Redesign the Blue Bird Vision Chassis

[EvilLangBuildsMc]

Just wondering if Ford or General Motors would acquire Blue Bird... the Blue Bird Vision chassis redesign.

AmTran (later, IC) and Thomas was acquired by truck manufacturers by Navistar and Freightliner in 1995 and 1998.

The General Motors chassis for the Blue Bird Conventional is from 1966-1991 and 1992-2002 as a supply agreement.

The Blue Bird Micro Bird (joint venture with Girardin) has propane buses on Ford E-Series chassis.

The Thomas Minotour has propane and CNG buses on Chevrolet Express/GMC Savana chassis.

The General Motors heavy-duty truck production ended in 2009, The General Motors Class 7 trucks will enter production in 2022 as the 2023 model year.

The Blue Bird Ford Conventional was a prototype in 2002 as a replacement for the GM chassis CV200, several Blue Bird Conventional bodies were fitted on F-750 Super Duty chassis as a potential replacement.

Link for the Blue Bird/Ford Conventional: https://archive.is/20120910015910/h...com/gallery/updates/nov04/bb_3_frd_02_lit.htm

 

[coolcraftnet18]

Interesting thoughts

 

[Booyah45828]

Interesting find, I've never seen one of those before.

 

[cadillackid]

body manufacturers figured out that supporting multiple chassis was expensive.. thus created agreements with single suppliers to produce any outsourced parts they need or the whole chassis itself.. Body makers having to integrate to multiple chassis's electrical and network systems, vs building for one single chassis and integrating it to be more seamless..



the body builder concept by chassis makers worked before your chassis had 6 CAN busses, a multiplex system and an EPA that wants you to certify your chassis for emissions with every single body attached vs the chassis itself..