44,484 New Look buses were built over the production lifespan, of which 33,413 were built in the U.S. and 11,071 were built in Canada (
GM Diesel Division). Separated by general type, the production figures comprised 510 city buses (all U.S.-built); 9,355 city buses (7,804 U.S.-built, 1,551 Canadian); 31,348 city buses (22,034 U.S., 9,314 Canadian) and 3,271 suburban coaches (of which only 206 were built in Canada). which operated in
Washington, D.C., and the suburbs of Maryland and Virginia. Several different models were introduced over the following years, and modifications made to the design. See the section below, headed "Description". Production of the New Look in the U.S. ceased in 1977, At least one transit property, the
Société de transport de l'Outaouais in
Gatineau, Quebec, operated the model until at least 2015 nearly 60 years after introduction and more than 30 years after mass production ended, but has since retired the type from active use. The last American-built New Look GM buses were ordered by the city of
Wausau, Wisconsin, which placed an order for twelve transit buses, model T6H-4523N, the last of which was delivered in March 1977. The
GM Buffalo bus, a group of intercity bus models built between 1966 and 1980, shared many mechanical and body parts with the fishbowl models, and were discontinued by the
Pontiac, Michigan, plant shortly after the RTS replaced fishbowl model production there. GM later sold the rights to produce both
Classic and RTS models to other manufacturers, and exited the heavy-duty transit and intercity markets for full-sized buses, although production of some medium-duty and light-duty chassis products sold in these markets continued. ==Description== Like GM's over-the-road buses, including the
Greyhound Scenicruiser, the air-sprung New Look did not have a traditional
ladder frame. Instead it used an airplane-like
stressed-skin construction in which an aluminum riveted skin supported the weight of the bus. The wooden floor kept the bus's shape. The engine cradle was hung off the back of the roof. As a result, the GM New Look weighed significantly less than competitors' city buses. mechanics examine the
6V71 engine of bus no. 976 Virtually all New Look buses were powered by
Detroit Diesel Series 71 two-cycle diesel engines. The original engine was the 6V71 (
V6). GM buses used a unique "Angle-drive" configuration with a transverse mounted engine. The transmission angled off at a 45-or-so degree angle to connect to the rear axle. The engines were canted backwards for maintenance access; in fact, the only parts not accessible from outside the bus were the right-hand
exhaust manifold and the
starter. The entire
engine-
transmission-
radiator assembly was mounted on a cradle that could be quickly removed and replaced, allowing the bus to return to service with minimal delay when the powertrain required major maintenance. Originally, all New Looks were powered by the 6V-71. GM resisted V8 power but eventually gave in to pressure from customers. (The exception to the above was the TDH-3301, which was powered by the GMC
DH-478 Toroflow four-stroke V6, and had a more conventional T-drive transmission.) Original transmission choices were a four-speed non-synchronized
manual transmission with solenoid reverse and the
Allison Automatic VH hydraulic transmission. The latter was essentially a one-speed
automatic transmission which drove the wheels through a
torque converter. At sufficient speed a clutch bypassed the torque converter and the engine drove the rear wheels directly. A later option was the
VS-2, similar to the VH but with a two-speed
planetary gearset with three modes: Hydraulic, direct (1:1), and direct-overdrive. The very last batch of American-built New Looks and most Canadian-built New Looks from 1977 through 1987 use the
Allison V730 transmission, a traditional three-speed automatic with a
lockup torque converter. These four transmissions were the only V-drive transmissions made. New Looks were available in both Transit and Suburban versions. Transits were traditional city buses with two doors; Suburbans had forward-facing seats (four-abreast), underfloor luggage bays, and had only one door. The floor beneath the seats was higher than the center aisle to accommodate the luggage bays. There were also "Suburban-style" transits which had forward-facing seats on slightly raised platforms that gave the appearance of a dropped center aisle. GM refused to install lavatories on these buses; at least one transit authority (Sacramento Transit Authority in
Sacramento, California) added its own. The New Look was built in , and lengths and widths. buses had different-length side windows, so the profiles of both buses looked very similar, but not the same. In the 1970s, AC Transit shortened several 35' New Look buses to 29' by removing a section from the middle for
dial-a-ride demand-responsive service, maintaining common parts and drivers with the remainder of its fleet. Double-width exit doors were offered as an option for 40-foot buses, in two styles: a single folding door or a pair of butterfly doors side-by-side. Where either type was used, the side window immediately behind the door was the size normally used in 35-foot buses. In 1967 and 1968, Red Arrow Lines tested a GM New Look bus converted to operate as a
railbus on its interurban routes and the
Norristown High Speed Line.
