The first converted bus you saw up close

[bobofthenorth]

Brian's scout thread got me thinking about the very first converted bus I ever saw up close.  Cliff Moen owned the GM garage & bodyshop in Shellbrook in the 1960's.  He also owned a converted bus and one summer he brought the local cubscout troop home from a campout at Shell Lake.  As I recall we got to the lake on our own, spent the week up there and then for some reason came home in Moen's converted bus.  I don't remember much about the trip except for Cliff's wife coming forward sometime during the trip, asking "Is it time?", Cliff nodded "Yes" and then she went aft to dump the sewer on the fly on the side of the road.  I also recall heavy red velour curtains but I really haven't a clue what kind of bus we were in - likely a GM.  A few years later the local IGA store owner bought a couple of GM transits somewhere - maybe Calgary - and drove them home.  That was a big deal in a small town.  He sold one to a guy who owned one of the hardware stores in town.  I don't recall what happened to either of those buses but I also don't remember ever seeing them in use.  I can remember seeing one of them sitting rotting in Jack's yard so they likely ended up at the scrap dealer.

The next converted bus that I got up close to was George Lowry's GM when they made their cross Canada trip.  We met them at Waskesiu, got the tour and I was pretty well hooked from that point on.

[bevans6]

I saw Bluebird Wanderlodges and thought they were the bee's knees.  But the first converted bus I ever saw, or was inside of, is the one I bought.

Brian

[luvrbus]

I got hooked at a RV show in 1960 a Blue Bird with a inline Ford 6 cylinder engine my boss bought at the tune of 40,000 bucks I made a bunch of fishing trips in that bus with him the thing rode so bad it would shake the sheets of the bed and got about 4 MPG when the latter models came with 331 V8 Ford he bought one of those still didn't help the ride lol

good luck

[boxcarOkie]

I don't remember much about the trip except for Cliff's wife coming forward sometime during the trip, asking "Is it time?", Cliff nodded "Yes" and then she went aft to dump the sewer on the fly on the side of the road. 

I came across a guy in Nebraska once, who said he had been full timing for some six years, and up and until that date, had never used a dump station.  So yes, they are out there, hard to believe, but he swore up and down that was his practice.

(Sorry Scott)

BCO

[luvrbus]

Yep they still do it I questioned a farmer about dumping on the side of the road his answer was you spread $#!% in fields and then eat the food grass needs fertilizer too what can you say I just walked away and he was from Neb also a winter Texan sorry Scott

good luck

[demodriver]

The closest that I have been to a converted bus is a picture .

[ktmossman]

When I was 8 or 9, a missionary came to the church my Dad pastored in Oregon, travelling in a converted schoolie.  The bus itself did not impress me much, but I remember that he had an electrical issue and when my brother went to climb in he got quite a jolt from the handrail.

When I was in college, I toured the US twice with a singing/acting troupe.  We traveled in a Silver Eagle and I was hooked. 

Now if I could just afford one of my own...

[Highway Yacht]

I had seen several different converted buses sitting on lots at Ocean Lakes in Myrtle Beach SC throughout the years but the first converted bus that I really saw up close and went inside was Gene Lewis's Eagle. That was several years ago but he took the time to give me a tour and gave me lots of tips and ideas. Since then I have been inside several more buses including Chart1's bus, Jack Conrad's bus, and a few others. The greatest thing about Bus Nuts is that any of them that I have ever met have been more than willing to show their bus and offer all kinds of advise and info. A Bus Rally is the best place in the world for a newbie to go. You'll see more and learn more than you can imagine.

Jimmy

[fe2_o3]

  I had seen them for years, even ridden in converted schoolies. But the first one that made an impression was called "Hotel California". It was an Eagle owned by Keith and Susanne (if memory serves). Beautiful interior, and cabinetry and a raised roof. They were able to answer all my stupid questions without any visible aggravation, and showed us pictures of other conversions. All this enabled me to schmooze the wife into letting me buy a 4905, then a few years later, our 4104. The only real complaints we've received have been from the city. After I sold the 4905, even the city stopped whining...Cable

[Tikvah]

When I was a boy of about 18 a young man came for a visit driving an old bus.  I don't know what it was but it was all silver.  One of those that has the long round curve from the roof down the back.  I remember the inside was pretty crude, but it served as his house and I was impressed.

Later I drove bus for a local tour company.  I think they were all MCI-7 and MCI-8.  I think his newest bus was a MCI-9.  I remember driving back and forth to Chicago and thinking this would make a great motor-home.  I fell in deep. 

