a coupla questions about this one bus

[dan-fox]

Two buses, actually. Basically twins of each other; up for auction at GovDeals.com. Go to "Buses, School and Transit", click the Location column to sort, go to Last page. Charlottesville VA. Two identical 2004 Thomas MVP rear engine pushers; just what I'm looking for. One has <100K; one has <90K.

Question 1 - Does anyone have any experience with or opinion on a Mercedes engine? I owned an 82 long-body Mercedes 126 chassis sedan with the 3-liter 5-cylinder in it and it was a good engine, but is that experience transferrable? I doubt it.

Googling around tends to convince me that it should be a 190 hp MBE 906, but I have the question in to the seller. Lotsa people on the InterWebs claim it's a Detroit Diesel in drag, also. I asked about make/model on tranny as well.

Question 2 - Any experience/opinions out there on those humongous interior ceiling-mounted AC units? Is there anything piped to them other than electricity? What sort of merry hell will I get into trying to do a roof raise on one?

Question 3 - Why would a school district sell a bus "in very good running condition" before it's 15 years old? We shall see if that fact alone drives bidding out of my price range. I asked the seller also, but they may not choose to answer that one.

Thanks in advance - Dan Fox

[EastCoastCB]

# 1-
I have no idea about it other than being MB, it got to be expensive to maintain and repair.

# 2-
There will be freon lines you'll want to have evacuated before cutting/removing.
Other than a bit more demo work and the freon removal, they aren't really a big deal to ditch.

# #-
Maybe it was too expensive to maintain, or maybe they got a deal on leasing a whole fleet or something. The people that fill out these listings don't have any personal reasons to lie about condition, though, unlike CL sellers. If they say its in very good running condition, I'd imagine it probably is.

[bansil]

I graduated from Albemarle high school 7 years before this bus was born

ETA the steers look new!!

And if those are built in booster seats, I bet some folks would buy them

[dan-fox]

Yeah, I live in DC Metro area now, so these buses are about 2 hours away. I think I'm going to take a day next week and get down there to see them.

[dan-fox]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

# 2-
There will be freon lines you'll want to have evacuated before cutting/removing.
Other than a bit more demo work and the freon removal, they aren't really a big deal to ditch.

So, if I pick this up, do I hear you thinking that it'd be best to overboard the A/C setup? I'm going to suspend judgement until after I own the thing and see how they work and where they're plumbed, etc. Who knows, maybe they're quiet and effective. Not.

Brings up another good question - any underbelly storage?

[EastCoastCB]

They're awesome, but to charge them or fix them ever will be cost prohibitive.
Most people chuck em. Some love them, as they are great when they're working well.