New skoolie info

[southforsunshine]

Look through their buses, the price seems on par with the rest of the early 90's buses. Looks like a good price, and they've got others in that price range if that one didn't' work out. How far a drive is it? I drove 500 miles for mine, and it made the 500 mile return trip without a hiccup, though that doesn't really help you. I actually picked the more beat up of the 93's, though both were the same price. I just had a feeling about the other one. Mine has more miles, slightly bigger oil leak, and some body damage, but it ran great and got me home. Maybe the other one would have left me sitting at the side of the road half way home? Maybe it would have got me home just the same and i'd be sitting here with a better bus. Never know.

Read up on that motor, check it out well when you get there. Get under the bus and inspect everything. Request maintainance records and read through them. That's about the best you can do. The 12 valve cummins is a really popular motor, rock solid reliable, easy and cheap to work on when compared to alternatives. Good luck!

PS. Do remember it's a school bus old enough to join the Army.. don't expect a new car!

[southforsunshine]

When I looked at buses, he had 4 Bluebird 84 passengers "maybe" for sale. The 93's both had under 120K and were in good shape with an asking price of $4500. The 95's both had 160K for $5500, also in good shape. He agreed to sell me my choice of a 93 for $3500, but wouldn't budge an inch on the 95's. When I asked why, he said the state was making him decommission every 93 next school year, and the 95's still have two years of service life beyond that. Something like that may be the reason why two 1993's listed on that site are 2300 and 2400, while some 94-95's are much more. Or maybe they're beat up and rusty? Maybe they've been sitting in a spare lot for 3 years without any use and need some TLC? Who knows, I would call and ask lottts of questions.

The bus I didn't pick may be for sale again early soon(ish). He is currently using it as a spare for the school system. 1993 84 passenger Bluebird with Cummins 5.9/Allison auto trans, 107K miles when I looked and the price could probably be $3500. If not, early 2011 he may have the entire 1993 fleet for sale, some 5 or 6 more buses. He's in Cincinnati, which I doubt would help any with the distance issue, but feel free to PM me for contact information.

[busdriver_phil]

My sources tell me that Midwest Transit has a lot of new buses coming in this summer, and to make room for them, they're practically giving away the used stuff. You should have some luck haggling that price down a bit, or getting something else down to that range.

[Seeria]

Darn great news for me, as I'll be looking to them for a bus this summer, August probably.

Say, have you tried calling the local school districts to see when they typically sell their buses?