Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 12-16-2018, 12:09 PM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
Froggy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 10
Year: 1972
Coachwork: Bluebird
Engine: Ford 390
Talking Froggy, hopping in to say "Hi!"



Hello! I love frogs. I'm thirty-something, married with 3 dogs, no plans for human children. I live in Florida.

A few things conspired to bring me here to this forum:

1) I'm enamored with the idea of a mobile house. My husband and I acquired a dilapidated Winnebago from a coworker some years ago and it sits lost somewhere in the woods not causing them any more misery. Ever since seeing it, I've discovered a fascination with the idea of a tiny living space on wheels. I've never owned an RV, never camped in one. We visited friends at the speedway parked infield, once. I camped in a tent with family as a child. That's the absolute extent of my experience, there.

2) I am a school bus driver. We have a new driver in our district who has converted a conventional bus. It's baby blue and amazing, he shared some pictures with me and directed me here.

3) I discovered that the Frog bus is dead. Our buses have assigned animals, and this bus was just involved in an accident. It is a 2007 model year Bluebird All American. Transit, 84 passenger, rear engine. The front left corner is bent inward. The bus is now an organ donor, which means that it's probably not going to go auction, but a salvage yard. I have my heart set on acquiring it! I understand I'll likely be looking at nothing more than a shell at that point, requiring a LOT of work. But it's THE Frog bus. From my own district. I want it.

I realized that I really want to have a tiny mobile house someday. A bus may not be the easiest way to get one. I may never get one. For now, though, it's on the list of wants and wishes, up there with someday riding my bicycle coast to coast across the US. In the meantime, here I am, lurking. Hello!


Froggy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2018, 12:36 PM   #2
Mini-Skoolie
 
Froggy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 10
Year: 1972
Coachwork: Bluebird
Engine: Ford 390




Froggy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2018, 12:54 PM   #3
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,757
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
the frog bus looks like its rebuildable depending on how bad it bent the floor pans and the siub frame.. or if it shifted the body on the frame.. those are thinbgs i wouldnt touch..



other thingto check is what it takes to get a salvage-titled vehicle on the road if you acquire it after mna insurance company deems it destroyed..



if it really has as little damage as appears id be surprised the school isnt repairing it..



-Christopher
cadillackid is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2018, 12:56 PM   #4
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,757
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
I noted it looks like parts are removed from it? if they are going to take more you may have an uphill $$$ battle acquiring the parts to make it viable.. moreseo than getting a different bus at the auction... esp if they take the computers, engine, or wiring harnesses etc..
cadillackid is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2018, 01:31 PM   #5
Mini-Skoolie
 
Froggy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 10
Year: 1972
Coachwork: Bluebird
Engine: Ford 390
"The damage to that bus is far more extensive than the front corner. The transmission was torn out of it in the wreck and I suspect the engine is damaged. For the money it would cost to repair it, you could find a much nicer bus for less money." says our fleet manager.
We have several of this series so that seems to be why they'd doom it to organ donor status so quickly.

I need to confirm whether the salvage yard/auction information is accurate. If I can get the bus before it leaves school property, wouldn't the title still be fine?
Froggy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2018, 01:44 PM   #6
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,757
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
all depends on whewther they get an insurance payout... if the schools are self insured then the title wouldbt be affected.. but if an isurance company totals it, they usually take possesion temporarily.. the school might "buy it back very cheaply" from the ins co and rob parts off of it..



so i have to ask? if it took enough damage to shred the bottom enough to rip off the transmission why would you want it? an 8.3 and its heavy duty transmission are not going to be cost effective to replace vs going oiut and finding a nice RE with an 8.3 in it..



id venture to say the school will l.ikely take the good tires and put junk ones on it, if they have others like it, then taking the transmission and engione computers makes sense to take out too..



you could find a REALLY NICE Near identical unit for what it would take to rebuild that one..
-Christopher
cadillackid is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2018, 01:57 PM   #7
Mini-Skoolie
 
Froggy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 10
Year: 1972
Coachwork: Bluebird
Engine: Ford 390
cadillackid, that's a very fair question.

I don't necessarily need all the parts. My Grandad was a bus mechanic. I'm not saying my husband and I have a motor and transmission ready to install, but we may have a good start in the shop somewhere. We're still finding all kinds of weird things on the property. If not I know my cousin has a bus of some kind lost in the woods, there is the RV I mentioned, and if those aren't viable options, plenty of junkyards to source from. I'm not afraid to rebuild the Frog from shell status. It would mean more to me to have it and decide to keep it as an ornamental storage shed, than to lose the opportunity and let it rust away in a scrap yard.

There's also nothing to say that if I can get the Frog for near dirt cheap or even free, that I can't still get a nice bus and swap the components into it.
Froggy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2018, 04:53 PM   #8
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Greater Boston
Posts: 504
I would avoid that bus as a candidate for a Skoolie.

That's a rear-engine bus - so the engine and transmission is in the back.
The photo shows some crunched bodywork. . .on the front.

What happened under that bus, from the crunch on the front, that carried all the way under, to hit and dislodge the transmission at the back? (Keep in mind, I'm pretty sure the rear axle is in front of the transmission, right?)

I mean, I know it sounds like it has a connection, being the Frog bus - but I wouldn't want a bus where I'm wondering in the back of my mind if every rattle and clunk going over a bump in the road is the dishes rattling in the kitchen cabinet, or a floor cross member, or a motor mount that finally broke loose from the frame. It sure sounds like it got into more then a fender-bender.
Mark_In_MA is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2018, 08:16 PM   #9
Bus Geek
 
EastCoastCB's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Eustis FLORIDA
Posts: 23,764
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freighliner FS65
Engine: Cat 3126
Rated Cap: 15
Its easy to find a wrecked bus missing parts in FL. That's most of em.
This is why I do not even entertain the notion of buying buses in FL. You can get a straight, clean, running bus for 3 grand or less. No sense in throwing money at an 07 because its called a frog. My bus was the cat bus. I could easily buy a sticker and call it a frog, though.
EastCoastCB is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:33 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.