American Icons Stop in Tulsa

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- A convoy of American history arrived in Tulsa Tuesday evening.

The convoy of both restored and converted 1954-1956 Greyhound Scenicruiser buses stopped in Tulsa at the Desert Inn Motel at 5220 East 11th Street.

The convoy is traveling on Route 66 from Chicago and will meet another convoy of Greyhound Scenicruiser buses coming from Los Angeles at Adrian, Texas.

Adrian is the midway point of Route 66 and is the site for the "Hounds of the Mother Road Reunion."

Of the 1,001 General Motors model PD-4501 Scenicruiser buses made, only 200 are accounted for today. Of those 200, about 20 are still in their original seated configuration.

Convoy organizers say the westbound group will leave Tulsa on Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. for Oklahoma City and points west.

While in Tulsa Tuesday night, the bus owners gathered for dinner at Tally's Cafe.

One of Tulsa's most famous Scenicruisers (The former Billy Ray's Bar-B-Que Bus) will also be joining the trip west on Wednesday.

The Scenicruiser is an American icon of transportation. When it was introduced by Greyhound it was only expected to be in service for ten years. But Greyhound retired the buses in mid-70's, after they'd been in service for twice that long.