going to look at this weekend

[Accordion]

I like the upstairs bedroom. I think the bus looks cool.

I have an 80's Chevy van parked in a field. It has windows all the way around. Someday (yeah sure Rudy) I may cut the top of the van and mount it on top of my bus.

[gusbus]

My wife would break out that dreaded jacket again if I rolled into the yard with that.
I've had this pic. for awhile; just waiting for the right time & place to spring it on you guys.
It IS still for sale; in case you're interested! She's a real head turner I tell ya'!

Originally Posted by Malkieri

It's unique, and you are not going to miss it somewhere. I think it is so ugly it has almost passed over into cool looking.... maybe a better paint job would push it over. You should buy it and let us know how it turns out!

[gusbus]

I work 60 odd hours a week and don't get a lot of time to look for buses nor get on the web; so I took some advice from a member here. Opus mentioned looking @ Harlow bus. As it turned out they are not only in Bismark but in Webster, SD as well which is 60 miles from my house; a town I drive right through from work every two weeks.
I came home yesterday and stopped after looking at their inventory online. I found out a couple of things.
1) you can chisel with them a little on bus prices.
2) they got all these older buses they either need to sell to a church organization, some other club that can use them, someone looking for a conversion project or scrap them.
I also found out that the Blue bird buses have a taller ceiling in them. The International Bluebird I looked at had a 6'3" ceiling in it.
This bus was a 97 3800 T444E with a standard transmission.
Will need batteries soon as they are 5 yrs. old. and the tires are not in the best shape.
Asking 2500.00 but the mechanic told me to offer them 1800.00
It started good; with a jump. No smoke!
188,000 miles which I'm not to concerned with. I'll be lucky to put 10,000 miles on it over a 6-7 year period.

Over all the body is pretty good for being used in South Dakota through the winter months and all.
Below are the pics.
3 on this post and continuing on the next post.

[gusbus]

More Pics.

Thanks, Gus

[opus]

Good move! FWIW, I offered them a little more than half their asking price and they accepted. That was at the one near here in Libby, MT. I still paid top dollar but got a lot for my money.

[gusbus]

My dealings with Harlow bus didn't work out. Maybe I was asking to much of them. They had a bus in Webster SD I wanted. I asked if they could make a transfer with the bus to there location in Bismark. Nothing doing! They wanted 1.45 per mile and I also pay the drivers wage. So I kept looking.
I ended up at a bus place in Rugby ND this weekend. This guy has a lot of buses. When I talked to him he had just sold 20 buses to an organization in Canada that was going to RACE them. I told him what I was looking for and he showed me a number of buses in my price range. He really only had one bus that fit all my criteria. A 1992 B700 with the Brazilian inline 6 & 5X2 transmission with a tall top. He's got to get it out of the weeds and clean it up a bit and I'll go back and look at it again. I'm trying to get him to through a propane tank in with it from a junker gas/propane bus I seen there.

[gusbus]

More pics of the B700 Thomas 6.6 Ford/New Holland 5by2 transmission 6'6" top.
I know these are slow but I never travel the interstate anyway; unless I'm driving
my Mercedes diesel.
For what I'm looking for it will fill the bill nicely I think. We got a lot of rain here last
night (still raining). So I suppose it will be another week or so before he can get this thing
on high ground.

[gusbus]

I've been informed that this last bus is out of the weeds and ready to drive. I'll go give it a closer inspection on Friday. If it is a good solid old bus it's mine. We've already done some haggling on price; it just depends on how it runs and drives.

[JakeC]

Good luck, man!!

[bansil]

well? it's Friday
.
.
good luck today, be safe

[gusbus]

I've taken the whole day off today; got my 40 in as of yesterday morning. Gonna SSS here shortly and take off. I'm going to see if he will let me get it inside so I can creep underneath it and look at the underside. This bus is from a rural Montana school dist.; it could be pretty beat up on the underside. What I did notice is the mirror mounts are all in pretty good shape. Usually a lot of vibration will take a toll there for sure. So it may not have been driven as hard as it could have been.

[gusbus]

This bus didn't work out for me. I drove it about 30 miles and it would have like to fly apart. The engine ran sweet; about 57 mph floor boarded. Turned up a bit it would have been a nice combo with the 5x2. The trouble was the Ford chassis was ready to fly apart. Broken fender mounts, patched up exhaust and what have you. It had been pounded over some rough road for sure.
On the up side I drove and looked at a flat nosed Amtranmtran with a dt466. It was one of the shorter wheel based ones and man did it have balls. ! It was a little more money than I wanted to spend but I really liked it.

[crazycal]

Originally Posted by gusbus

This bus didn't work out for me. I drove it about 30 miles and it would have like to fly apart. The engine ran sweet; about 57 mph floor boarded. Turned up a bit it would have been a nice combo with the 5x2. The trouble was the Ford chassis was ready to fly apart. Broken fender mounts, patched up exhaust and what have you. It had been pounded over some rough road for sure.
On the up side I drove and looked at a flat nosed Amtranmtran with a dt466. It was one of the shorter wheel based ones and man did it have balls. ! It was a little more money than I wanted to spend but I really liked it.

Mine is a 97 30 foot International with a 13.5 foot wheelbase. It drives like a Honda and I parallel park it all the time. Not an easy task with something like a 40 foot rear engine Bluebird.

[gusbus]

OK, I bought a bus. It isn't exactly what I was looking for but close.
It is a 1998 Ford/Ward with the 6.6/t545. New steering tires and
rears are about 60%. It has a ton of miles on it but comes with records,
drives good and has good warm oil pressure.
Holds the road on the flat at about 65. Compared to the one I drove
just like it yesterday it is a cream puff. It isn't without its problems but
it was cheap. From a personal standpoint; this just wasn't something I
wanted to spend a lot of money on for the initial investment. If I turn
into a regular bus nut like some of the rest of you I'll probably upgrade later.
Right now I need something I can live in this winter that is bigger that my van.
It is not going to have a lot of water storage; just enough to wash up and do
some dishes; I can shower at work. The water storage I will have will be
within the walls of the bus because it gets mighty damn cold here in the
depths of winter. I lived in my 1ton parts of last winter so I know the drill
pretty well.

Right now the bus has shelves in it. The guy I bought it from will move out
of it over the next week or so. Then I can get started.


Yes it's pink. The guy said he bought it from his brother. As the story goes
his brother and his sister-in-law were drunk when they painted it. They went
to the hardware store and told them they wanted the cheapest paint they had.

PINK was the color it ended up being. We'll no doubt change that at some point

[bansil]

good show