Variants based on the New Look ;Turbine engines General Motors had been interested in developing
gas turbine engines for highway use and showed the
General Motors Firebird series of turbine-powered sports car concepts in the 1950s; to demonstrate the engine's practicality, GM fitted a copy of the same
GT-300 "Whirlfire" engine from Firebird I into an "old-look" TDH-4512 transit bus and called it the "Turbo-Cruiser". For the
1964 New York World's Fair, the latest version of the gas turbine engine, designated
GT-309, was fitted to a New Look bus (TDH-5303, serial #0001) and named "Turbo-Cruiser II"; the GT-309 was also fitted to the Chevrolet Tilt-Cab truck chassis and called "
Turbo Titan III". The GT-309 developed power and torque comparable to the 8V-71 and weighed less, but fuel consumption and emissions proved to be intractable problems. The same TDH-5303 was later equipped with a
continuously-variable transmission and rebranded "Turbo-Cruiser III". The Turbo-Cruiser III drivetrain also was used on the
"RTX" (Rapid Transit eXperimental) bus of 1968, prototyping the styling and features of the Rapid Transit Series, which succeeded the New Look buses starting in 1977. ;Trolley buses In 1981–82,
Brown Boveri & Company constructed 100 model HR150G
trolley buses from New Look bus shells for the
Edmonton Transit System (ETS). Two coaches (No. 192 and 197) were sent to the
Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in late 1989 for evaluation as potential supplements to the aging
Flyer E700 vehicles in the
TTC's trolley bus system's fleet and placed in revenue service in January 1990; pleased with the results, TTC leased 38 more for a three-year term, starting in June 1990. All of the leased buses were in the group of ETS fleet numbers between #149 and #199; in TTC service, the leased buses were renumbered with a leading 9 but retained their ETS livery (color scheme). TTC decided to discontinue trolley bus service in January 1992 to reduce operating costs; as ETS would not allow an early return of the leased buses, TTC continued to run the leased buses on two reopened routes until July 1993. Back in Edmonton, 19 of the returned trolley buses were retired and used for spare parts, while the rest of the fleet remained in use for 27 years until the
Edmonton trolley bus system was shut down in 2009. In December 2009, 28 were purchased by the private operator of the
Plovdiv trolleybus system in Bulgaria, but upon arrival in the port of
Burgas the trolleybuses were arrested by customs authorities over unpaid import duties. In 2012 the Plovdiv trolleybus system shut down as well, and in 2015 the trolleybuses were finally auctioned off and transferred to
Yambol for scrapping. The Dayton trolleybuses (#109 and 110) were moved into storage in 2004. Two others were preserved after Edmonton shut down the trolleybus system in 2009: the
Illinois Railway Museum received #181 in Fall 2009 and the
Seashore Trolley Museum received #125 in 2010. ;Articulated buses version, built only in 1982, had a
New Look body but a
Classic front end. A
articulated version was designed and built in 1982 for a Government of Ontario demonstration project. While a New Look body was used, a newer front (to allow a wider entrance), which would eventually be incorporated into the
Classic transit bus, was used. For this reason, this model is sometimes not described as being a New Look and is not included in New Look production figures. Series production took place in 1982–1983, and a total of only 53 were built. 12 were tested by TTC in 1982, but TTC chose to purchase a fleet of
Orion III articulated buses instead. ==Model naming==