Busjamin
Senior Member
- Welcome Thread - < Reached four pages and covered some of the research & shopping process I may not include here. If you want to watch my sanity slowly unravel over the course of two months, check it out.
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60 Days.
60 days spending practically all of my time thinking about this project. I noticed many on the forum had taken 2-3 years to find the perfect bus, but we weren't working with that kind of time. 60 days pouring over auction sites, facebook, craigslist, ebay, purplewave, iron planet (etc etc etc), forum posts, youtube tutorials, bus driver training manuals, CDL coursework, you name it. 60 days learning new skills like welding so that I can apply them to the project myself. I was absolutely stuffing information into my brain and burning up 12-18 hour days most days. I ended up *working* way more than before I was unemployed...but I was doing something I 100% wanted to do.
60 days to lose track of why I'm here, and succumb to the pressure of life queuing up, waiting for me to make my move. 60 days to wonder if I did the right thing by leaving my job to build a bus house. 60 days to budget and re-budget and try not to panic. But, with a solid partner and a bit of a tailwind, I managed to keep my head on my shoulders. I feel like I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to be doing. I think that makes for a solid launchpad into the build.
After the first 30 days I felt like I knew enough to rule out practically every bus in the country for one reason or another, so I started to get my priorities straight. I had made serious offers on three other buses before we successfully purchased our Blue Bird. The first was a built-out camper in an 80s GMC gasser that was cool and very close-by, but probably would have been disappointing in the end. The second was a 35' Thomas MVP, but it didn't have quite enough going for it... for the price. Then we pursued a bus that was for sale on the forum, but it ended up being just a bit too complicated and risky for our taste. 60 days was starting to feel like 600 days.
But, then, there it was. And that's how I knew it would work, because that's how it has worked for every other vehicle I have purchased and I have been fortunate to love all 13 of them dearly. It was suddenly there on eBay of all places...a source I was barely checking compared to the auctions. I looked for the deal-breakers but they never surfaced so we paid the man.
What we ended up buying checked nearly every box, and it feels right. Sorta a skoolie, sorta something different. It's an ICE bus. A nICE bus, if you will.
__________
The Bus
2004 Blue Bird CS RE 3904
~200k miles
Cummins 8.3L ISC-300
Allison R400 Transmission
17 Different keys
Allison Engine Retarder (w/ 7 stages and a cool joystick)
12R22.5 Tires
Air Suspension front & rear
Quick-Release Shotgun Mount
Air Brakes front & rear
BIG HORN (Foot button) & little horn (Steering wheel button)
Aux. Engine-driven Air Compressor & 3x Carrier Roof-mounted aux. AC Units
Custom locking steel AC shrouds to keep your SO from ****ing with the thermostat
Spare handcuffs with no spare handcuff key
10kw Onan Diesel GenSet w/ 2x 1300W DuraComm Inverters
50A Shore connector w/ IOTA Auto Transfer Switch
Opaque window film to shut the world out. Cozy.
33 Roadside Flares
143 copies of the Spanish Language Version of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detainee Handbook
The most degrading shitting experience of your life
Emergency Door Handle Delete
Full axle-to-axle storage bays
Reinforced rail-mounted moveable steel partition with bomb-proof door
25gal Fresh Water holding tank w/inline pump
Anti-zombie window bars
Air ride driver's & 2x air ride passenger's seats
Stainless-steel passenger's seats
Did I mention there is a quick-release shotgun mount?
- PICTURES- < 70 images from yesterday and today.
__________
The Buy
We purchased this bus from a small dealer in Missouri. Jason at I-70 Motors was a pleasure to deal with and everything was pretty lowkey. They operate out of a lot right off the highway and bring buses from out west back to clean up and resell. They had several there at the time, and another customer drove off in one while we were waiting.
This one came from Sacramento, CA and we purchased it for $10k. We put our deposit down and headed east on Thursday, overnighted at a family house in Kentucky, then made the rest of the trip west through St. Louis on Friday. Friday was an 18-hour day but we got the bus back to Kentucky, where I'm now typing this up. The only minor hiccup was my ****ing COOLANT TEMP GAUGE PINNING ITSELF TO MAX SUDDENLY.
It was just a silly little gauge joke. I guess Blue Birds have a sense of humor.

