The Flying Squirrel - 1974 Crown Supercoach - Update 2/6

[inkblots84]

Hello Skoolie folks!

I decided to make a new thread instead of reviving the old one but we have finally gotten our bus!

Friday Sept 6 we got word from a bus we had been looking at (more for fun than anything) that convinced us that this was the bus for us. We flew to Los Angeles on Saturday morning to meet our new bus - A 1974 Crown Supercoach! It has an upgraded air ride seat, and almost 400k miles on a 5 speed Detroit diesel 6-71 with a new transmission and clutch. Seems like a lot of miles but she runs like a dream! Up mountains we even pass semi trailers. The woods, the desert, the country, rain, wind, sunshine, you name it and we went through it (except for snow) without a single issue except for a flat tire in Bakersfield, CA. All the lights and features inside and out of the bus work too.

We drove from LA to Bakersfield, CA to see family and the bus passed the Hill test with flying colors on the grapevine. Stayed overnight and continued to Las Vegas, NV for two nights to see a friend of ours. Left there and headed for Flagstaff, AZ, stayed overnight and visited the The Grand Canyon! It was rainy and foggy but it was a stunning place to visit. Post conversion we plan on camping out there for a few weeks. We then went back to Flagstaff and continued east almost to the NM border. Stayed overnight in Tucumcari, NM, headed east through the top of TX, through Oklahoma and into Arkansas where we stayed overnight again. Continued through AR, and the final stretch through Tennessee and home to North Carolina. We made it to Zebulon, NC yesterday at noon!

Even though we drove all night we stopped around town to show the family, got some food and started pulling seats. We're finishing taking the seats tonight (leaving a few until we can take the family for a ride) and proceeding from there! I'll definitely be updating as we go!

* * * * * * *

[Stu & Filo. T]

Congrats , Got my eye on a Crown, what was your mpg like?

[gusbus]

I have bus envy
I just passed up a Gillig of that vintage on Ebay
because it was just to far away for me to go get
considering my work load and time schedule.
Very, very nice bus. I'm happy for you.

[Diesel Dan]

That is a beautiful bus man. Congratulations, and welcome!

[inkblots84]

Thank you! It really is an awesome bus, and the gas mileage is much better than I thought.
City is an average of 12.5 mpg, Highway is 14.7mpg. It has an 80 gallon tank so on the highway we can go more then 1000 miles on one tank of fuel. We bought a 1978 Ford Bronco custom with a Ford 400 not too long ago and the BUS gets better gas mileage!

So we did not finish pulling the seats last night - I was just too damn tired so we spent the day with the family. We did however get the floor plan worked out so I'll post that soon!

[Diesel Dan]

Originally Posted by inkblots84

...City is an average of 12.5 mpg, Highway is 14.7mpg...

What?! Okay, now you're just rubbing our noses in it!

[superduty_59]

Love the Crown!! Looks like an awesome bus!

[Stu & Filo. T]

14.7 mpg , is that doing 40 mph on the highway?

[syke]

Very awesome bus!! Dig the pictures.

Quite jealous about the mileage too.

[wmkbailey]

Jealous, jealous, jealous. Congrats on the awesome bus.

[Tango]

Welcome to the Madness --- Gotta love those old Crowns. Great looking units! Have fun with it.

[inkblots84]

Originally Posted by allwthrrider

14.7 mpg , is that doing 40 mph on the highway?

Thankfully no! 55mph consistently on the highway. We drove so damn far for so long and had to get gas so many times, we were able to calculate for Highway and city driving. I haven't sat down and figured out the total miles and cost of gas but I'll post it when I do.

Update! ALL the seats are out and part of the floor (a small part! Haha) is scraped up. The wood below seems to be in really good condition, but there is no sheet metal below. Crown used marine grade plywood thankfully so we'll insulate over the wood and put the click together wood laminate floor over that. Seats were relatively easy to pull. 6 bolts a piece, 2 in each leg, 2 on the chair rail. The seat over the heater was a pain but we cut it out with a hacksaw. We're going to reuse some of the seat covers as windshield shades. Found a little gum under the chairs and on the floor but nothing too serious. This bus is amazingly clean. Probably going to remove the heater tomorrow also.

