For more than 70 years, reviewers have had little doubt about this. In 1949 Time magazine wrote, “Their [Raymond Loewy Associates] new two-level Greyhound bus (the Scenicruiser) was being tested on Michigan roads.” Fifty years later, another author wrote, “He also designed the 1954 two-level Scenicruiser bus for Greyhound.” And in 2009 an online article said, “In 1954, [Loewy] designed the iconic split-level Scenicruiser, a totem of the golden age of bus travel.” 

As with many questions, the answer is more complicated than expected. It depends on answers to many other questions, such as which Scenicruiser, how connected GX-1 was to the PD-4501, and what design component is meant by the key question. 

Undoubtedly, both Raymond Loewy Associates (RLA) and Raymond Loewy himself were involved in the design of GX-1, GX-2, and the 4501. While many details and factors could be addressed, for the analysis here, the question is really this: Did Raymond Loewy or RLA design the distinctive deck-and-a-half exterior shape of the Scenicruiser? 

Three functional prototypes were built and tested before the Greyhound Scenicruiser, PD-4501, began production. All had different exterior silhouettes and comprised thousands of parts and sub-assemblies, each with a designer. However, the production Scenicruisers’ most distinctive, iconic, and recognizable feature is its deck-and-a-half exterior styling. The key design question is this: Who designed the 4501 exterior shape or silhouette? 

A glance at the literature associating Loewy and the Scenicruiser should provide insights. In 1951, Loewy, in his autobiography, wrote, “We have been retained by the Greyhound Bus System for fifteen years as consultants in the design of their prototype busses, the latest being the Scenicruiser, with its observation turret.” Over this span, Loewy and his company were engaged as consultants in the design of both GX-1 and GX-2, not to mention Silversides’ models. However, there is no clear statement here of design ownership to the distinctive 4501 (or GX-2) exterior. 

About 20 years later, Editor Jay Doblin published a book on the 100 great product designs, including the Scenicruiser. This collection of “the best designed, mass-produced products” originally appeared in a 1959 article in Fortune magazine. In the accompanying text to the book, the writer claimed that “[Milo] Dean, working with A. Baker Barnhart from the Loewy office, developed a new full-sized prototype which was then built at the Tropic Aire plant in Chicago in 1946. The Greyhound management was delighted, and the bus was placed into production. Twelve years after the instigation of the project, the Scenicruiser joined the Greyhound fleet.” Neither the author nor the sources for this “history” are known. 

A brief aside on this story – it is one of the first, if not the earliest, “histories” of the Scenicruiser. Doblin’s sequence of events goes like this:

• 1943 – Greyhound requested Loewy to design a bus that would carry 50 passengers with lavatories, air-conditioning, and deluxe interiors
• Loewy used a yacht manufacturer’s showroom on New York’s Park Avenue to build a full-size mock-up to fit 50 people into a space not much larger than that of the 37-passenger buses
• The height was raised 12 inches to make a double-decker, and five feet was added to the length
• The model was completed in a year
• Two operating prototypes named the Highway Traveler were built by General Motors
• They cost $1 million for both
• “Quite casually,” these working models were put into Greyhound service, cruising segments of their 96,000 miles of routes
• From this experience, Caesar had Milo Dean and A. Baker Barnhart of RLA design a bus combining the simplicity of standard buses with what was learned from the prototypes
• They built a full-size prototype in the Tropic Aire plant in Chicago in 1946
• Greyhound management was delight and put it into production
• Twelve years after the project started, the Scenicruiser joined the Greyhound fleet 

The details of this “history” do not appear anywhere else together. The “5 feet” appears to be from the GX-2 story. There were never two operating prototypes, though two outside manufacturers were initially contracted to build prototypes. The original “Highway Traveler” was built by Greyhound, not GM. There is no evidence that any early prototype went into service anytime between 1943 and 1946. 