I have seen a few high-end (too expensive for me) executive coaches, but I thought I was the first to think of actually converting one of these big coaches into a home on wheels.  I had no idea many others had thought of it.  So, about a year ago I began searching for my first coach.  I couldn't believe what I found.  Others had thought of it too, and had done a pretty good job.

I looked at one other MCI before I bought mine, and I liked it, but it just wasn't "mine".  So, I decided I needed to convert my own.  I looked for many months when I found one clear out in Denver.  My wife and I jumped a plane and drove it back.  We could probably write a book about that trip, but I'm sure it will only be the first of many stories.  The bus was a tour coach, that had become the owner's personal party bus.  None of his fleet took the Detroit engines anymore and this bus was starting to smoke.  He had a brand new crate engine from when his entire fleet was MCI Detroit's and instead of letting it go to waste, he put the crate engine in the bus.  He put about 20,000 on the bus when he fell in love with a brand new Prevost and decided to sell his last MCI.  So, I got the good fortune of a new engine and a well maintained bus. 

I didn't find this forum until after I bought my MCI 102 A3.  I've jumped in the deep end of the pool.  I just hope I can swim all the way back to reality before I drown.

[Rick59-4104]

I got hooked at a RV show in 1960 a Blue Bird with a inline Ford 6 cylinder engine my boss bought at the tune of 40,000 bucks I made a bunch of fishing trips in that bus with him the thing rode so bad it would shake the sheets of the bed and got about 4 MPG when the latter models came with 331 V8 Ford he bought one of those still didn't help the ride lol

good luck

I had an early 1960's Bluebird with the Ford (Lincoln) 331 and I got about 3 to 4 MPG. Hard to believe I went from Arkansas to Florida to get that.

Rick

[pabusnut]

The first converted bus I saw inside was either a 4104 or a 4106 in a campground just southwest of Little Rock, Arkansas in the mid '80s It was not professionally converted, but was very nice and functional for a retired full-timing couple.

I remember asking them if it was a lot of trouble draining their queen size water bed.  Their answer shocked me!  They said they just put a strap across it each way to keep it from sliding off!   Amazing!

I had been hooked before then, but the visit assured me that it was possible for ME to actually do it too.

Steve Toomey
PAbusnut

[Kevinmc5]

I got hooked when I went to look at a bus conversion That was built for the navy, said the owner selling it. It still had the box on the roof for missiles. Never could find any Prof of that. But the inside was done very nice. The bus that got me and the wife to buy the 4106 was fe2-03 bus at Bussin USA last year. We felt it was the perfect size.

[Bill B /bus]

First conversion we saw was a GM Senicruiser at a campground in Machias, Maine. Would have been 1973 before I left the Navy. We were intrigued by the thought what a great step up that would be from a 10.5 ft truck camper. The husband was a retired machinist. They had been in the campground for a month while he rebuilt the Spicer transmission. He had a small lathe and a small milling machine in the forward bay, passenger side. Every thing in the bays, except tanks, was on roll out trays.

Next time we were exposed was shortly after the trade up to a 1990 30 ft Pace Arrow, now 1994. We went to our first Maine Wheels (FMCA chapter) rally in May. They parked us among five MCI conversions. OK that's bad enough. Because I had been insistent about the weight carried my dear wife asked about carried weight in the MCI's. All the spouses agreed that it wasn't a problem. First bus, a 1970 GM 4108, came home in March of 1995 to be converted. Sold that one in 2006 and brought the MCI 102A3 home for conversion.  Still miss driving the Buffalo. What I don't miss is the clutch in uphill traffic and in campgrounds.

Bill

[belfert]

I think the first bus conversion I saw in person was Gumpy's bus.  I saw my first bus conversions on the Internet.

I originally started to look at motorhomes, but none of them really met the requirements for sleeping a lot of guys.  My friend wanted to buy an old junker school bus to convert.  His idea was just to abandon it at a scrap yard if it died on the road.  My thought as why would you want to spend 100s of hours converting it just to dump the thing when it dies?  How would we get home if the bus died 1,000 miles from home?  What about the money tied up in the house part of the bus like the air conditioners, generator, refrigerator, toilet, and other items?

I didn't really want to ride in an old buckboard of a school bus so I ended up buying my Dina.  The Dina also eliminated the work of trying to hang tanks and stuff under a school bus.