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Paul O. Dittmar started South Suburban Motor Coach Co. to operate between
a Chicago rapid transit terminal and outlying suburbs in 1927, and in 1931
he and others formed SafeWay Lines, Inc. for the purpose of establishing a
deluxe nonstop bus service between Chicago and New York. For this venture he
teamed with Harry A. FitzJohn to design the so-called Autocoach, a compact
14-passenger sedan-style parlor bus which was built by Reo. SafeWay Lines
was soon sold and turned away from the small Autocoaches, but in 1935
Dittmar again designed a bus of his own, this time for the suburban company,
now expanded and known as South Suburban SafeWay Lines. The DMX had, an
aluminum-alloy cab-over-engine body and a Hercules engine, and during the
years of its production several different models were offered with seating
capacities from 25 to 33. About 150 were built,'33 of them delivered to
South Suburban Safe W ay itself.
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