The prototype GX-1 was built around 1946, but no management delight put it into production at that time. To this last point, Bob Bourke, who worked for Loewy and Studebaker in the mid-1940s, commented during a retrospective interview: “Once in a while, I’d go to Chicago and meet Barney [A. Baker Barnhart], and we had a huge Scenic Cruiser buck built, and we made the thing out of wood. Then it went into production. That was a fantastic bus.” Of course, the period is not specific, nor is the model of “Scenic Cruiser.” If it is a reference to GX-1, perhaps “put it into production” meant they built the functional prototype after the “wood” model was completed. More likely, it references GX-2 but not in Doblin’s 1946 time frame. 

It appears to be a jumble of various components and events in the Scenicruisers’ history and stories unsupported by documents or histories. Yet the most astounding fact of all is that Jay Doblin, editor of the book and perhaps the source of this “history,” worked for Raymond Loewy for 12 years, about 1943-55, precisely the period from which the history of the Scenicruiser emerged! While there is no evidence that Doblin worked with Greyhound, he probably had access to information. This is a mystery that will persist until new information is revealed. 

In Loewy’s 1979 book, Industrial Design, he focused on his pre-GX-1 role in building the mock-up in New York as well as the 1946 drawing of an “almost” GX-1, a design later modified by replacing the tandem rear axles to a single one when GX-1 was built. While Loewy implicitly connects himself with the design of the 4501 with a picture of himself on the back cover with many products, including a model of the 1954 Scenicruiser, he nonetheless states, “Design work, even when it emerges from a specific vision, is often a collaborative experience….” 

In the 1990 book Raymond Loewy: Pioneer of American Industrial Design, edited by Angela Schönberger, the broad scope of Loewy’s work is covered. A connection between him and the Scenicruiser was established on page 17, plate 17, where a brochure picturing the PD-4501 appeared with the caption, “Scenicruiser bus, Greyhound Corp., 1954. Contemporary publicity brochure.” 

This attribute of the Scenicruiser to Loewy was supplemented by three contributors who referred to some of his bus work, with interesting variations in the stories. In one, there are confused components. This quote appears to be an amalgamation of the GX-1, Silversides, and Scenicruiser coaches: 

“[Loewy] was contracted to work on designing an entirely new bus that would carry more passengers and provide them with en route amenities that had not been previously available. However, although the design was completed by 1940, final development and production had to be delayed until the war ended. It was finally put into service in 1954 as the Silversides motor coach.” 

The “entirely new bus that would carry more passengers…” is clearly GX-1 language. The design of the Silversides, which is pictured in that book, was completed by 1939. However, its development and production were not delayed until 1954, when the Scenicruiser was introduced. The Scenicruiser had been delayed and developed for many years. 

The next contributor, Donald J. Bush, told this story: 

“Loewy’s first task for Greyhound had been the redesign, in 1933, of the corporate logo. Working from photographs of racing canines supplied by the American Kennel Club, he made the dog’s silhouette lighter and sleeker. In 1940, Loewy and his staff designed the interior of the Greyhound Silversides motorcoach. At the same time, Loewy advanced ideas for a double-deck ‘Motorcoach of the Future;’ this, along with more comprehensive study sketches made in 1946, eventually led to the development of the Greyhound Scenicruiser of 1954. With the latter, Loewy and his staff took responsibility for the interior and exterior, cooperating with the staff of Greyhound and the builders, General Motors.”  

While the Silversides and the Scenicruiser are not confused here, and the 1946 GX-1 path to the 1954 Scenicruiser is accurate, there is the interesting but undocumented comment that Loewy and staff “took responsibility for the interior as well as the exterior.” While Loewy’s team was indeed responsible for the interior, as stated in Greyhound documents, this explicit mention of the exterior is unusual and may represent simply the well-known collaboration between the three organizations, as Bush states. 

Finally, John Heskett reports: 

“Raymond Loewy’s office had first been commissioned by the Greyhound motorbus company in the 1930s, and the potential for a long-term relationship between consultant designer and client was well illustrated by the Greyhound Scenicruiser, on which work began in 1944. The Loewy office designed the interior to carry 50 passengers, compared to 37 on the previous model, in improved comfort conditions. It required extensive development and testing before appearing in full service in 1954.” 

Heskett may be referencing the contracts left to GM and Consolidated Vultee in 1944 for his Scenicruiser start date, briefly alluding to the GX-1 characteristics. Extensive development and testing transpired during those 10 years until the Scenicruiser of 1954. 

