Non-affiliated buses for sale - thread

Shorty 2005 Thomas Built
CAT powerplant
AC (maybe it works?!)
100k miles

2005 THOMAS BUILT SCHOOL BUS | Cars & Vehicles Buses | Online Auctions | Proxibid

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FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS

I guess it does come with scrap wood!

CAUTION. This one gets better and better the more you look through the pictures. Insane roof-raise aside...the interior is very clearly someone who does not know that they do not know what they're doing...which is dangerous in our world. The "blocking" on the underside of the loft is...something. And that tells me all I need to know that those are for sure drywall screws holding down the posts...

They ****in' sent 'er tho, huh?

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Kinda looks like the welds on the loft support were never cleaned...
 
There was actually a lot of skilled work that went into this bus. That curve up front looks aligned well.

The loft however is something to be desired. it doesn't look structurally strong enough and was not well thought out. He could fix it however by adding a couple of Metal poles in the center line to give it all the support he needs. When a couple of human bodies get up there it's gonna Taco. But being as from the pictures it's incomplete he may have actually planed to add that support and just hasn't yet, but if he didn't plan on it he needs to.

Additionally the overall height will likely limit him where he can drive it to, but in the end if he gets the supports right he could end up with quite a spacious home.

If you bought that bus you could add support to the loft by making an archway under it, and covering up the support in a hidden way and it would be fine.

And as for price with a nearly completed roof raise (I include the loft support in that since he added one) 15k isn't that bad if it's a solid drive train.
 
Agreed there are certain aspects that were clearly done by someone else. No chance whoever did the interior would ever come anywhere close to completing a roof raise themselves. Looks like they spent all their money on it, too. 🤷‍♂️

My thing is, I'm not going to give them the benefit of the doubt that anything was going to be corrected: they are selling it! Scrutiny is wholly justified.

Maybe if you were already looking for a Vista (who?) and planned to do an extreme roof-raise, then the value could be there...in my opinion it would be...unwise to purchase this one.

As a builder myself I see way WAY too many indicators of incompetence; I could never trust anything else they did. I'd have to tear it all out and start over to feel good about it. Everything about that loft screams total lack of forethought and I have to assume the rest is just as shoddy.

The roof raise is a red herring.

I know I posted this in the "For Sale" thread but this is supposed to be cautionary. Someone posted it on the Subreddit and almost no-one in the comments was discussing the issues I mentioned here. Just "wow roof raise tall". It kinda scares me a bit, there are a LOT of people out there going and buying a bus to convert without the slightest effort at educating themselves on the process. These people would not know not to buy this bus, ands could get hurt when something fails. They get out on the road and get blown over in a gust of wind and crush a family of 5 in a sedan. Or, have to slam on the brakes and the entire loft structure breaks free and joins the driver in the front seat.

I know I'm new here but I think it's safe to say, purchasing partial conversions should be done with extreme caution. I would say about 19/20 partial skoolies on FBM have critical quality issues. People immediately **** something up, cover it up, then list it for twice what they paid.

Not giving this person the benefit of the doubt at all.
 
Well most of his work is still open and available to criticism. It's still reachable too so you can scrutinize it before pulling the trigger. If you have any experience with metal working you can correct some of the errors but again it's all about what you want to put into it. Even with some correction needed in this case, if I didn't mind a roof raise that high, I may even consider it at that price even with having to go back over the work a little. If I look at it and it's going to require redoing the whole roof raise, then no it's definitely not worth it.

If it's simple corrections might still be worth it is all I'm saying. You can't blanket put all into a category of don't touch until you've inspected it up close, and this one is still deskinned and you can judge the welds yourself.
 
Well most of his work is still open and available to criticism. It's still reachable too so you can scrutinize it before pulling the trigger. If you have any experience with metal working you can correct some of the errors but again it's all about what you want to put into it. Even with some correction needed in this case, if I didn't mind a roof raise that high, I may even consider it at that price even with having to go back over the work a little. If I look at it and it's going to require redoing the whole roof raise, then no it's definitely not worth it.

If it's simple corrections might still be worth it is all I'm saying. You can't blanket put all into a category of don't touch until you've inspected it up close, and this one is still deskinned and you can judge the welds yourself.

Fair enough. I'll admit I'm a bit of a stickler.
 
What looks like an ex mobile command bus in Idaho. These always seemed like a good idea... about 1 day's worth of work from a livable skoolie conversion.
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I saw these pop up yesterday, there are a handful to choose from. SO clean...it looks to me like whoever was maintaining these took pride in their fleet.
I had to check a few times to see if the photographer was using a filter but every dang rig in that sale and all the others in the background are cleaner than anything inside my house.
 
Trying to decide if the CAT engine is worth it for me and how accurate that odometer reading is... been hard to find a short/mid bus on a budget. We'll see how the auction goes. Killer premiums tho!
Basically 25% premium unless the sale exceeds $5001 and then 'only' 20% 💸
 
That shifter I think would be a 545 or a 643. A 3060 would have a keypad, or a T-handle with an LED display. Supposedly the 643 is a very good all mechanical transmission.
 
That shifter I think would be a 545 or a 643. A 3060 would have a keypad, or a T-handle with an LED display. Supposedly the 643 is a very good all mechanical transmission.
I couldn't get confirmation on the AC as operational in time to bid and so I let it go; a 643 and working aircon and I'd have been bid, bid, and bid.
 

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