1/35 PD-3701 Silverside Bus, 1947

Roden - 1/35 1947 PD-3751 Silverside Bus 'Greyhound Lines'
Intercity bus created in the mid-1930s by Yellow Coach for one of the largest US coach companies, Greyhound Lines. The bus was a revolution in auto construction, corrugated aluminium and plastic materials were widely used in its build. Special attention was paid to maximum comfort for passengers. Following the construction of a wide network of high-quality highways during the Great Depression, rail passenger traffic almost stopped due to its inability to compete with high speed road transport. Mass production was undertaken at the Pontiac West Assembly plant in Pontiac, Michigan, where General Motors built pick-ups and trucks. Once the United States entered World War II the mass transportation of military recruits presented a major challenge. The solution was to use Greyhound buses. As early as 1942 they carried more than 130 million passengers, both military and civilian, an impressive figure accounting for almost half the country's population. After the war, Silversides continued in passenger traffic in the US. Some were sold to third countries, mainly in Latin America. The Greyhound Silverside bus is one of the icons of the United States, along with Ford cars and Boeing aircraft, embodying the significant technological progress the country made in the first half of the 20th century.