The next book on Loewy to appear was by Paul Joudard in 1992. In his book, Raymond Loewy covered his bus design work in less than two pages. The early three-level drawing from Loewy’s 1979 book was included, with the notation that it was the “original proposal for the Greyhound Scenicruiser bus.…” Joudard’s version of the Scenicruiser history was covered in one sentence: 

“He was then asked to work on the development of a new bus to seat a larger number of passengers, and from the commission - completed before the war but not put into production until 1946 - came the Silversides motorcoach, which developed into the double-decker Scenicruiser, launched in 1954.” 

But the Silversides were produced as far back as 1939, and the path from that design to the Scenicruiser wasn’t quite that direct. 

By the dawn of the 21st century, books focused on Raymond Loewy had been discontinued. However, his work was included in at least two design anthologies in 2000 and 2006.

Icons of Design, from 2000, listed Loewy’s accomplishments in a timeline. At such a high level, it’s not surprising that the only buses mentioned are the 1940 “Silversides” for Greyhound Bus Company and the 1954 “Scenicruiser.” Like other references, this merely states the connection between the Scenicruiser and Loewy. 

Later in the book, an article by Courtenay Smith gives more details on the history. Elements of Loewy’s rendition in his 1979 book are repeated (disguising stains, reinforcing walls at the collision level, and a large white dot with a red arrow pointing down at the steps for safety). While mentioning that work began in 1944, which came from the contracts, Smith also placed the New York model building in 1944. The history unfolds in one sentence from that point: “After extensive testing, the bus went into service in 1954 under the name Scenicruiser.” Unfortunately, Smith’s following sentences confuse the GX-1 with the Scenicruiser: 

“Unlike earlier double-deckers, characterized by stacked ‘slabs,’ Loewy’s version was a long, sleek tube topped by a three-quarter-length observation deck. Inside was a spacious cabin with seats for 50 passengers - in contrast to earlier 37-seat models….” 

Of course, the 50-passenger bus designed by Loewy, the GX-1, was somewhat characterized by stacked “slabs,” and the 4501, with its three-quarter length, held 33 on the upper deck. Smith’s references for the Scenicruiser article included Joudard’s Raymond Loewy and Loewy’s own Industrial Design. Of course, neither puts 50 passengers into a bus with a ¾-length upper deck.  

In 2006, the book The A-Z of Modern Design included Raymond Loewy’s work, among many others. Its timeline of Loewy’s life is the same as the one in Icons of Design, and Loewy’s connection to the Scenicruiser is assumed: “The Scenicruiser bus for Greyhound was another classic on wheels.” 

It is clear that, despite a piecemeal and threadbare Scenicruiser history depicted in most articles and books, the general author and audience consensus today is that Raymond Loewy designed the distinctive deck-and-a-half iconic profile of the Scenicruiser. But several things challenge this view. 

First, the literature does not confirm this connection. The 4501 design is called Loewy’s, but there is never more than an assertion at best or an association in general. Authors assume it and repeat it. 

Then, there are the typical generalizations and associations of Scenicruiser elements with various participants. For example, Bus Transportation reported, “It embodies design, construction, and operational features based on the operating experience of Greyhound, the manufacturing skill of General Motors, and the artistic ability of Raymond Loewy Associates.” While one could assume that the design, construction, and operational features came from the listed companies in reverse (RLA, GM, and Greyhound), this gives no precise information on who did what. 

However, Greyhound was more specific about the 1954 Scenicruiser, “The bus was designed by Greyhound in cooperation with the General Motors Corporation. The distinctive color styling, which dramatizes the interior appearance, is the work of Raymond Loewy Associates.” While there’s not complete clarity, at least this publication implies that RLA was not involved in the exterior design. 

Second, as the design and development of the three coaches progressed from GX-1 to GX-2 to the PD-4501, Loewy’s publicized role changed. Each of the three coaches resulted from varying degrees of collaboration among three organizations: Raymond Loewy Associates, General Motors Truck & Coach Division, and Greyhound. Greyhound documents associated with each of the three use specific terms of engagement that change over time. 

