Jim 68cuda
Well-Known Member
You can always do this with an old bus....
Here's a "How To" vdeo for just such a project.
Scenicruisin'..?
- Thread starter amazinblue82
- Start date
Here's a "How To" vdeo for just such a project.
I have never stopped there... just eyeball the place whenever I drive by. Do they have something to offer I might need?
I did my purchase from a private seller, dealers like that usually want too much for my cheap side to go for. I like to buy stuff when it needs mechanical help and the price reflects it. All my bus needed was exhaust leaks fix from prior owner disabling the smog pump, but not plugging the ports on the manifold... he just bent the tubes closed and sucked enough air for an occasional backfire. Good for me, I found it on EB but wouldn't buy it through there... the winning bidder brought his "expert" and determined that was a burnt valve. My price was way cheaper than his... I think the seller was just giving up.
cantflip..know anything about Sultanas?
SULTABUS
we kicked this one around starting on page 10 of this thread. few of us ever heard of it let alone knew much about them.
if you get a sec..youve been very generous with your time and input on this bus thing already
SULTABUS
we kicked this one around starting on page 10 of this thread. few of us ever heard of it let alone knew much about them.
if you get a sec..youve been very generous with your time and input on this bus thing already
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
I like Avery's for his assortment of busses. From ToonTown Trolleys to every imaginable varietion of busses. They also have a good selection of the humongous mega-ambulances. I fantasize what I would do with those.
I don't recall those ever being on my radar. Dina is a Mexican bus manufacturer that built Flxible designs... the Flx crowd is able to get some obsolete parts through them like torsion bars. If you liked the Flx buses these guys may be worth looking into. Greyhound maintained their stuff well enough, but used the hell out it. Scenics were exclusively theirs so none got off easy. I don't think the right VL100 would be a step backwards from the Scenicruiser for 2 reasons, there occasionally is a very clean one that will pop up, already converted and they don't usually have ugly price tags. Second they are 35 footers with no tag axle, 4 less tires to deal with, little better turning for tight campgrounds and I hear there are lots more place 35' can get into than 40'.cantflip..know anything about Sultanas?
SULTABUS
we kicked this one around starting on page 10 of this thread. few of us ever heard of it let alone knew much about them.
if you get a sec..youve been very generous with your time and input on this bus thing already
It wasnt a problem for me and my intended use, but you seriously need to think about what you want to do with it and where you want to go. There are campgrounds that will limit age or disallow bus conversions looking to keep mine out... If a factory or older high end conversion was done, You may be better off. There was a VL100 factory RV for sale 10+ years ago that was low use and indoor stored for $60k-$70k... it was perfection. Some were bought by smaller lines and didn't get used as hard as Greyhound, and there were conversion companies who specialized in their conversions. Problem is, at this age, most have some bad history or there can be rust issues. I would stay away from Eagle buses without getting a lot more knowledge and a very thorough inspection. It was mentioned earlier that they have bad structural and very hidden rust issues... they also have a really crazy history of being in and out of business... kind of like Avanti after Studebaker went under. while the newer Eagle buses look like the older, I understand they have differences and parts are extremely scarce.
If you go with a classic, there will be parts issues. IMO too many of all brands went to scrap when the prices were high. There have been campaigns across the country to get old stuff out of yards, which really hurts something too big to tow or drag... and it think it was 3 members who had something big enough to do the job. Towing for something that size hurts, transporting it would be very expensive... a bus needs to be kept running at minimum. Also it seems like there are few truck shops that want your business...IDK, I haven't tried, but it's the vibe I have picked up on the boards.
And if you couldn't tell, I love this stuff... I am not an expert, just a guy who did lots of research long ago. I will happily help you any way I can... but I shouldn't be the final word. When you get serious about a brand/model... put it up here... there are other who do research better than me, and the better your information the better your experience will be.
BTW, the red Scenicruiser earlier in the thread appears to have a raised roof, or a shortened aluminum side skin... the originals have a narrow strip at the little access doors over the back wheels.
If you get any serious ideas, you will need to figure out a good place to work on and store it. Down where you are there might be a lot of neat options. 2 things about ambulances... most are nice quality aluminum bodies, a little outside my welding skills...but that's how we learn. I knew a guy years back who used an old f350 chassis ambulance as his race car hauler doing SCCA stuff... he worked on the ambulance almost as much as the cars. The body construction and electrical involvement on one of those will most likely need a full rewire to make it into something else.
I have to admit, they are the biggest sales lot for buses I have seen in my travels... lots of neat stuff. I wouldn't have expected that much of a market to exist... but I know the farms love them... seen lots cut down for watermelon. There is a bus conversion place in Arcadia that seems to have opened and closed their doors several times over the years... they have had some cool stuff too. I drove past their lot when I used to commute weekly between here and SW FL.
