Hi Folks and greetings from Denmark
Does anybody here have any experience with building a garage at the rear of the bus? We are a group of people who have just bought a 1989 Volvo B9M-60 with a traverse diesel engine and we want a ramp at the rear and a large cargo hold. The doors at the rear must be large enough to fit a car (european size).
I did a search here that came up with nothing - is that because I used the wrong search words or is this not a thing people do in the States?
Best
BusDane
There is a Eagle bus in the BCM back in 1999 0r 2000 that had a rear garage as you and he call it he was from Germany.
I saw it up close at a rally in Laughlin Nev pretty neat with a car in there.
good luck
Quote from: luvrbus on June 25, 2010, 02:44:19 PM
There is a Eagle bus in the BCM back in 1999 0r 2000 that had a rear garage as you and he call it he was from Germany.
I saw it up close at a rally in Laughlin Nev pretty neat with a car in there.
good luck
Yeah, Denmark is close to Germany and they call it a "Heck Garage", literally meaning "Stern Garage" and so do we. But most of the designs are for bikes or ATVs because the busse/campers in this neck of the woods are smaller than yours.
Do you really only see this every ten years? I was hoping for a link to an instructive this-is-how-I-did-it picture page :-)
If rear garage is a bad expression what would you call it?
best
BusDane
In the USA it's more often done with truck conversions than bus conversions. Mainly because most intercity coaches here are rear-engine, which is a huge obstacle.
A garage works for me but some here call it a rear hatch,maybe one of the guys can post a photo for you he had a Suzuki Samurai he drove up the ramps closed the door and off he went it was neat.
good lucks
I don't recall what kinda bus it was but I once saw one with a corvette coming out of the rear on ramps!
I thought "Oh how cool!" and then "How cruel, to have a vette up there instead of a Mustang!" ;)
;D BK ;D
fwiw..saw transit front end folded open (Hindged)and had ramps..parked replica cobra in there...sort of neat.
Quote from: robertglines1
fwiw..saw transit front end folded open (Hindged)and had ramps..parked replica cobra in there...sort of neat.
Now that's what I'm talking about!
Rear garage...that's what I need! After considering buses, I am leaning more towards a truck conversion to simplify things
On the Skoolie forum a fellow Scandinavian (actually from Norge) has raised the roof of his front-engine Blue Bird and then built a large ramp that folds up as the rear door. He regularly takes his kinetic sculptures and other strange human-powered contraptions in this bus to events all over the western USA. There's also other folk who have done similar conversions to take cars and motorbikes with them.
Is your Volvo mid-engine or rear-engine?
John
I think 99% of American buses / coaches are rear-engined, which obviously makes a rear garage difficult to do. European buses are quite often mid-engined, so you see this kind of conversion much more often - in fact there's two for sale on UK eBay right now:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Race-Transporter-volvo-Coach-Race-Lorry-/320549426316?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Minibuses_Buses_Coaches&hash=item4aa23c148c (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Race-Transporter-volvo-Coach-Race-Lorry-/320549426316?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Minibuses_Buses_Coaches&hash=item4aa23c148c)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Volvo-Coach-Race-Car-Transporter-Racing-Vehicle-/230489200862?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35aa3a18de (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Volvo-Coach-Race-Car-Transporter-Racing-Vehicle-/230489200862?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item35aa3a18de)
Jeremy
BK,
It was a Scenicruiser that had a rear garage over the engine for a corvette.
Quote from: kyle4501 on June 26, 2010, 10:13:20 AM
BK,
It was a Scenicruiser that had a rear garage over the engine for a corvette.
Wow, that is quite a balancing act. I wouldn´t want to be the one who drove the car up there.
Yeah, the rear-engine is in the way that is for sure.
best
BusDane,
You aren't likely to see a how to article as this hasn't been done here much.
If you want to do this to your bus, you will need to get a structural engineer type to help you with the modifications. You wouldn't want all your hard work to break in half. ::)
Good luck with this project - maybe you will be the one to post the how-to page. ;D
Quote from: Iceni John on June 25, 2010, 04:49:18 PM
Is your Volvo mid-engine or rear-engine?
John
It is mid-engine, traverse engine, center engine. Many names for the same thing ;-)
best
Kyle,
The Scenic is interesting but I'm quite sure Luvrbus was correct, it was an Eagle in the BCM some years ago.
Looks like a waste of a lot of living area.
prevost82 said; "Looks like a waste of a lot of living area."
Priorities!
Quote from: Len Silva on June 26, 2010, 11:33:51 AM
Kyle,
The Scenic is interesting but I'm quite sure Luvrbus was correct, it was an Eagle in the BCM some years ago.
I wasn't challenging Clifford's statement, but I was replying to BK's reference to a corvette -which was why I started the post with "BK". ;)
I'm quite sure both can be correct. :o
I'm also sure that there have been several done that way, just not many here in the states. . . .
There is this guy I know down in Texas that is mounting a Scenicruiser body on the frame of a Freightliner. He is going to do something like what you said. Mounting holding tanks and Generator where the old Scenic 8V71 used to be. I'll have to get more pic as he gets closer to done. Here is a picture of what it looks like on the semi frame.
Anyone that would do that to a Scenicruiser isn't likely to be my 'buddy'. . . . . unless he gives me lots of free parts. ::)
He is more likely to be an 'associate', or 'some guy I seen down the road'. ;D
Leave it to you Kyle to say it the way it is. I was just being nice.
You might use 'toy hauler' as your search criteria instead of rear garage. You will find a lot of trailers in your search but they might have enough similar engineering to help you with design.
Mike