For Sale: 1998 TC1000 Bluebird CUMMINS 12 valve 26’
1998 Blue Bird TC1000 with the Cummins 5.9 12 valve diesel P-Pump and Allison AT545 automatic transmission, the 545 has its share of haters but it does great on the highway and the hills and the replacement cost is far less than newer buses. This bus is 26’ bumper to bumper and is the perfect size for your RV conversion, it’s about 10’ tall on the outside and the inside headroom is 76” or Six foot Four inches. this bus runs and drives excellent and the tires are all 80-90% the heater blows hot and there’s no air conditioning it never had it. it says “ Handy Bus “ below Blue Bird on the outside and it has an extra emergency door on the back, it has an AIR RIDE DRIVERS SEAT, Air Brakes and Air access door, all of the seats are still in it been using it for hauling my large family around and i’ve had it in some tight spaces and crowded parking lots shorter wheelbase turns sharp, but now it’s ready for your adventures, My granddaughter calls this bus the “ Happy Star Bus “ because of the picture by the student entry door. Originally I believe this bus had a wheelchair lift when it was new, at one point the school took out the wheelchair lift and put in seats possibly for kindergarten or first, second and maybe third graders because 10 of the seats have 2 small child’s seat built in when you fold them down they have 4 point seatbelts built in for the children 20 total seats with seatbelts, would make a great daycare bus. this bus is located in Tillamook, Oregon but hasn’t been here long and no rust came from Auburn, Washington. $8,800 for this hard to find length and last year for my favorite motor fully mechanical Cummins 12 valve calls and text preferred Five03eight01eighty1eighty4
That's a nice looking bus, in a desirable length, with a lot going for it. All mechanical, good headroom, a solid engine. Personally, I have no issue with the AT545...especially in a smaller bus like that. It may lack the lock-up function, so it's not as efficient, but it's been used in lots of vehicles for many miles without issues.
Speaking of miles, someone's going to want to know how many miles are on her. But even without knowing that, I think you've got a good rig there.
found this stuff mounted to the rear today about 1500 lbs i figure 1/4”x 30”x 8” with 18 pieces per stack with 4 stacks total, 3 behind last cross member and 1 by itself in front of cross member, maybe they only hauled skinny kids on this bus? someone asked if the frame rails went clear to the rear to put a hitch on and they do. $8,000 is my lowest price and that’ price is only on this site, never seen metal mounted like that before? if i wasn’t so fat and old i would have seen that sooner lol
With that short wheelbase it was very likely too heavy on the front axle, that weight would help balance and ride quality.
That's a very sweet looking bus you got there.
Good luck with the sale.
Wow, I've never seen that. Thanks for sharing. And that bodes well for whomever does a conversion. Remove weights...install interior and water tanks...motor on down the road...
Always liked these ....Why? They came off the line with a 3.54 rear end....that's Golden.
Of course they had the AT545....but that trans and that rear end in this bus was good for many hundreds of thousands of miles. Sweet little ride.
__________________ I come from no country, from no city, no tribe. I am the son of the road... all tongues and all prayers belong to me. But I belong to none of them.
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