Originally Posted by Crown_Guy
A 40 year old Crown that's maintained and driven regularly will outlive you.
They thrive on being driven, LOTS. I currently drive, in commercial service, a '76 Crown with a 6-71 and 5-spd transmission. It's as sound as the day it was made and will go for another 40 years, easily. Few here understand the concept of the Crowns. They will last as long as they are looked after and taken care of. Age, and mileage, means nothing at all, when it comes to getting parts, or having them worked on. They're simple in the extreme, and easy to understand. It's true, mechanics away from the West Coast will have probably never seen one, but once they get into them they'll find they are simple and use common truck equipment easily obtained.
Unlike the insidiously proprietary parts found on all other school buses. You know, like trying to find a specific year headlight bezel, or turn signal lens, brackets, fittings, even active systems are specific to a year and model. Simple stuff like that will drive you nuts on all the other mass produced buses. Not on any Crown. It's all available, probably from a local NAPA or Truck supply retailer.
I know a local school district that was forced into replacing all but two of their Crowns, which they fought to keep, due to the Kalifornia Holocaust. They bought brand spanking new Bluebirds (I think), and they tell me that every single day, one or the other of them break on routes, and they send a Crown out to rescue and finish the route. They are located about 90 miles North East of L.A. and one morning on my way to work, (driving the Crown) I saw both of their Crowns heading into L.A. on a field trip, probably museums. I laughed out loud knowing that they intentionally sent BOTH rescue Crowns on the trip because they wanted them to get the kids back that day, not using any of the new buses, since they didn't want any troubles on the road, so far from home.
I read the posts here regarding Crowns, how old they are, how expensive they are to get and keep(Tooo expensive!), how hard they are to get parts for, how hard they are to get fixed, all the many things that can be found to object to. In actual operation, they are cheaper to keep running and take care of, due to the high mileage, and daily tempo they were designed for. Once in good condition, and something gets repaired, a private owner probably can't drive it enough to incur failure on that particular part again. Just try to find a used car for $12k that will go another 300k miles, or another school bus for that matter.
All I can say about these constant negative vibes (Moriarity), is that you can't know anything about them, or what you're talking about, unless you've ever actually SEEN, or Touched, and preferably DRIVEN, a Crown. Once you've done that, I'll allow as how you may have a personal opinion on them. Till then, it's all just background noise from the peanut gallery, and worth exactly what's paid for it, nothing.
I learned to drive a Crown 5 spd while in college and have driven professionally, Crowns and every kind of highway coaches, right up to today. As far as I'm concerned, there isn't any reason to constantly have to justify the extreme robustness of a Crown or it's innate value. It's a totally different breed of cat much more akin to the high mileage highway coaches of yesteryear. Things like the GM 4104, 4106, 4501 Scenicruiser, MCI's 7,8,9, etc. Prevost, Van Hools, etc. All of these I have untold miles on and owned two Scenicruisers when I was in business, in addition to Crowns, including a 10 wheel 10-spd Tandem.
I mention this only to make it clear that when I offer observations or input, and very, very, seldom at that, I am attempting to raise the level of group knowledge and better inform everyone, based on my years of experience.
I suggest that all the questions and concerns regarding this particular CO. Crown has already found their answer. The previous mention of mismatched lug nuts is an indicator of other neglected, possibly larger issues hidden from sight. Like what kind of condensation and corrosion may hide under all that pretty carpet? How's the clutch, transmission, rear-end, brakes? There's plenty of other high dollar exposures that can crop up, and anybody dinking around with mis-matched lug nuts, and did I see him say the front and rear tire sizes were different too, 11's on front, 12's at rear??
These are all indicators of non-professional care and repair work. Many questions, that require careful examination by a Qualified mechanic, and a new owner with deep enough pockets to take on and correct whatever may crop up. As I said in headline. If you have to ask (how much?), You may not be able to afford it. There are several things that come to mind, I could ask about it, but they would sound like sour grapes, so I won't.
It's true that the other '78 Crown is posted by me, but I know what condition it's in, and we made every effort to make it as trouble free as possible, eventually deciding to sell it to someone for conversion, and no previous experience with large vehicles, let alone a Crown. If you want a Crown with no known problems and many years of fun and enjoyment, then this is a good one to consider. I initially intended to keep it to run it in commercial service, so we did all the work it needed as best we could.
Timing hasn't worked out yet for a second Crown, so then I decided to put it up for sale to someone who will appreciate the efforts made to keep it as trouble free as possible. It's worth every penny, and others, comparably priced ones sold lately, were nowhere near as mechanically sound as this one is. I knew many of them and the operator that sold them. As time goes by Crowns will continue to appreciate, as they are already attracting well to do collectors, and speculators, looking to cash in on a true and rare American Classic. Some are being sold oversees to foreign buyers, and they have serious $$$ to spend. We all feel this upward price pressure.
It's not for me to say that a Crown is the best choice for everybody, but if you intend to drive a LOT, and want to get there and back again, in safety and comfort, plus, have a total blast just driving the Crown down the road, and enjoy being the object of envy at every stop along the way, and waved at and honked at along the way, then by all means get a Crown. If not......Well there's plenty of other, much cheaper ones to pick from.
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