The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Stovebolt Bus: Cool? Not cool?

I found a dude who is sitting on two 1953ish GMC school busses... looks like a '53 GMC truck front end with a bus body with the real rounded back, like this one only these busses have longer bodies.

So the question is.. do busses rock, or do they suck?

they rock if yer doin it right, they suck w/ the air cleaner off

depends on what ya want'em for - not much for daily drivers, but if the bodies haven't rotted to the point of leaking, could make ok motor homes if yer into that - as yard art they make great storage sheds - parts'll be like parts for the 1.5T and up, scarcer and a bit more of a struggle to work on

Bill

I've yet to see a really well done camper made out of a schoolbus.. they all end up looking like.. well.. a schoolbus made into a camper.

I think if I was gunna make a camper out of a bus, i'd go for one of those old city busses.. i saw a couple early 80's rounded busses on eBay.. I used to call them "space busses" since they looked more like some kind of spacecraft.. one of those would make a decent motorhome deal.

I'm goin' out there tomorrow and snap some pictures.. hes got lots of stuff out there, and is pretty motivated to get rid of it since he's retiring.

The old GMC 4104 buses make good motorhomes. My grandfather built two for himself and a couple for other people back in the '70's. Normally the city buses are geared for city cruising and don't have the baggage compartments.

They rock as far as how they look.

As school buses. Cool

Sabrina

One of the Studebaker guys here in OKC restored a '47 Stude school bus for his wife, who is a now-retired school bus driver for the Putnam City district. It says "Rock-and-Roll High School" on the sides, and is a truly restored bus, correct seats, engine, even a brass fire extinguisher.

She actually drove that bus to work regularly (no kids, of course!).

I have always been a fan of an old School Bus.

Cliff59

yeah, the big bus I'd like to have is the older mid 50's scenicruser style, like this one - maybe Fumblin wants this kinda housebus?

Bill

That scenicruser style bus is pretty sweet.

Now we're talkin'...That '53 looks like a great starting point. There are a couple of rodded ones in this area. Flat yellow.. chrome wheels .. low... big motors... sc part of school crossed out..and a k instead of the h.
Love the sceni-cruiser. A seniors group here has one like that, but the top isn't so tall.
Many people make motorhomes out of the old GM's. We still have a couple in the fleet. Now those sound like a bus should!

Fumblin46,

My friends and I all pitched in a purchased a school bus. Plan on converting it to a party bus to drive to NASCAR races. Ours is the long type but the one your talking about would be perfect.

Roger

If the bus is rockin' don't bother knockin'

As a school bus driver, I think they're pretty cool. I'd like to find one of the old short busses to set up to teach bus safety, but I'd like to build it to be able to pull the front wheels so it'd get the attention of the high school kids. There used to be a little 50 Chevy short bus that was used on a side road route by a private individual, sure wish I knew what happened to it.

Rob

Gotta weigh in on this one, as I am Captain of the Emerald Gypsy. I know it was made by the "Other Guys", but you might enjoy checking her out anyway.

http://www.happyhippie.be/hippievehicles.htm

Cap'n Mark

Years ago I owned a '66 GMC (48 passenger) school bus. It was a lot of fun. But if you think a Big Bolt takes a lot of room, put one of those in your back yard.

That's what you call a S'Cool' bus.

I love old school buses also.
My bus was featured in the January new guys.

I also got a 53 3/4 that just this afternoon I had to change the fuel filter to get it running.
2 1954 one tons.

I gotta cut this short as I got to pickup my grandsons at school.....of course I use the bus!

Jim

Fumblin:

Maybe this one would be more your style:

original video link broken

Can't tell if it was originally a bus or not, but the overall shape is similar and it sure does make a good lookin' motorhome.

Bob

I've seen some info on that motorhome - it was originally built as a camper.

egypsy, I saw your bus on another site and thought that was about the coolest bus conversion I'd seen. Great looking wood work and I like the color too.

Rob

The guy is convinced the busses are worth $700 a whack..he maintains the one runs strong, but it dosent look like its moved in 20 years.

It would be cool to see a correctly restored old school bus, simply because there aren't that many of them around anymore.

I saw an article in our paper about the GM Futurliner 1939-40. Here's the Ottawa Citizen's article: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/driving/story.html?id=b1ca5cb6-dfc1-403d-85b2-317ac898ebee
It recently sold for $4 million. It has a spiral staircase to get up to the driver's seat. It says there are 12 built and still a few out there. Looks cool to me!

Yea, if this was a futureliner i'd have no problem shellin' out $700 for 'em.

do you have any pictures of the buses

Did you see the GM bus on the Barret/Jackson bids that went for 4.1 million.

super250six