There is some other tech stuff I'll get into later, but she runs pretty OK for a 20-year old BIG girl.
Was $10k a good deal? I suppose time will tell, but if it doesn't cartoonishly disassemble itself before we get back to Maryland, I will consider it a very good deal. Frankly it's insane that you can buy this kind of vehicle for $10k in the first place.
The Plan
Ugh...actually you know what, my eyes are starting to cross and I'm exhausted. I'll tell y'all the plan another day, but it hasn't changed much from what I described in the welcome thread. Next time you hear from me, I will either be stranded on the side of a mountain troubleshooting, or parked comfortably at home enjoying one of the more well-earned beers of my life.
__________
60 Days.
60 days spending practically all of my time thinking about this project. I noticed many on the forum had taken 2-3 years to find the perfect bus, but we weren't working with that kind of time. 60 days pouring over auction sites, facebook, craigslist, ebay, purplewave, iron planet (etc etc etc), forum posts, youtube tutorials, bus driver training manuals, CDL coursework, you name it. 60 days learning new skills like welding so that I can apply them to the project myself. I was absolutely stuffing information into my brain and burning up 12-18 hour days most days. I ended up *working* way more than before I was unemployed...but I was doing something I 100% wanted to do.
60 days to lose track of why I'm here, and succumb to the pressure of life queuing up, waiting for me to make my move. 60 days to wonder if I did the right thing by leaving my job to build a bus house. 60 days to budget and re-budget and try not to panic. But, with a solid partner and a bit of a tailwind, I managed to keep my head on my shoulders. I feel like I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to be doing. I think that makes for a solid launchpad into the build.
After the first 30 days I felt like I knew enough to rule out practically every bus in the country for one reason or another, so I started to get my priorities straight. I had made serious offers on three other buses before we successfully purchased our Blue Bird. The first was a built-out camper in an 80s GMC gasser that was cool and very close-by, but probably would have been disappointing in the end. The second was a 35' Thomas MVP, but it didn't have quite enough going for it... for the price. Then we pursued a bus that was for sale on the forum, but it ended up being just a bit too complicated and risky for our taste. 60 days was starting to feel like 600 days.
But, then, there it was. And that's how I knew it would work, because that's how it has worked for every other vehicle I have purchased and I have been fortunate to love all 13 of them dearly. It was suddenly there on eBay of all places...a source I was barely checking compared to the auctions. I looked for the deal-breakers but they never surfaced so we paid the man.
What we ended up buying checked nearly every box, and it feels right. Sorta a skoolie, sorta something different. It's an ICE bus. A nICE bus, if you will.
__________
The Bus
2004 Blue Bird CS RE 3904
~200k miles
Cummins 8.3L ISC-300
Allison R400 Transmission
17 Different keys
Allison Engine Retarder (w/ 7 stages and a cool joystick)
12R22.5 Tires
Air Suspension front & rear
Quick-Release Shotgun Mount
Air Brakes front & rear
BIG HORN (Foot button) & little horn (Steering wheel button)
Aux. Engine-driven Air Compressor & 3x Carrier Roof-mounted aux. AC Units
Custom locking steel AC shrouds to keep your SO from ****ing with the thermostat
Spare handcuffs with no spare handcuff key
10kw Onan Diesel GenSet w/ 2x 1300W DuraComm Inverters
50A Shore connector w/ IOTA Auto Transfer Switch
Opaque window film to shut the world out. Cozy.
33 Roadside Flares
143 copies of the Spanish Language Version of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detainee Handbook
The most degrading shitting experience of your life
Emergency Door Handle Delete

Full axle-to-axle storage bays
Reinforced rail-mounted moveable steel partition with bomb-proof door
25gal Fresh Water holding tank w/inline pump
Anti-zombie window bars
Air ride driver's & 2x air ride passenger's seats
Stainless-steel passenger's seats
Did I mention there is a quick-release shotgun mount?
- PICTURES- < 70 images from yesterday and today.
__________
The Buy
We purchased this bus from a small dealer in Missouri. Jason at I-70 Motors was a pleasure to deal with and everything was pretty lowkey. They operate out of a lot right off the highway and bring buses from out west back to clean up and resell. They had several there at the time, and another customer drove off in one while we were waiting.
This one came from Sacramento, CA and we purchased it for $10k. We put our deposit down and headed east on Thursday, overnighted at a family house in Kentucky, then made the rest of the trip west through St. Louis on Friday. Friday was an 18-hour day but we got the bus back to Kentucky, where I'm now typing this up. The only minor hiccup was my ****ing COOLANT TEMP GAUGE PINNING ITSELF TO MAX SUDDENLY.
It was just a silly little gauge joke. I guess Blue Birds have a sense of humor.


There is some other tech stuff I'll get into later, but she runs pretty OK for a 20-year old BIG girl.
Was $10k a good deal? I suppose time will tell, but if it doesn't cartoonishly disassemble itself before we get back to Maryland, I will consider it a very good deal. Frankly it's insane that you can buy this kind of vehicle for $10k in the first place.
The Plan
Ugh...actually you know what, my eyes are starting to cross and I'm exhausted. I'll tell y'all the plan another day, but it hasn't changed much from what I described in the welcome thread. Next time you hear from me, I will either be stranded on the side of a mountain troubleshooting, or parked comfortably at home enjoying one of the more well-earned beers of my life.