ABD870/ Metro

By Robert Ebert 8/14/00

My upcoming book on Flxible entitled "Flxible: A History of the Bus and
Company" will have three chapters devoted to the '870' and'Metro'
Flxibles. So, here, I can only summarize in the briefest terms.

The Metro was an updated derivative of the 870. These were quite different from the
Flxible "New Look" buses which were built through Oct. 1978. The 870 was
what is called an "Advanced Design Bus" and was originally developed by
Rohr Corp. when it owned Flxible. Then, Grumman purchased Flxible and
built the 870. From Jan. 1978 through Oct. 1978, both New Looks and 870s
were built.

The 870s and, later, Metros were direct competitors for the GM RTS which
also was an Advanced Design Bus. The construction of the Flxibles,
however, was different. Again, what follows is a brief summary; The
unique construction feature of the Flxible (or Grumman Flxible as they
were called) 870 was its body structure. It was made of heavy-duty
longitudinal extruded aluminum sections permanently joined. More than 40
extrusions were incorporated into the bus in sidewalls, skirt panels,
framing for the roof, floor and windows, etc.

The 870 was built on a sub-assembly basis. Thge roof, floor, and sidewalls
were assembled on parallel lines ending at subassembly storage stations.
The front axle and power pack (rear axle and suspension, transmission, and
engine) were complete and ready for installation. These subassemblies
were brought together on a short final assembly line with a mobile
assembly fixture called a collector. The roof, floor, and sidewalls were
joined. The box formed by this process was fastened to the front and rear
end modules. This assembly was removed from the collector and the front
axle, fuel bolster, and power pack were installed. Finally, mechanical
and electrical connections were made, a few more parts were added and the
bus was ready for the road.

The front and rear end modules, driver consoles, front axle assemblies,
fuel bolsters and power pack units were assembled at the Flxible plant in
Loudonville, Ohio and shipped to the final assembly plant in Delaware,
Ohio.

The 870 ran into some problems including a cracked frame problem -
especially focused on some New York Buses. The fix was expensive, but
successful, but Flxible suffered considerable adverse publicity from the
situation. Grumman introduced the Metro in October 1981 as a bus that had
over 100 improvements compared to the 870s. They were, however, very
similar buses. The first Metros were actually produced in March 1983 (18
months after they were introduced to the industry). By the time the Metro
was introduced, Grumman had sold Flxible to General Automotive Corporation
(GAC) which produced the Metro until the last Flxible bus was delivered in
November 1995.

While the 870 and Metro are similar, there are some ways to distinguish
them. The easiest way (from the front) is that the Metro has a sort of
"grill" design formed into the front cap of the bus (a four rectangular
section design) whereas the earlier 870 had a flat front.

The engine and transmission options were numerous on the Metros and
included various Detroit Diesel and Cummins engines as well as LNG and CNG
options. Various Allison, Voith, and ZF transmissions were available.

Bob Ebert