The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Help identify a bus ...

You all will probably like this request:

Hi

I am not a member of your forum but I need some help if you could be so kind. I am trying to gain any information possible about the short school bus shown in one episode of The Andy Griffith show. A screen capture from the shows the words "General Motors Truck" on the hood emblem ... and that is about all I know. I am looking for any information such as year model, who made the body, any collectors of such or where one might be located. A complete replica of the Town Of Mayberry is in the works here in North Carolina and the builder (a former Imagineer at a large theme park in Florida) is in need of this bus. Any assistance you could give me would be much appreciated.

I am taking the liberty of attaching the screen capture to this document.

Thanks you again for any help you can give.

Gerald Johnson
[email protected]


The replica of Mayberry would have to be something to see!
Peg

Looks like a 41-46 GMC to me,,but I am no expert on the older ones. Not sure who made the body, Ward was popular here. Brian

Thats one short bus! Looks like a 36' GMC. I've got a cab in the back 40 somewhere.

that's Gomer's bus

Cool,from the andy griffith show.Barny"Don Knots" made that show. I don't know about the bus !

can't tell from the pics if it is a 39-40 or a 41-46. The badge on the hood is consistant with 39-46. A glimpse of the grill or the headlights will tell the rest of the story. I can't tell if the headlights are mounted to the fenders or the radiator.

Could be a Thomas body, they are built in High Point, NC (not far from the real "Mayberry").

The headlights are mounted to the radiator support which would put it in the 30s. A front view would help.
Looks like it might be a 39.

My vote is the chassis might be '39 - '40, and the body, while I don't know them that far back, bears a marked resemblance to later Thomas bodies.

If you look very closely I believe the head light is in the photo just above the fender. My guess a ‘41 to ‘46

Don't you guys think that bus was cut down (shortened) for the show. Look where the rear axel is. I don't think it came that short originally. yes, looks like in the 38'/41' range

Kips41 - just above the fender ... the 41-46 is ON the fender, and a teardrop shape conforming to the fender - the bus shows the rounded back of a headlight bucket like mounted off the side of the rad surround

Bill

39-40 GMC

i just spent an hour trying to get it on google.. no dice..

I am almost certain that bus was cut back. For one thing no school district would need a bus that would carry only 6 or 8 students. Secondly, with that few passengers why would it need tandem wheels?
I would look for something that dates back to the late 30s or early 40s, then cut it back.
I have 1 74 passenger Thomas, one 23 passenger Wayne, one Carpenter/IH 34 passenger and three 19 passenger Blue Bird. Cutting back one of the 20 to 35 passenger buses would not be difficult.

It looks like the IT short bus to me.

Here is another short bus on a different chassis
web page

Somebody needs to catch that episode & tell us what it is,,dual wheels were popular on the dirt roads. Brian

Take a close look at the hood side emblem & headlight mounting on the pic I posted the link to. Compare that to the capture pics. Looks like an exact match to me. :blat:

Here\'s more info on what they are doing with "Welcome to Mayberry."

Peg

I just wanted to drop in here and say THANK YOU to all those that have and will offer help on this question. My name is Gerald Johnson and I am the one that Peggy M. posted the original message on behalf of. I am sorry I don't have better pictures of the bus but the two screen captures are all I have. In my limited reseach I felt it was likely made prior to WWII which your posts verify. This bus has been spotted in at least one other movie (a war movie that I don't know the name of) filmed on the RKO set (also known as The 40 Acres which is now gone). My first thought was that it had to be a cut down but then I started doing some research on buses and found several short ones, although none were as short as this one.

The developer of the "Town of Mayberry" (TOM) project told me that if he can find out the exact year that he can have the body built in his replicating shop. From what you folks have posted, am I correct in assuming that there was a design change in 1941 involving the way the headlights are mounted? Any rules of thumb you could give me in distinguishing the 39-40 from the 41 forward in this body style would be much appreciated. I can pass it along to the developer and perhaps he can find a better screen shot from another movie that might nail down the model year based on the way the headlights are mounted.

Thanks again for all the help and a special thanks to Peggy M. for her help and enthusiasm.

Oh yeah..IF anyone happens to run across a short bus like this or a good chasis of the proper year model for sale, PLEASE email me and I will pass it along to Imagineer.

Gerald

Gerald, you can click the link to the "Gallery" at the top of the page, then follow the appropriate links to see pictures of 39-40 GMCs and 41-46 GMCs. I tend to think it's a 39-40 from what little we can see of the front.

It is possible that the bus has been cut down, but you would have to wonder why would anyone have gone to the trouble.

Short buses were called "activity buses" in North Carolina (at least) and were used to take small groups of students to off-campus activities. The ones I have seen were about the size of the van-based "Head Start" school buses now used, except they had a conventional 1-ton truck chassis with dual rear wheels.

My guess is that it is an original "activity bus".

That is one short bus!
I got a short bus and it is in the gallery in 1954. It is also in the link below.

I am not sure if this bus has been shortened, the reasoning being:

1. Look at the mayberry school district sign, it 'fits' the panel.

2. The wheel cut outs appear to be symetrical, equal.

3. I saw a picture of short bus like this I think on google under short bus or vintage bus or vintage school transportation.

4. Maybe it was the same bus.

There have been several short buses on ebay in teh past few years.

School Bus from the Stovebolt Tech Tips
School bus on eBay.

Now that's odd! The hood emblem in the add reads "GMC School Bus", not General Motors Truck. Has anybody been able to make out what the logo is on the back of bus in the screen capture? It appears to be the tag of the custom body manufacturer. Pretty cool looking in those wings!

1941 is my best guess.

My Money's on a 1939 GMC.

There aren't any parking lights, and were it a '40, they would be partially visible on the fender, and were it a '41-'46, the parking lights would have been visible on top of the headlights themselves.

The logo on the back looks almost like something VonDutch would have done... it's an 8 Ball with wings.

After reviewing all the photo's and information supplied by you fine folks, it does appear that the bus is a 39-40 GMC. Today I learned that the body was built by Ward. I had originally thought it was built by Thomas but a recent Ward bus listed for sale on eBay has the exact same rear section/window pattern as the one in the show. If anyone knows of an old Ward bus body or 39-40 GMC chassis located somewhere in the Southeastern US that is for sale, please let me know. Again, I want to express my thanks to all of you that have been of help.