Bus dealer in VA (Not me!)

[Ghaniba]

Folks,

I figured I would share where I found my bus. Living up in CT, everything up here is very rusty, so I decided to head toward where I had some family/friends -- in VA. It's not 100% rust free, but it sure beats driving another 2000 miles.

Anyway, I consider their pricing a touch high, but not out of the realm of reason for a place attempting to make money. They were very nice to work with, and have a darn big selection. Lots of conventional and rear engine buses, varied years. LOTS of TE444 there.

This is the search I can find their sales with:
https://charlottesville.craigslist.o...d?query=school

Also, these guys are pretty tech saavy and keep all of them in a listing on a shared google doc! --
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

Anyway, I figured I'd share, as they were good to work with! If you do buy something, tell'em Dave from CT sent ya, maybe they'll give you a discount!

Dave aka Ghan

[dgorila1]

Originally Posted by Ghaniba

Folks,

I figured I would share where I found my bus. Living up in CT, everything up here is very rusty, so I decided to head toward where I had some family/friends -- in VA. It's not 100% rust free, but it sure beats driving another 2000 miles.

Anyway, I consider their pricing a touch high, but not out of the realm of reason for a place attempting to make money. They were very nice to work with, and have a darn big selection. Lots of conventional and rear engine buses, varied years. LOTS of TE444 there.

This is the search I can find their sales with:
https://charlottesville.craigslist.o...d?query=school

Also, these guys are pretty tech saavy and keep all of them in a listing on a shared google doc! --
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

Anyway, I figured I'd share, as they were good to work with! If you do buy something, tell'em Dave from CT sent ya, maybe they'll give you a discount!

Dave aka Ghan

Thanks Dave, great to know! Few hours north of me and a large selection to choose from, including manual transmission models.

[Ghaniba]

I picked up a '98 DT466E w/ a Spicer 5spd trans. It's awesome, couldn't be happier. Mine still had some permission slips from dropping kids off from May of 18 -- Great to see it's been running!


Dave aka Ghan

[dgorila1]

Originally Posted by Ghaniba

I picked up a '98 DT466E w/ a Spicer 5spd trans. It's awesome, couldn't be happier. Mine still had some permission slips from dropping kids off from May of 18 -- Great to see it's been running!


Dave aka Ghan

How was the manual tranny driving home? Smooth shifting and seem like it has lots of life left on the clutch? What was the top speed?

[Shelby987]

Thanks for the spreadsheet, I have seen their buses on craigalist, they do look like fair prices, considering they are a business. Glad to hear you are happy with the bus, I might make the trip north if I don't find something in the not too distant future.

[PNW_Steve]

Thier prices look pretty good for a dealer except for the one I want....

That 5 window with a 3126 and a 5 speed manual would make a great daily driver and tow rig. $7000 for a bus with over 220k miles is way too much.

[Ghaniba]

Originally Posted by dgorila1

How was the manual tranny driving home? Smooth shifting and seem like it has lots of life left on the clutch? What was the top speed?

So, definitely not like driving a car. Clutch does have some life left, and I didn't kill it on my driving so far. Biggest thing I found was Rev matching when shifting was important to not get chatter out of the clutch. Maybe that's not normal, maybe it is -- but with driving and paying more attention, it makes no noise at all and shifts like butter.

Originally Posted by Shelby987

Thanks for the spreadsheet, I have seen their buses on craigalist, they do look like fair prices, considering they are a business. Glad to hear you are happy with the bus, I might make the trip north if I don't find something in the not too distant future.

This location was about 550 miles from me. Insanely better quality than anything else I could find in New England, due to rust. You might think they're all rot-boxes, but in New England -- We don't find paint still on frames at all on something 21yrs old. Certainly worth considering in any event, their pictures they have linked off the spreadsheet are what you will find -- they're not hiding anything, which I really was pleased to see!



Dave aka Ghan

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by PNW_Steve

Thier prices look pretty good for a dealer except for the one I want....

That 5 window with a 3126 and a 5 speed manual would make a great daily driver and tow rig. $7000 for a bus with over 220k miles is way too much.

Too many miles for sure. Sounds like a $2500 bus to me.

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Too many miles for sure. Sounds like a $2500 bus to me.

If it is in good shape and has servicable tires, I would go $3500....