Also commonly known by the nickname "Fishbowl" (for its original six-piece rounded windshield, later replaced by a two-piece curved pane), it was produced until 1977 in the United States, and until 1985 in Canada.

Its high production figures and long service career made it an iconic North American transit bus.

[1] Other than demonstrators, Washington, D.C., was the very first city to take delivery of any GM New Look buses, specifically TDH-5301s built in 1959 for O. Roy Chalk's D.C.

Production continued after this, however, at General Motors Diesel Division in Canada, due to the RTS design being rejected by Canadian transit agencies, with the name plate changing from "GM" to "GMC".

GM later sold the rights to produce both Classic and RTS models to other manufacturers, and exited the heavy-duty transit and intercity markets for full-sized buses, although production of some medium-duty and light-duty chassis products sold in these markets continued.

Like GM's over-the-road buses, including the Greyhound Scenicruiser, the air-sprung New Look did not have a traditional ladder frame.

The entire engine-transmission-radiator assembly was mounted on a cradle that could be quickly removed and replaced, allowing the bus to return to service with minimal delay when the powertrain required major maintenance.

At sufficient speed a clutch bypassed the torque converter and the engine drove the rear wheels directly.

A later option was the VS-2, similar to the VH but with a two-speed planetary gearset with three modes: Hydraulic, direct (1:1), and direct-overdrive.

There were also "Suburban-style" transits which had forward-facing seats on slightly raised platforms that gave the appearance of a dropped center aisle.

In the 1970s, AC Transit shortened several 35' New Look buses to 29' by removing a section from the middle for dial-a-ride demand-responsive service, maintaining common parts and drivers with the remainder of its fleet.

For the 1964 New York World's Fair, the latest version of the gas turbine engine, designated GT-309, was fitted to a New Look bus (TDH-5303, serial #0001) and named "Turbo-Cruiser II";[9] the GT-309 was also fitted to the Chevrolet Tilt-Cab truck chassis and called "Turbo Titan III".

The GT-309 developed power and torque comparable to the 8V-71 and weighed less, but fuel consumption and emissions proved to be intractable problems.

[10] In 1981–82, Brown Boveri & Company constructed 100 model HR150G trolley buses from 40-foot (12.2 m) New Look bus shells for the Edmonton Transit System (ETS).

[12] Two were sold to the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority in 1996, where they were fitted with wheelchair lifts and operated in revenue service for approximately a decade to supplement the existing Flyer E800 fleet until both types were replaced by ETI 14TrE trolley buses.

While a New Look body was used, a newer front (to allow a wider entrance), which would eventually be incorporated into the Classic transit bus, was used.

Unlike most other articulated buses with an engine in the front section and a powered middle axle, the TA60-102N utilized a "pusher" design that used a conventional New Look drive train and a specially-designed anti-jackknifing articulated joint that limited the angle between the two section to 7° at normal speeds (while traveling straight forward) and to less than 2° at highway speeds.