| FitzJohn model B body, with seats for 20 passengers and therefore known as the B-20. Four were delivered in the fall of 1929 to Rome Coach Co., later a unit in the Georgia Power network. This bus had a Reo GB chassis, one of the most widely used small bus chassis of that time. | |
It was the usual practice of FitzJohn in those days to build bodies on order from Reo, and for the most part the assembled buses were delivered by FitzJohn to Reo dealers. Some of the carriers known to have had these buses were the Richmond (Va.) Rapid Transit Corp., Michigan United Railways of Lansing, Pocahontas Transportation Go. of Welch, W.Va., Edgerton Reo Bus Line (Norfolk to Suffolk, Va.) and Public Service Railway, which had at least four of them.
FitzJohn-Erwin advertising in 1923 emphasized the company's devotion to standardization--which was not to last--but also mentioned the low prices--a selling point that the company was never to give up. "Dealers who sell FitzJohn bodies tell us that our low price is our greatest obstacle. How can the body be so good and priced so low. The answer is simple. We are located in the heart of the wood-working industry. We have a large wood-working population to draw from. The labor market is here, and we don't have to go into distant fields and bid against other makers to draw their workmen to Muskegon."
FitzJohn Moves At the beginning of 1924, FitzJohn-Erwin purchased a plant that had been occupied by the Kelly Valve Co. and was across town from the original location. The new factory was five times the size of the old one, and it was further enlarged shortly after bus production began. It was announced at the time that the new plant would be devoted exclusively to the manufacture of standard bus bodies to be shipped to the Reo Motor Car Coat Lansing for mounting on chassis. Possibly the old factory was kept to handle truck body production, which was still continued. By the time the new plant was ready, the name of the company had been changed to FitzJohn Manufacturing Co.
At about the same time, Reo developed its model W chassis, its first to be designed especially for bus use. The chassis had a six-cylinder engine and four-wheel brakes, and large numbers of them were sold with FitzJohn bodies before the model W was superseded in 1927. In the summer of 1924, FitzJohn designed and built a 22-passenger sedan-type parlor bus body, which was also mounted on the model W chassis, though it is not clear whether quantity production of this body was ever undertaken. (Reo parlor cars of the period generally had Fremont bodies.)
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