Looking for converted school bus in any condition

[DRJune]

Im looking to buy a school bus conversion in any condition.
Bus should be at least 35 foot, diesel powered and no major mechanical issues or problems.
Interior does not have to be completed, in good condition or even exist as I plan to have most of it redone, need holding tanks and pumps in working condition though.
It can be located almost anywhere in the country
Priced below $3000
Please feel free to contact me with further questions

David
http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/wan/3240484669.html

[chev49]

the link works to the craigslist post, which is the same as posted here.

[crazycal]

Good luck.

[keith]

u are not going to fine a finsh bus,that looks good,u are looking at a good bus with low miles from $6000.00 TO $15.000,so good luck on your pipe dream


now mine is for sale for $12.000and build as a class A mine has 37,000 miles on it for a 1994 b/b

[bapos]

Not trying to be rude but I think finding one that is in your criteria is going to be VERY hard to do. Ive seen a lot of diesels that are being sold which are just coming out of service starting at 5k. So you would have to do the cost of converting. Not saying it cant happen but your going to be looking for a while.

[chev49]

I have seen diesel pushers coming out of service that went for less than $900 in eastern washington state sales. Frequently the $5K ones are sold second hand from the dealers who bought them from the state sales, which everyone can bid on.

Busses are cheap when there are 40 of them at auction...
Lots of converted ones on CL for 5K or so, if you spend hours looking. BTW, there is something like a short 58 Ford bus on CL in Nebraska or Minnesota right now..
Pretty cheap...

[lornaschinske]

Can't hurt to ask! I've known lots of folks (one in particular) who get great deals on stuff at really low prices. Guy once got a Caddy that was only 3 or 4 years old, garage kept, low mileage for $5K. It needed a new battery because it hadn't been driven while the owner was in the hospital. Owner's kids flew in to settle his estate and sold everything for next to nothing to just get rid of it. They had X amount of time to do it in so they could all go back home to jobs & family. Even the house sold super cheap within a week. Happens every day somewhere. You just have to be in the right place, at the right time, with cash in hand.

[bansil]

X2....been at the right place....but no cash...makes a long ride home

[The Kents]

I see stuff all the time. It will need some work when in the 4K range but they are out there.
Here is one example I found recently. http://denver.craigslist.org/rvs/3218283782.html

[crazycal]

He's looking for

diesel powered and no mechanical issues or problems.

Band under $3k. The parts are worth more than that.

[lornaschinske]

If they use a search engine such as http://www.allofcraigslist.com and are willing to wade thru lots of irrelevant ads, they may find what they are looking for. As for selling for less than the parts are worth, I've seen buses sold like that. You just need to be in the right place, at the right time, with the cash to buy. The right thing will rarely just drop in your lap, you do have to put some effort into it. When we were looking for a cube van to move out west (they were too highly priced), we were sitting in southwestern NC and I was looking as far away as Atlanta GA, Huntsville AL, Nashville TN, Asheville NC & Anderson SC. It was during all that looking that I realized school buses were much cheaper and roughly what price I should pay. We bought ours when we had the cash on hand (from selling off all our "stuff"). The price dropped in the paper from $2000 to $1500 and the guy took $1400 (David started out much lower to get him down to $1400). Biggest deal clincher.... cash in our hands, paid on the spot, no waiting. $1500 in 20's is a pile to be carrying around. I had $1K in one bundle & the rest in $100 bundles so he did not know we had all the $$ on us.

[Skunky Bus]

Originally Posted by crazycal

He's looking for

Band under $3k. The parts are worth more than that.

I'm reading American Pickers Guide to Picking (based on the History Channel series where the Pickers hunt for less-than-perfect antiques to buy and sell). In the book, phrases like "timing is everything" and words like "patience" show up a lot.

The kind of bus DRJune wants sounds like the sort of thing a lot of guys start out working on, and then becomes an unfinished project sitting around until wife/partner/city code enforcer says, "it's gotta go 'yesterday.' " The big rub is you never know when (or if) it will happen - and how much $$ they will take. I've even thought about contacting the producers of the Hoarders TV series, saying, "If you run across a hoarder who must get rid of his/her [description of bus I want]..."

