Airport Limousine AQC Jetway 707 – 1968

In the United States until the years 80, it was common to find in the largest cities a curious type of & rsquo; s automobile & rsquo; might resemble a wagon limousine, sort of "mini-buses" based touring car greatly lengthened.

It was the famous “limousine airport shuttles” bonds or airport vehicles.

They allowed to make trips between urban centers and airports faster and more comfortably than buses or subways, for clients traveling to the day, including business professionals who carried very little luggage.

The best known of them are certainly the "Checker Aerobus", based on the famous taxis of New York.

Today, they were replaced by minibuses cheaper and Lodgeable.

Since the years 60, the company Cotner & Bevington specialized in ambulances and hearses chassis lengthened bases d & rsquo; Oldsmobile.
Acquired by their partner, Miller-Meteor bodybuilder in 1965, Cotner & Bevington wanted to use the new Oldsmobile Toronado of 1966 to renovate their offer.
Miller-Meteor refused the project arguing that it would infringe on their own premium range and wanting to make Cotner & Bevington their mark “first price”.

The leaders of Cotner & Bevington n & rsquo; d & rsquo being; agreement, they resold their stocks at Miller-Meteor and founded the company “American Quality Coach” to regain their independence.
They then relaunched the & rsquo; & rsquo idea; use & rsquo; Oldsmobile Toronado, This time model 1968, to begin creating their range.
Also, they decided to start with a body “limousine airport shuttles”, slot judged carrier at the time, they would see later for ambulances and hearses.

Why to base Toronado coupe ?

historically, Mrs. Cotner and Bevington were related to this brand and this time, the new version of the Toronado was traction ... which was ideal to build a vehicle extended, thus freed from the problems inherent in the propulsion (tunnel & rsquo; transmission shaft, floor height ... etc.).
Furthermore, the rear suspension was tire with load corrector, complex and expensive system to study that would be kept to the delight of designers !
Pulling therefore provides a greater margin of freedom and ease of construction, the concept of “powerhead” dear to Tissier in France is a good example (see CX14).

Note that in General Motors, the Toronado shared her underneath with the Cadillac Eldorado, they were at that time the most powerful pull of the world.
D & rsquo; elsewhere in Europe, Franco Sbarro use this Cadillac for its transformation 6 wheels “TAG Function car” in 1978.
Production of 707 Jetway starts late 1968, they then 3 side windows the dome level vista, they have in 5 thereafter.
This huge car had 8 doors, could accommodate 12 to 15 people and had a large luggage compartment accessible through a standard door.
This bunker was d & rsquo; also independent of the & rsquo; interior, through d & rsquo; an ice separation, so that passengers are not indisposed by the currents of air and noise.

The quality & rsquo; execution 707 Jetway was very upscale, one will notice that all the body parts were tailor made to give this limousine remarkable stylistic consistency, the towing head is so well integrated that the neophyte will not see the & rsquo; origin of the powerhead !
But these great efforts demanded of the financial resources that the young company n & rsquo; had not, working capital decreased faster than expected, mainly because of the bear investment tools ... and although 707 Jetway are d & rsquo; excellent vehicles, they are expensive and sell more difficulty than expected.
The firm went bankrupt in 1970, n & rsquo; not having had time & rsquo; extend its range… with 52 cars produced (another source rather website the figure of 150 copies).
Today & rsquo; hui is still considered a rolling ten in the US and sometimes ads present in various states for prices ranging from 3000$ to 20000$.
Thank you to Marc Theobald and Bernie De Winter (coachbuilt.com) for their valuable information.

Some technical info :
– wheelbase : 4700 mm
– Length : 8200 mm
– Weight : near 3700 kg empty
– engines : V8 425 (7.0l) from 385 ch SAE or V8 455 (7.5l) from 400 SAE ch
– Gearbox : automatic 3 reports

Anecdote :
A very special version completely discoverable appeared in the musical “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, American film 1978 in homage to the Beatles.