Fageol Motors Company [dealer’s showroom photo album]; Fageol Inter-City Bus. Supplement No. 1.

[Oakland, CA]: Fageol Motors Co., 1921; [1925]. Two pieces. 1st - Oblong 8vo. 9.5 x 6.75 in. With 32 silver gelatin photographs, sized 6.3 x 8 in., many backed in linen, all mounted on hinges at gutter margin, most w/ typed captions, or manufacturers stamps on versos. Deluxe and elaborately embossed full green leather, Fageol Motors Company title in raised padded lettering, embossed decorated borders, sewn at gutter margin w/ green leather tie (slight shelfwear, very slight wear to corners), NF exemplar; 2nd - 4to. 1 printed leaf, 8.5 x 11 in., diagrams & illustration for Fageol Inter-City Bus (crease fold at center, slight dustsoiling), NF. First edition of this exceedingly scarce dealer’s showroom photo catalogue for these Jazz Age Inter-City and Sightseeing buses. The company’s “Safety Bus” designed and built by Fageol in 1921 was the first time a company had designed and manufactured a bus from the ground up, without simply placing a bus body on available heavy-duty truck chassis. The Fageol buses were built with a wider wheelbase, underslung axles designed to lower them to the ground so they were resistant to roll-overs around corners, equipped with a Hall-Scott 4-cylinder engine (later 6-cylinder for Western customers), and four speed gear box with overdrive top gear, as well as Westinghouse air brakes superior to hydraulic systems at the time. These photographs show the Fageol Safety Coaches, some with wicker seats, the Sight Seeing Parlor Car, the 58 passenger Double-Decker; lowslung fitted with 10 doors for each seat, and trademark hood louvers; including models operated by the Croton & Stonington Traction Co. in Connecticut and Rhode Island; Washington Railway & Electric Traction Co. double-decker in front of the Lincoln Memorial; and even the Salt Lake -- Park City Stage line. One image shows the Fageol Safety Coach owned by the Puget Sound International Railway & Power Co. in Everett, WA which was the first to replace a street car line on the West Coast. Of particular interest is the image of a Fageol Safety Coach operated by Wisconsin Motor Bus which was one of those said to have inspired Ed Eckstrom while purchasing Stone’s bus company to change the name to “Greyhound.” Their buses became especially popular with passengers at Glacier National Park, as well as one which operated in the Denali National Park operated by the Mt. McKinley Tourist & Transportation Co. Fageol was first incorporated by William and Frank Fageol in Oakland, CA in 1916, went into receivership during the Great Depression in 1932, and later purchased by lumberman T.A. Peterman who created the Peterbilt Motors Co. from the Fageol Motors Co. No copies located in Worldcat of showroom photo album, 1 copy located of Supplement (Henry Ford Museum); See: The Fageol Safety Coach -- A Breakthrough in Bus Design, The Old Motor (Jan. 15, 2014); Mark Theobald, Fageol Motors Co., 1915-1932, Coachbuilt (2013); Kris Capps, Historic Coach Goes on Display in Denali Area (2015).