Hey guys!
My name is Gregg and I bought myself a bus on Monday, the 24th. I'm a 21 year old college student living in rural Minnesota with a degree in architectural drafting, working as a drafter, a pizza man, and a tire/lube tech. We brought her home in the dark, outside might as well have been sight unseen because we only saw it out in the countryside with no light except from that of our phones. My girlfriend and I had the intention of trying to convert a bus into a skoolie so we had started half-heartedly looking for buses for sale. Facebook ads, Craigslist ads, talking to people we know about buses, motors that are decent, performance, good price points. We only really had a week or two of research about buses before we decided to dive in. Due to shop experience, I can do oil changes and basic part replacements... on cars, check to see what's bad. However, I don't know anything about a bus, diesel or otherwise...
Anyway, enough about me. More about the bus!
She's a 1970 Chevrolet Bus! She's got a small block 350 under the hood mated with a 4 speed manual/2 speed rear end. Not exactly what we were looking for, but gas makes me feel a bit more comfortable. I've never owned a manual vehicle before besides my motorcycle... she's going to take some practice, but it makes driving it more interesting. They were asking $1500... I showed a lot of hesitation since I try to be financially responsible... but I also wanted a bus. So they guy dropped her down to $1000. She runs nice, drives nice, and looks cool as hell.
She was used as a rough conversion before, used at racetracks I think. Some old gross 2x4s and some disgusting old mattress doesn't count as a conversion in my book.
PICTURES!
Needless to say, the inside needed to be gutted. And by gutted, I mean
gutted. The first few days I had it, I had a lot of buyer's remorse. I bought a
bus. I have bills I can pay off. I can't find a perfect place to keep it. I don't have carpentry, electric, plumbing skills. We almost got ticketed the first night we had it because the tabs are two years out of date. I don't know how to drive a manual through mountains, let alone a bus with a manual. Before even trying that, can a carbureted motor even make it up a mountain??
Alas, I had some support from my introduction thread from some kind members here. Even if it doesn't work out with this bus, at least next time we'll know what we want. So after finding a place I can park it temporarily, I started some demo on the inside.
I got everything unbolted, unscrewed, and loose, ready for removal. I was going to save some of the wood, but decided against it since it was all construction grade garbage screwed into whatever part of the bus he wanted using whatever fastener he could find.
Today we got some time in, and took a trip to the dump. Surprisingly, they let us empty her out for $5. Goodbye old RV table and chairs, gross wood bunks, and other completely random items.
We got her back home, and started other random projects after a quick stop at Menards, dreaming of flooring and appliances and cabinets we could use. Checked out insulation and wall panels. Just researchin'.
I removed some of the old tin riveted over the windows. I'm not a fan of covering them up -- it's natural light! We removed one side before my drill bit broke and removed the angle iron holding the seats up. So. Many. Bolts.
I'm not sure how we'll patch all the rivet holes yet...
...but if anyone needs an extremely long piece of angle iron, hit me up.
All in all, I'm starting to get over the shock of me buying a bus and it's all shear excitement. It's happening. I'm pumped. Let's make this cool old gem something fun worth looking at. I love the attention she gets and I'm looking forward to see how this bus will end up, and where she'll take us.
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