The discussion started here. I just kept the part of comments concerning the make of these buses.

eLMeR, 2015-04-29:
1959-62 side roof signal, so GM logo (and make?), not GMC.
[...]

mp775, 2015-04-30:
The emblem in the front says GM, but they were built by the GMC Truck & Coach division on General Motors.
1960 TDH5301 Builders Plate - http://www.kevinsbusrail.com/ets/432/ets_438plate.jpg
1961 TDH5301/TDH5302 sales brochure - http://2670.antiquesnavigator.com/ebay/images/2011/200668628544.jpg
[...]

antp, 2015-04-30:
Built by GMC, but sold as what? What we use as make is the name under which the vehicles were sold/advertised, not the name of the company who builds them (or else we would need to list some European Mitsubishi as VDL Nedcar, for example :D)
We have a mix of GM & GMC here on the site for these buses, some day we should decide how to list that properly.

mp775, 2015-04-30:
The emblem changed from "GM Coach" to "GMC Coaches" in 1968, but it was still the same "GMC Truck & Coach Division." Buses aren't heavily branded or marketed. New York City Transit referred to all General Motors buses since 1959 as GMC on this 1972 depot assignment sheet - http://bustalk.info/documents/NYCTA_Roster_3-1-72.pdf

eLMeR, 2015-05-01:
[...]
By the way, I see... GM as make logo in the brochure and the builders Plate you linked. It wouldn't be the first vehicle in the IMCDb (and in the physical life) to have had different makes during its life: I "worked" with some White-Freightliner / Freightliner trucks these days, for example...

@ antp: I think TDH and co should be set as complement, if we want to find all 'New Look' in the same pages. Other way, there will possibly be some contributors using it as reference even if the model is different...

mp775, 2015-05-01:
[...]
The logo may say GM, but the name of the division is GMC Truck & Coach. On this site, GM appears to be used only for concept vehicles, trucks that can't be identified as either GMC or Chevrolet, and a handful of buses where GM and GMC are used interchangeably. Trucks built by the same GMC Truck & Coach Division in the same era are listed as GMC.[/quote]

I agree that it makes sense to combine these under "New Look" and use the actual model designation as a trim level or extra information, even if it isn't officially a model name.

I do not find so useful to have all the bus with their "New Look" nickname used as model just to group them together.
Most can already be found using the TDH prefix (or the few other ones like that)
There are a lot of other vehicles not grouped together anyway.
If you think it is important, we could put the New Look in chassis field. But I'd keep the actual model name as model name.
In the next version of the site (I know, when it will be done) that kind of problem will be solved anyway.

@mp775: the link you give about the identification of the bus (http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/nebuses/rosters/lacmta1.html) says GM as make

I read what follows as a pro "GM only" argument. At the bottom of page of Yellow Coach Part 2 (penultimate paragraph), in CoachBuilt.com (underlining is mine):


When searching literature about GM Coaches (manuals or -less present- brochures), one can find GM Coaches logo on documents about for pre-1967 buses, and GMC Coaches for 1968+ models... i.e. for the ones which have the GMC logo appearing in the front face of the buses.

I see it as "GM Coaches, part of the GMC Trucks and Coaches Division". And it became "GMC Coaches, part of..." in 1968. The same way GMC trucks are badged... GMC trucks, not GMC Trucks and Coaches Division, which appears only during the 1970s:


(1962 and 1968 brochures)


(1971 and 1976 brochures)

In my mind, we should give these buses the GM make from 1943 to 1968, and the GMC one for 1968+ models.

By the way maybe you should post on the site comments a link back to here if you want to continue the discussion here

That was scheduled, but the discussion started off to wheel here before I could do it



The problem with the TDHxxxx "name" (beside the fact that not all New Look buses were TDH) is that I think that until now it was mostly given randomly, because seen on other pages without explanations, yet it has a logical and precise meaning (see links in the page of the bus).

Once again, I think we should prefer a commonly acknowledged nickname with precisions in comments when available to a false "precise" identification which "losts" the vehicle in an inaccurate category
_____

Edit: link added in the main site page.

I thought that those giving these models were doing it by knowing rather what they did (mp775 and a few others), other people were usually naming them just TDH-Series or 'New Look'

But if you look at Pages 2 and 3 of his Los Angeles roster, he also uses "GM" not only for post-1968 New Looks, but also for RTSes:

http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/nebuses/rosters/lacmta2.html
http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/nebuses/rosters/lacmta3.html

Meanwhile, his Oceanside/North San Diego roster lists everything as "GMC," including Old Looks back to 1956:

http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/nebuses/rosters/northcounty.html



That description says to me that Yellow Coach was merged into GMC.





And on this service manual, it says "General Motors Corporation" on the emblem between the GM and the COACHES.



GMC trucks were built by the same GMC Truck and Coach Division during the pre-1968 era:

1955 GMC Truck parts book

1957 GMC Blue Chip pickup ad



Since there was no change in the corporate structure in 1968 and no material change in the vehicles themselves except for a slight change in the emblem, I think it would only be more confusing to separate them in the database. It also would make "GM" less useful as the catchall for trucks that can't be identified as either GMC or Chevrolet.