THE 80'S PT 1

 A look at Hillsdale in the 80's...

A classic Peterbilt 359 semi pulls a Conrail 40' trailer out of town. Note the AMC Pacer!

Another classic is the GMC motor home.

An AMC Gremlin sits in front of Dairy Queen, beside a classic hot rod, Pontiac Trans Am, and a Chevy pick-up, as another Chevy truck rolls past, along with a Ford Escort.

A Greyhound MCI MC-7 SceniCruiser rolls into town in the classic white/blue/red paint scheme introduced in the early 70's, and used for nearly four decades into the early 2000's. The MC-7 itself was introduced in 1970, and used almost as long!

A stretched Lincoln Town Car takes a newlywed couple our of town for their honeymoon. While they would love to go away to an exotic resort, there is no airport nearby, so they settled for a cabin on Youghiogheny Lake.

The mechanics normally work on old farm tractors but today, they have a much more exciting weekend project; a '72 Chevelle with a 454 big block under the hood!

The main rival bus company to Greyhound, Trailways also served Hillsdale. Here one of the company's iconic Eagle Model 10 coaches rolls into town for a stop on the way to New York City..

The famed "GO BIG RED" slogan was emblazoned across the rear, along with a very popular perk; "KIDS RIDE FREE"!

The bus leaves after dropping off a passenger. The roots of the unique Trailways design go back to the late 50's, when Continental Trailways wanted a coach to compete with rival Greyhound's SceniCruiser.. Unable to find a domestic manufacturer willing to work with them, they went to a German firm, who designed the first Eagle coaches. During the 60's, the Eagles were produced by a Belgian firm, until 1976. The Eagle Model 10, made from 1980-1987, was the first all-American made Eagle!

When Greyhound bought Trailways in 1987, they also acquired their Eagle manufacturing division. Unfortunately, Eagle was shut down in 1990 by a lengthy driver's strike at Greyhound, which ultimately forced the company into bankruptcy. After that, Eagle basically ceased to exist.

More 80's flavor to come next week!