Vintage Kenworth motor coach returns to Mt. Rainier

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Updated Dec 14, 2009

Two men from Gig Harbor, Wash., have rescued a 1937 Kenworth Motor Coach from the rust heap of history. So reported the Seattle Times newspaper July 21. Art Redford, 69, “who founded Honey Bucket, the portable-toilet business with the instantly recognizable name,” reported the Times, even remembers the vehicle’s original purpose: to drive tourists to and from Mt. Ranier. Kenworth only built a few of these coaches, specially designed for the Rainier National Park Company, and this one was found in a heap near Tacoma. Redford and his fellow enthusiast, Frank Pupo, owner of the chain of Sam’s Tire Service locations, invested a reported $60,000 to bring this one back up to working condition — back in the mid-to-late 1980s (Redford paid just a few hundred dollars for the dilapidated vehicle in 1984). They donated the vehicle back to the National Park this summer, where for the time being it will be displayed at an historic gas station at the park’s entrance.

Following is a Seattle Times short documentary video of the coach.

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