Also got the flooring today! Definitely not excited about pulling the rubber up but it'll be great to get the floors in. We also have a time (and budget of course!) limit! We need to drive the bus to Massachusetts by October 15 at the latest, but we need to be able to take our cats with us and stay in it without freezing to death!

The Craigslist and deal hunt is on so we can get as much done as possible in just about a month.


Last of the seats!

One left!

FINALLY! Empty bus! It feels enormous in here now. We taped out the floor plan and our old sketch (based on a thomas tall body) still pretty much works with a bathroom location swap.

Thanks everyone for the comments I think we got really lucky with this one!

[JDecker]

Wow!

Awesome bus, guys! Sounds like you have a lot to do in the next 30 days! Definitely keep us posted. It's always exciting to see a new skoolie owner who gets moving quickly, and I wish you the best of luck doing so.

Also, 14.7 MPG? That's incredible!

I'll be right here playing armchair quarterback!

Joe

[JakeC]

This bus is wayyy too cool. Congrats, guys!! About a month, eh? Get crackin!!

[NilesSkoolie]

Love the look of this bus, and for the year looks in awesome shape. It's fun to see your excitement and drive. I remember when my bus came home i had the seats out by the next day and the floor down to bare metal lol... Good luck and can't wait to see the photos that follow!

Chris

[Malkieri]

First off let me say I am so jealous, we love the look of the Crowns!!!

Now why do I feel like the only person here thinking that flying across the country in order to buy and drive a 400K mile 40 year old (I was born same year) vehicle is just crazy?!?! And on that token welcome to the club, we got stickers around here somewhere. Congrats on the great adventure drive home. I bought mine less than 20 miles from home..no adventure and drive home was great fun interrupted too soon by arrival home....lol

[JakeC]

Lol! It is for sure crazy. We are all crazy.

[gusbus]

with that mask on you even look the part

Jake said,"We are all crazy"

[inkblots84]

Originally Posted by Malkieri

First off let me say I am so jealous, we love the look of the Crowns!!!

Now why do I feel like the only person here thinking that flying across the country in order to buy and drive a 400K mile 40 year old (I was born same year) vehicle is just crazy?!?! And on that token welcome to the club, we got stickers around here somewhere. Congrats on the great adventure drive home. I bought mine less than 20 miles from home..no adventure and drive home was great fun interrupted too soon by arrival home....lol

For sure that's crazy! The whole event was crazy - I had been watching the bus on Ebay, buy the last bid didn't meet the reserve and the auction ended on Sept 1. I got the contact info for the seller, called and asked for a video and more pictures/info of the bus (which he sent), debated with the family and waited for some other auctions to close.
Finally we decided we might actually want the bus but going on just a video is a little scary! The seller offered to take the bus for a 38 point inspection from a 3rd party on Friday morning and send us the results. If the results were good, we'll take it. If not then the hunt would continue!

10:30pm on Friday night I got the email copy of the inspection report. The bus needed some hoses changed (especially in prep of a 2600 mile drive), the fluids topped off and a lightbulb changed. That's it! I booked a flight for 7am the next morning, stayed up all night getting ready and we headed to the airport at 5am.

By 1pm the next day we were in Los Angeles, sitting in the Crown being taught how to drive it and taking pictures. Neither of us could really believe it! $2800 later, a free spare, a first ever diesel fill up, and once my better half had a handle on driving it, we hit the road and headed for Bakersfield CA. The price of the bus plus the fuel was right around our budget ($4k) and I knew the chance to get a bus like this wasn't going to last forever. Food, hotels and souvenirs weren't in the budget, but it was definitely worth it. We saw some pretty amazing stuff and had a lot of fun on the trip.

Everything happened so fast it's still weird to wake up in the morning and see a bus in the yard!

[gusbus]

That is an awesome story.