That brings up another issue for conversion. The front door of my bus was originally the door for a company that manufactured 3 custom RVs, including one that was supposedly for Rusty Wallace... that company went under prior to completion and had things so jacked up that the next company tore down and started over with a lot of it. My friend was a welder and worked all over the specialty vehicle industry, He was able to get me that door and some big bay doors for my project from the one his shop was re-engineering...I was told Rusty was in litigation over his... point is, many of these companies aren't very stable. I have a mental problem that doesn't allow me to trust the work of others very easily, so I do almost everything myself. If you had to rely on a shop or individual for your conversion... its a lot like the corner body shop doing your restoration... we have heard those kind of stories too many times.
thanks for reply. appreciate your "expertise".
I studied this bus thing a long time..cursory "wouldn't that be cool" level. now that the time approaches to do it or not, well i gotta be smarter.
my problem is the "unknown unknowns" with this one. sorry for the Rumsfeld-esque alliteration (let's go the video) but "i don't know what I don't know" (e.g. the potential for "big old bus discrimination" at RV parks/truck stops - NEVER crossed my mind).
And this is too big a project to screw up on with my "orange money" in the third "tri-mester" (ages 50-80) of my time here
"Unknown unknowns". I love that.
In business, I always used to say that there were times that we knew so little about certain subjects that we didn't know what questions to ask.
In business, I always used to say that there were times that we knew so little about certain subjects that we didn't know what questions to ask.
I had an older Dodge RV that we used for a couple summers and I read about old campers being turned away from the RV parks. I never experienced it, but the forum I went to for info said it was prevalent in many parts of the country. I would expect that you might find that rule at more popular destinations rather than the places I went.
Old school buses, I think they called them "Schoolies" or something like that were looked down upon by the parks even more so than old rigs and I think a lot of the RV folks didn't care for them either.
Old school buses, I think they called them "Schoolies" or something like that were looked down upon by the parks even more so than old rigs and I think a lot of the RV folks didn't care for them either.
EXACTLY! happens in business (my experience most often) and probably in any other activity.
these things USUALLY get revealed by an "event" -- the hard way. sometimes, you learn something new about a potential outcome BEFORE it happens -- the best way to find out.
very unsettling - some crap went down you didnt even know could happen AND that NEVER came up in your planning. for a real example, I shut down my customer's auto assembly line, AND to add insult to injury they are stacking up cars at the railhead, and I got NO answers for them.
one of my parts is messed up, I don't know why and it never even crossed our mind (failure analyses beforehand) before it happened. yikes...gettin' the shakes here just reliving it - worst week of my professional career.
but on the good side, an opportunity to learn and correct/prepare as well - increase your knowledge base you increase the probability of BETTER decisions in the future.
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geez...RV snobbery. wow. live and learn. THX.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
Like O-rings and cold temperatures at launch time on Space Shuttles.
Nothing is ever 100%.
If you can get 99.99% defect-free and you make 10,000 of them, well.... you do the math.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
Gawd forbid a Hippie school bus parks next to a Prevost with its four slideouts, awning, and Italian marble and Brazilian Blackwood furnishings, huh?
patrick66
Old Man with a Hat
There is a converted 44-passenger Bluebird flat-nosed school bus here in OKC that would astound you guys! It is a '91 model with 6BT Cummins power and Allison trans. It was a former "blue steely" USAF bus that had only 44K miles when it sold at government auction. Of course, Bluebird used these very same buses for motor coaches, so it was pretty easy to make this beast a coach. I wish I had a few pics of it to show, but you'd never believe it started as a passenger bus. The guy got the bus for $4K, and put another $35K into it. He did probably 90% of the work himself, too. It's a beauty!
thats when i let my dog 'hike a leg" on that pompous ***'s armor-alled/polished Alcoas -- before the RV police show me the exit gate
that would be something to see. thx.
300rag
It's Not Going to Shift Itself
We stopped at few places on out tour and the first question asked was "what year is your coach?". This wasn't an issue at most RV parks, but more so at places advertised as Motorcoach only resorts. They are somewhat pickier.
I never would have guessed that so many here would be so welcoming to the bus conversion idea. Especially my poor neglected schoolie... I general receive enough crap about it that I just don't bring it up too often. The youngsters like it until they find out it will never have a stripper pole installed during my ownership. Then they think I'm crazy too.
my first reaction to "snobs" is FTMFs (sorry - urban upbringing
). seriously, i dont like snooty people/organizations.but maybe the better way in this case is to look at RV park vehicle requirements as analogous to "dress codes" at certain eateries.
proprietor wants a certain ambiance..its cool by me. his/her choice on how to make money. so i get to decide if i wanna wear a tie a Chez Pierre, and if i dont, then go to Chez Olive Garden.
guess gotta do more upfront trip planning to see who will let my '55 Scenicruiser in and who wont
300rag
It's Not Going to Shift Itself
We looked at one in Indio, CA. The rules were:
Class A not more than 10 years old
No bus conversions
No class C
No class 8 coaches
Minimum length (escapes me now)
No car trailers
We didn't stay there.
Class A not more than 10 years old
No bus conversions
No class C
No class 8 coaches
Minimum length (escapes me now)
No car trailers
We didn't stay there.
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