Newcomer-looking for partially finished 26ft skoolie thomas/international

[63NFree]

Hi There in Skoolie land:

So glad I found this thread. I just retired ER/ICU nurse 36 years, sold my townhouse and ready to buy a thomas/international around 26 footer with cummins/allison and was looking for partially finished so I could customize and have help setting up plumbing/solar etc. Having great fun playing with floor plan ideas.

I see others have inquired about which bus to buy and am overwhelmed at the scope of them for sale. I would like to ask if its true must buy on in the west due to salt and damage here on the east coast? There are alot of buses for sale in virginia and the states around me. Also looking for recs for 26 to 29 foot buses and heard that school buses are much better because of the safety etc of carrying children.

Thank you and appreciate any help and will be documenting the completion of my bus and love to look at others too!

[Kentucky Dreaming]

Southeast buses should be relatively rust-free. Here in Kentucky, schools close at the hint of snow due to the winding country roads. No salt. Anywhere east of the Mississippi and south of the Ohio should be the same.

[musigenesis]

26 to 29 foot buses are actually pretty rare. The "typical" school bus that you see on roads has 11 or 12 rows of seats and is between 35 and 40 feet long. There are lots of other reasons not to buy most available school buses; if you can expand your search to somewhat longer buses, you'll have a much easier time finding something.

[Stovebolt]

Welcome aboard, fellow newbie!


I'm down in Southern Maryland. I found my bus not too far away (New Jersey, actually). A little rust doesn't scare me -- I'm used to seeing far worse on the trucks I drive for work ...


I've seen those busses you are probably looking at down in Southern VA -- I even talked to that dealer. The dealer seemed pretty straight up and honest and the busses looked pretty good. I just thought they were over priced. I was also looking for something unique (pre emissions AmTran with forward located wheelchair lift), so when I found one that met most of my requirements, I got it and am happy with it (one road trip under my belt now). It has a little rust but nothing I can't deal with here and there with a wire brush, some ospho or POR-15 ;)


Another thing to consider is the advice given on this site to not rip the bus apart as soon as you get it home. I followed that advice. I removed all the seats, and I removed all the school bus safety bits (flashing lights, stop signs, whip, etc) and repainted the bus to get the MD RV registration, but I'm leaving the bus open for now to get an idea of how I want to fit it out eventually. I built a platform to fit a double mattress and I use a folding table and some chairs for now. For curtains, I have a bunch of magnets and bed sheets. Its a big metal tent! For me, it works great.


But my situation is different -- we'll probably keep an open floor plan because my wife is a t4/5 (complete) paraplegic and most fit outs I see are not wheelchair friendly Which is why we went this route instead of just getting a Class A RV.


Good luck with your search and congrats on the retirement!

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

be weary of some areas of NC up north in the mountain and interstate areas you might find a good one.
my local school district sells buses directly off of there lot the ones up there might as well.
the flatlands NC areas in my case all the all mechanical no computer buses are geared to run 49mph and thats it the ones that have a computer have the same speed set in the computer.

[nikitis]

My bus lived it's 30 year life in Virginia and was solid with near zero rust. So they do exist in NC and Virginia. But I would still say mine was more of an exception than the rule.

[Winter-Vale]

Near Montpelier? Come visit our 35ft Intk RE3000. Happily living on and camping in 4 years. We're nearly done but absolutely habitable! Get a feel for it, talk over our build, see our spreadsheets and specs. Plus you'd have a near neighbor during yours. Drop a note. T. Vale

[Dragonpop]

Arizona presently has school buses for sale on “public surplus .com” most of them have A/C and decent prices.