I recently purchased a 1957 Superior Bus (20 seater) on a Ford B700 chassis.
She has been named "The Beast" by friends.
Not much info around about Superior buses of that vintage and I am deconverting it back into a passenger shuttle for our Paragliding School
http://www.flybc.org
Unique feature is that it was converted into a very robust 4x4 when it was a Whitehorse Yukon Mine shuttle bus in the 70's.
Huge front diff and twin stick transfer case and it all that stuff works!
It was converted into a Skoolie in 1974 and when I got it the interior was pretty wrecked and smelly.
So out it came down to the steel floorboards.
I am looking for info on the Ford 272 cid engine that powers this old bus, as the one in it used 6 quarts of oil to drive home 300 miles and it had very little power on the hills. It has a 5 speed manual tranny that works well, but I suspect it won't mate to any other powerplants according to Ford experts.
Otherwise this old girl drives as good as new, corners well and body doesn't rattle much.
I am also looking for exterior body panels from a graveyard to replace some destroyed by the Skoolie conversion to make vents, etc.
I did reconstruct some panels with fibreglass molding, but it just doesn't seem the same as original steel.
Our goal is to make this a safe roadworthy shuttle bus for 16 pilots and gear to climb our local mountains and to pull our travel trailer, so I think a Big Block 460 or 454 is the ticket for repowering.
Damn the gas mileage, we need horsepower!
Any one with past experience repowering these old Fords? Please sound off as to which route to go.
Any one with an idea where I can get the Superior exterior body parts?
Thanks for your input.
Jim from Western Canada
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