If An Old Trailmobile Bus Could Talk...

If this vintage Trailmobile bus could talk, we're quite sure it would have some tales to tell. Spotted recently on a wet day in San Francisco, this particular specimen -- which probably rolled out of the factory sometime during the 1940s or 1950s -- underwent a DIY conversion into a camper/RV somewhere later along the line.

Today it looks like an archeological dig on wheels... but therein lies its charm.

Photos: Telstar Logistics

Comments

[Michael_slater]

All this bus is missing is a man in s fake cast asking co-eds to help him lift a couch into the cab.

It rubs the lotion in.

[Amy Heiden]

I curious what it's like inside. Were you able to peek in through an un-draped window?

[Telstar Logistics]

Amy, I didn't even try. Pandora's Box, and all that...

[JJ San]

That little lot is like a magic, wonderful, scary graveyard/dumping-ground/art-installation/trip-back-in-time with a rotating collection.

[Telstar Logistics]

JJ, you're so right -- 16th Street right near the 280 overpass. I had the same thought. More images to come.

[Charles]

Wow, that looks exactly like my uncle's bus conversion, and there can't be too many of those, it might even be unique. I haven't seen it in at least 20 years. It looked a lot better back then, and had a red paint job like the one in your photos. When my uncle died, his sister ran off with the bus and sold it fast so nobody knows where it (or the money) went. If you could get an interior shot, I could confirm it's the same bus. But I suppose there really is no point in that, I'm just curious.

[Gene Herman]

Found the pix of the “Trailmobile” bus very amusing because there never was such a thing, as far as I know. The Trailmobile company has manufactured semi-trailers for many, many years, and I suspect that the logo was placed on the old girl at some point purely for it’s obvious graphic appeal, and general coolness factor. Perhaps it was also meant as an affectionate proper name for this RV conversion, what with it being San Francisco based and all. That still leaves the identity of the manufacturer of the bus open. It is clearly a Yellow Coach/GMC from the 40’s or early 50’s, but the combination of the GMC 4509 style paired (or pairzy) side windows with the much earlier GMC 4502 style vertical windshield and 4507 style front air intake make this old brick look like a bit of a hodge-podge. But there is no doubt in my mind that both the hodge and the podge components were built by General Motors. Cheers!

[econobiker]

Whether or not this was Charles' uncle's bus/rv conversion, it did have a bunch of mural work on it at one time. Look at the rear shot and you can see the remains of the trees along with a barn and church. Similar on the sides or what can be seen of the sides. The theme probably went along with the "trail mobile" logo lifted from a tractor truck trailer.

[Evan]

Gene: problem is, Old Looks looked almost identical to most other transits of the era. I've had folks argue with me that a
'50s REO is a GM, when I can point at various cues (the most notable being a build plate) that suggest otherwise. Insane.

That said, there is a lot of GM influence, but the windshield throws me for the biggest loop. Doesn't quite look like a 4502 design to me...