El Dorado System - Motor Transit Co. - 1925-1930 - Los Angeles, California


   

In common with other large California stage operators, Motor Transit Co. was drawn into equipment manu­facturing by its dissatisfaction with commercially avail­able buses. From modifications through reconstruction efforts to full-scale assembly, Motor Transit progressed from a buyer (mostly of Whites) to a builder of buses. The most significant step was taken in 1925, when Buda six­-cylinder engines began to be used in place of White fours (White did not have a six until 1926). Use of an emblem and slogan identifying the company as the "El Dorado System" led to the use of the name El Dorado for the buses.

Approximately 70 buses were built for Motor Transit's own use, plus possibly a few for other southern California carriers, during the five years of production. They ranged from small stages and bus-truck combination vehicles (generally referred to as "combos") with compound trans­mission to large 33-passenger buses for heavy suburban work. Production ceased when Motor Transit came under the control of the Pacific Electric Railway.

 

   

For more information please read:

Ed Strauss & Karen Strauss - The Bus World Encyclopedia of Buses

G.N. Georgano & G. Marshall Naul - The Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles

Albert Mroz - Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks & Commercial Vehicles

Donald F. Wood - American Buses

Denis Miller - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trucks and Buses

Susan Meikle Mandell - A Historical Survey of Transit Buses in the United States

David Jacobs - American Buses, Greyhound, Trailways and Urban Transportation

William A. Luke & Linda L. Metler - Highway Buses of the 20th Century: A Photo Gallery 

William A. Luke & Brian Grams - Buses of Motorcoach Industries 1932-2000 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Greyhound Buses 1914-2000 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Prevost Buses 1924-2002 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Flxible Intercity Buses 1924-1970 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Buses of ACF Photo Archive (including ACF-Brill & CCF-Brill)

William A. Luke - Trailways Buses 1936-2001 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Fageol & Twin Coach Buses 1922-1956 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Yellow Coach Buses 1923 Through 1943: Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Trolley Buses: 1913 Through 2001 Photo Archive

Harvey Eckart - Mack Buses: 1900 Through 1960 Photo Archive

Brian Grams & Andrew Gold - GM Intercity Coaches 1944-1980 Photo Archive

Robert R. Ebert  - Flxible: A History of the Bus and the Company

John McKane - Flxible Transit Buses: 1953 Through 1995 Photo Archive

Bill Vossler - Cars, Trucks and Buses Made by Tractor Companies

Lyndon W Rowe - Municipal buses of the 1960s

Edward S. Kaminsky - American Car & Foundry Company 1899-1999

Dylan Frautschi - Greyhound in Postcards: Buses, Depots and Post Houses

 



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