Note the publicity about GX-1: “developed by Greyhound in collaboration with Raymond Loewy Associates, and was engineered and manufactured by Greyhound technical personnel.” This language reflects the role of Greyhound and Orville Caesar, as seen in his 1944 patent and the later patent, which was filed jointly by Caesar and Loewy. “Development” clearly refers to its design; from Greyhound’s view, it was a joint venture. 

Of course, the “engineered and manufactured” reference is to Carl H. Will’s Greyhound Motors & Supply Company in Chicago, which hand-built GX-1. While the role of RLA is said to be “collaboration,” the design patent for GX-1 was in Raymond Loewy’s name alone. Clearly, Raymond Loewy designed the exterior of GX-1. Documents and references outside of Greyhound confirm Loewy’s role, whether in whole or in part: “This inter-city bus, designed by the Greyhound Corporation in collaboration with Raymond Loewy Associates….”; “Designed by Raymond Loewy Associates, noted industrial designers, ….” “The streamlined body and the harmonious interior trim were styled by Raymond Loewy Associates.” 

GX-2, however, was styled “by Raymond Loewy Associates and General Motors Styling Section.” Given the Loewy-like drawings of the 35-foot GX-2 prototype and the GM-provided 3751, which was stretched and modified into GX-2, the latter was first recognizable as the classic Scenicruiser profile and was another joint venture, but this time between Loewy and General Motors. Because the source of the drawings is unknown, it’s unclear who designed the distinctive shape. Once again, the builder was Greyhound Motors & Supply Company in Chicago. 

It was typical of RLA to provide “blue-sky stuff” to stimulate and even startle both engineers and designers into “entirely new channels of design-consciousness. Out of their subsequent work, many interesting developments are likely to emerge…. If the final form is considerably altered, it may still be traced to the essential design elements in the much-abused blue-sky project.” 

Loewy’s depiction of his (RLA) role in GX-2 design was that of consultant, “For instance, in the transportation field, we have been retained by the Greyhound Bus System for fifteen years as consultants in the design of their prototype buses, the latest being the Scenicruiser, with its observation turret.” Other reports described Greyhound’s building of the first Scenicruiser “with the active cooperation and assistance of Raymond Loewy Associates, industrial designers, and the styling section of General Motors Corporation.” 

Whatever the contribution level in the iconic deck-and-a-half design first seen in the GX-2, it was not enough for Loewy to take credit since Albert Boca, a General Motors designer, held the design patent for the coach. Loewy certainly would have done what he did for GX-1; that is, he would have applied for a design patent for GX-2 if he or RLA had truly designed it. After all, “We naturally take patents ourselves, an average of fifty a year, practically all of which are assigned to our clients.” Further, when Loewy helped organize the Society of Industrial Designers in 1944, one of the codes of practice was that a designer “shall be accurate in claiming design credits…” 

For the production Scenicruiser itself, according to Greyhound’s pamphlet mentioned earlier, the PD-4501 “was designed by Greyhound in cooperation with the General Motors Corporation. The distinctive color styling, which dramatizes the interior appearance, is the work of Raymond Loewy Associates.” Press releases told the same story: “The interior styling, by Raymond Loewy Associates, uses new upholstery fabrics and bright colors.” 

Again, the design was considered a joint venture, but now it is managed by Greyhound and GM, with Loewy handling the interior only! Like GX-2, the 4501 exterior design patent was held by a GM designer, Roland Gegoux.  

Based on this documentation, the styling design of the exterior of the Scenicruiser and its predecessors looks like this: 

• GX-1 Loewy and Greyhound (Caesar)
• GX-2 GM and RLA concepts 
• 4501 GM and Greyhound 

Clearly, Raymond Loewy designed the GX-1 but did not design the exterior of the PD-4501. He and his company, RLA, were consultants to GX-2 when the distinctive style emerged. If Loewy had drawn the 35-foot GX-2 prototypes that later became the final GM GX-2 design, Loewy’s influence on the deck-and-a-half would have been significant. If not, the styling distinction goes to General Motors.