Pershing Square across from the Biltmore Hotel. Even as a young child in single-digit age, I observed the use of fluorescent lighting and other such esoterica.
Very cool project and a great save of a classic machine!
Always loved these old style buses. I remember as a young child early / mid-80’s when the style changed over to the more “rectangular” Grumman buses which looked super modern by comparison. I’ve always thought it would be fun to have one of these to travel cross country. Glad to see people taking time to appreciate these classics and give them a new life
GM got out of the transit bus business because of excessive government forced regulations. Several years after no buses were being made, the US government dropped those same restrictions so buses could be imported from outside of the country. The damage was already done. Hundreds of GM workers in Pontiac, Michigan lost their jobs and the transit bus plant was closed. Your tax dollars at work in Washington…thanks again!
Thanks, I’ve always wandered why GM got out of a business that they had a monopoly on.
I also wondered why they got out of buses. The old story of unintended consequences? And why they sold Detroit Diesel and Electro Motive Division. Those answers are way above my pay grade. Those were the glory days of Pontiac, Michigan. GMC Truck and Bus on one side of town and Fisher Body and Pontiac Motor Division on the other side of town. If you got mad at your boss you could walk off of the line, go across town, and get a job at one of the other plants. A true “shop” town. Everybody worked in “the plant” at one time or another. The good/bad old days.
I am an old Delco Moraine in Dayton Ohio employee. I left the company in 1971. The plant became Delphi, and they closed the plant around 2010. They tore the 2 plants down. Sad, as a ton of workers were furloughed, and the plants are now gone for future generations to make a decent living.
Same problem in London Ontario canada. The new look bus was built there. There was also a electromotive plant there as well. Both are now gone, buses went first.
The city of toronto acquired a fleet of Canadian built Volvo or Mercedes’ bus (not sure which) to replace the aging new looks in the 80’s. Those European buses however broke down often and rusted and typically lasted just 5 years which let the city to set up a Re manufacturing facility not for the European bus but for OLD GM buses. They bought and brought GM new look buses from all over North America, rebuilt them and put them on toronto streets for another 15 years. That is 3x longer than the European buses from an already 15 to 20 year old vehicle.
They rode rough, they were load but they worked!
Most of these buses used a Detroit Diesel engine with the unique Allison V- drive automatic transmission.
Thanks for restoring these buses. I drove for CT and remember fondly of the GM’s. Probably drove that very same bus. They retrofitted them with power,tilt and telescopic steering and added a Recaro seat. CT had some of its GM’s in service for over 30 years. Not too many manufacturers can claim that. Enjoy it and if I see you in Calgary with it I hope I can chat with you!
When he got on that bus to “relive” the moment I always remembered to be “relieved” when I got on and chose a seat. In fact, that is what I thought he said.
I drove that bus when I worked for Calgary transit. Those old GMs were solid!
Can still hear that 6v71 Detroit diesel sound , rode on them in the summer to the malls or the beach city buses had 2 speed automatic? In so California the commenter express bus had just one passenger door and Manuel transmission it fly done the freeway
Early units had the “V” 2 speed transmission and GM later added 700 series Allison 3 speed transmissions.
That probably has the GM 2 stroke diesel. A screamer of a diesel.
Being an ex Calgary Transit driver starting in the ’80s, I believe I would have driven that very bus on at least a few occasions.
The thing I remember most is when you would have a Full Standing load of passengers while maneuvering downtown… With No Power Steering.
Forget about air conditioning. 😎
I think the gm newlook and gm mci classic were both amazing busses, especially with the 6V92TA Detroit turbo diesel