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Old 11-07-2018, 05:02 PM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
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Best bus to get, for a dream

Hi, so I’m looking into skoolies and wondering about buses. I am just looking for opinions on the best running and most durable bus. Opinions about brand new buses, and how much they cost would be great. Models I’m interested in would be the IC CE, BlueBird AllAmerican, BlueBird Vision, Thomas Saft Liner C2, and Thomas saft liner hdx. All diesel. What are your opinions on these buses, and how much do they cost brand new? Opinions on new ones would be nice, as well. I’m just dreaming about buses, and would like to know what you think about each one. Thanks!

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Old 11-11-2018, 11:45 AM   #2
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I don’t know if anyone here buys a new bus. They are quite expensive, especially when compared to how little you can pick them up for when they come out of service. I’m sure a dealer could let you know. My uninformed guess is that they probably are $40-$50k at least to get started.
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Old 11-11-2018, 11:47 AM   #3
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There is a thread here somewhere where a guy built the equivalent of a saf t liner C2. Nice guy. Met him while in California. Both of us out there with our busses from back east. I think his was from the early teens with the MBE if I recall correctly.
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Old 11-11-2018, 03:00 PM   #4
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So, I checked out the thread. Did you mean to say saf-t liner hdx? I don’t think that was a C2.
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Old 11-11-2018, 03:42 PM   #5
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TarheelSkoolie is the username. I can’t do a decent search in this app, but I did mean C2.

They did a nice job with it and it was interesting to see a newer bus converted.

I did a little poking around and the only numbers I found suggest a new bus may be $100k+. Vs $1k-$5k that we often pay for 15 year old busses.

If you have that budget more power to you. I bet you could have a bus built to your spec and never have seats and other equipment installed in the first place. It’s a lot of work to get rid of all that so it would seem a shame to take it out after it has been freshly installed.
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Old 11-11-2018, 05:30 PM   #6
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Ok, I’ll look into that, thanks!
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Old 11-12-2018, 10:20 AM   #7
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Year: 2002
Coachwork: Bluebird
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Engine: Cummins ISC (8.3)
Rated Cap: 72
Last year I stopped by the Bluebird dealer in Everett to pick up some parts and the sales guy offered to show me some new buses.

One of them was an All American RE with all of the goodies. I asked the price? $160k.

I suspect that a base model CE would probably be half that.
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Old 11-12-2018, 10:48 AM   #8
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If I ever had the money it would be cool to custom order exactly what I want and have them leave a blank canvas to build in.
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Old 11-12-2018, 10:56 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by david.dgeorge07 View Post
If I ever had the money it would be cool to custom order exactly what I want and have them leave a blank canvas to build in.
That would be cool.
But for me, money no object, I'd still want a pre-emissions bus.
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