1949 Minsei bus, Japan

With a passenger seat capacity of 45, this was the first rear engine bus in Japan to be built with a monocoque structure, a technique used in the manufacture of aircraft in which the frame is eliminated and strength and rigidity are provided instead by the skin of the vehicle body. It was modeled after a General Motors rear engine bus that the American Occupation forces had brought into Japan. The shapes of the front and rear windows resemble those of the GM bus.

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