The Frogeye city bus of Barcelona

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Recently we found this photo taken in the center of Barcelona in the early 1960s. Probably during the summer judging the clothing of the people, the bushy green trees and the direction of sun light. We can imagine the busy road and the gasoline odour produced by all the vehicles, the  Seat 600, the Ford Thunderbird, the Peugeot 404 and the 1930 Chevrolet van still in daily use. But what about this strange "binocular" bus in the center of the image? By seeing the two catenarys at the roof we can say that it´s a electric trolleybus with the conductor cabin located between the front wheels.. a not very common feature which has an easy explanation:

This trolleybus is a "CGA España" produced by the " General Bus Company" of Barcelona in the mid 1940s, but using as basis old prewar CGA buses from the late 1930s which had usual gas/diesel engines installed in a regular nose. When the old engines were removed they created these curious cabins with two headlights aside; and where the electric engine was relocated remains as a mystery due to de lack of information about this Company from Barcelona which produced its own buses from the 1920s to the late 1940s. We found this page with some graphic info about the rare products of this factory. Aside the Healey 'frogeye' this is the only other known frog eyed vehicle to us. But we're sure you can cough up a few more alternatives!

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