12 replies to this topic

[chnlisle]

And bullet proof!! I do still love the old Detroits.

[the fisherman]

And bullet proof!! I do still love the old Detroits.

I have owned over the last 40yrs.
1 453
2 471
1 671 one a low block WW2 surplus but a Detroit, not a Grey Marine
2 871
All were good motors that ran for thousands of hours, lots of parts, but more expensive to overhaul than a Cat. because you have to throw away a lot more parts than with a Cat. If you need a motor to push 60 tons, you need a Cat.
as a side note a new from the factory 3408TA latest version is 67 thousand dollars and that's minus the reduction gear and a lot of other parts to get the thing operational, so don't complain too much about the price of fish, you just have to buy the fish, not the Cat.

[chnlisle]

On our buses a Detroit would go for 300K with no sweat. We'd rebuild them and they'd go for another 300k+. And that's in L.A rush hour traffic exclusively. When CA gave us incentive money we got rid of all our old Crown Coaches. Many from the late 50's early 60's. All of them were Detroits. Crown went under and we started buying crap. Blue Birds, Thomas' etc. The ones with Cats outlasted the chassis. The ones with IH's out lasted nothing. Some of the old Crowns are still in service in Ventura County and Gold Rush country and still being rebuilt.