Keep reading Skoolie.net, DRJune. I'm still "busless" two years after joining and the lessons learned have been indispensable. If the rare-as-hens'-teeth skoolie you wish for takes as long to find as some here predict, you can become an "expert" by then...or adjust various criteria along the way.

Edit: Make that two-and-a-half years...time flies!

[bansil]

Skunky your problem is you have seen and love "escape from witch mountain" too much to jump on the skoolie band wagon....
.
.
J/k

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by Skunky Bus

... I'm still "busless" two years after joining ...
Edit: Make that two-and-a-half years...time flies!

My advice to you (same as to others),.. you will waste all your time waiting for the "perfect" bus! Just buy one, convert it and then see what you would change for the next one. As my father would so charmingly say.... "$hit, or get off the pot". Or as Nike said "Just do it"!

[crazycal]

Originally Posted by Skunky Bus

I'm reading American Pickers Guide to Picking (based on the History Channel series where the Pickers hunt for less-than-perfect antiques to buy and sell). In the book, phrases like "timing is everything" and words like "patience" show up a lot.

The kind of bus DRJune wants sounds like the sort of thing a lot of guys start out working on, and then becomes an unfinished project sitting around until wife/partner/city code enforcer says, "it's gotta go 'yesterday.' " The big rub is you never know when (or if) it will happen - and how much $$ they will take. I've even thought about contacting the producers of the Hoarders TV series, saying, "If you run across a hoarder who must get rid of his/her [description of bus I want]..."

Keep reading Skoolie.net, DRJune. I'm still "busless" two years after joining and the lessons learned have been indispensable. If the rare-as-hens'-teeth skoolie you wish for takes as long to find as some here predict, you can become an "expert" by then...or adjust various criteria along the way.

Edit: Make that two-and-a-half years...time flies!

OK??? I guess. Good luck with your patience and your timing. Sometimes if you want something, YOU GOTTA PAY...or wait until that magic bus comes along. I've got what I want. I paid more than I wanted...but I've got what I wanted. Every time I buy something, some asshat tells me they saw the same thing in the paper two years ago for half of what I paid for it. BFD. They should have bought it then and waited two years to sell it to me and double their money. Gold was at $300 per ounce for years. The days of buying buses at the normal auctions that some of us got our buses from for $800 are gone. Just like the Ally Bank commercial says, "JUST ACCEPT IT"! You might find a bus on CL for your price or not. In the meantime, you are getting older, year after year. Don't let that bus that you really want go because you don't want to spend and extra $1000. Just my $0.02.

[chev49]

usually when i put my .02 cents worth in, i get far more than i paid for..

but thats marriage...

[Skunky Bus]

Originally Posted by bansil

Skunky your problem is you have seen and love "escape from witch mountain" too much to jump on the skoolie band wagon....
.
.
J/k

It's even tougher apparently to get a skoolie owner to jump on the Winnie bandwagon. I just offered the "old girl" for a bus I saw advertised on Craigslist but the owner said no.

[Skunky Bus]

Originally Posted by bansil

Skunky your problem is you have seen and love "escape from witch mountain" too much to jump on the skoolie band wagon....
.
.
J/k

Here's the solution:

This is a photo alteration I made. Preliminary measurements indicate the Class A Winnie roof front will actually fit. There are challenges to be met (not the least of which is sealing the unit and prevent aluminum-steel dielectric corrosion), but: One school bus, one Winnebago...mix deftly...voilà: the Skoolibago!

[chev49]

now lets see a dodge bus body put on a winnebago chassis...

[Skunky Bus]

Originally Posted by chev49

now lets see a dodge bus body put on a winnebago chassis...

But with all that skoolie steel structure on that chassis, the kids from the aforementioned Escape to Witch Mountain would have to make the rig fly just to prevent the suspension from collapsing...or the overloaded tires from going BAM!