Fageol moving van from 1953
Fageol Motors was a U.S. manufacturer of buses and other motor vehicles.
[edit] History
The company was founded in 1916 to manufacture motor trucks, farm tractors and automobiles in Oakland, California.[1]
In 1921, it became the first company to build a bus from the ground up. This new bus was called the "Safety Bus". The goal was to build a bus that was not prone to overturning when cornering. It had a wide track, and was lower to the ground to ensure the passengers' safety and ease of entry and exit. Following shortly after the success of the Safety Bus was the larger 22-seat "Safety Coach".[2] The factory was located in Oakland, California, but did not survive the depression of the early 1930s. It went into receivership, and the bank assumed control and re-organized under the name Fageol Truck and Coach. In 1938, Mr. Peterman bought the factory and its contents. Shortly, the first Peterbilt was produced.
The South Australian Railways (SAR) operated a number of Fageol buses and trucks. In 1932 that system introduced into service the first of four railcars converted from their road buses. These vehicles initially operated on the SAR 3-foot-6-inch (1.07 m) gauge Port Lincoln Division, however some were transferred to the South East Division branch line to Kingston, South Australia, prior to the line's conversion to broad gauge. The last railcar was condemned in 1961.[3]
The Fageol brothers left the company in 1927 to form a the Twin Coach Company, manufacturing buses in Kent, Ohio.
[edit] Products
- Fageol Tractors
- Fageol Trucks
- Safety Bus
- Safety Coach
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Oakland History Room, photo collection. Fageol Motors. Groundbreaking ceremony at Foothill Blvd and 106th, Oakland, California, June 9, 1917
- Oakland History Room, photo collection. Fageol Motors. First unit under construction in Oakland
- Oakland History Room, photo collection. Fageol Motors. Another view of the factory under construction, with a Fageol truck in the foreground
- Oakland History Room, photo collection. Fageol Motors. Second unit under construction
- Oakland History Room, photo collection. Hall-Scott Motor Company. 150 horsepower straight-6 engines being assembled were formerly destined for Fageol products
