When did you start bussing?

[TheHollands!]

We bought our MCI-9 in 2011, we bought the first one we looked at, knew nothing about buses and this website has been brilliant. Not much for repairs other than maintenance. We gutted it and and started living in it 3 months after we bought it. Built out the interior as we've travelled, about 80% complete. We love it and really don't have much of a   clue how long we'll be doing it. Craig

[lvmci]

Hi All, had trailers for many years, last one was a Streamline (the engineers left Airstream to make a bettter trailer, then a  motorhome), when the kids left the house, got a Ultrastar, a streamlined class A, sold it to get the MCI5A, the 1st bus I looked at, after driving several and looking at even more came back to the 1st one, lvmci...

[scanzel]

Bought our 89 Prevost in 2005 off Ebay. Used it that fall set up quickly for use in Maine. Gutted it in 2008 and still doing the conversion. Plan on being done in 2016 when I retire. Use it as is on occasion to get it out on the road so I don't forget how to shift the Spicer.

[Mex-Busnut]

Hmmm. When was I bitten with the incurable bus virus? It was 1966, when I was about 10 years old.

My Dad's parents had just retired from the journalism careers (Chicago Tribune), and asked my Dad's help to move them from Zion, Illinois down to Vero Beach, Florida. Dad checked out the cost of renting a U-Haul, which was $300. Instead, for $300 Dad bought a school bus from the school system. It had all maintenance records and was in very good shape.

--1956 Chevy
--292 6-cylinder
--5-speed tranny
--2-speed rear end
--35 feet long

Pa says he could count on 10 MPG or better on the highway.

He took out all the seats and sold them for enough to pay for titles and plates. He then loaded up my grandparents' belongings, and moved them to Florida. He outfitted the bus with some of the leftover furniture from the move: A double bed in the rear, a bunk bed in the middle, sofa, gas stove and gas fridge. A friend of his painted it dark blue, and the roof silver, to help with the heat.

We traveled full time in it for the next eight months. We were full-time missionaries based in Oaxaca, southern Mexico, so the trip was spent visiting Baptist General Conference churches and summer camps, from California to Florida. I remember in one camp in Minnesota, the size and quantity of the mosquitoes was spectacular. So Dad made up some simple wood frames with window screens, and screwed them onto the windows from outside the bus.

And we had a blast! Since we were home-schooled until sixth grade, we studied on the way. We got to see Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain National Park (Mom is from Loveland, Colorado), Washington D. C., Cape Canaveral, the Grand Canyon, and many other great memories. We even got up to Whidbey Island, Washington, to see one of Mom's sisters

When the trip came to an end, we reached McAllen, Texas, and had to sell the bus. We were very sad about that.

Please forgive the pictures. I was just a kid, and this was my first camera.

P. S. Does anybody know what those fins above the back end are?

[FolkBus]

Talked my Dad into buying and converting the first bus in 1971 (49 Crown). I had been hanging around a bus yard in Riverside, CA since 1967.

I was drafted in 1972. My folks and family toured in the Crown until the late '90s. Coach is still in the family.  I found my MC5A last year on CL.  Could not believe the asking price.  Finally went to check it out believing something was bad under the floor. Was amazed in how good shape it was for not having run for 10 yrs. 8-71 cracked right off and no air leaks.  When it was converted in the mid 80s, the roof was rasied 11" and the automatic was put in. Bought it. Have been having a great time.

--Mike

[Geom]

Our bus fever started after having seen our friends' GM bus conversion. We were amazed with how comfortable it felt in there, how functional it seemed, and how solid it was. Plus it looked so cool with all those 60's lines and curves on the 4106. We were smitten.
Prior to that, we had planned on going the trailer and truck route and quickly abandoned that plan after seeing our first bus in person.

We came across our bus actually pretty early-on in our hunt. We fell in love with it almost immediately, but figured we needed to continue exploring the market to see what all was out there. After shopping around for a little over a year and coming across some real duds, and a few others that just didn't "feel right"; we rounded back to our first pick.
It was down to it and a couple of other buses that were high contenders.
After seeing our bus for the first time in person, however, it was obvious that this was the one for us.

We purchased our bus, and drove it home from CA, over a weeklong trip. Baptism by fire, if you will, as we'd never operated a vehicle quite like this

We've been slowly moving into it, and as a function of that, we've been making changes to it to better suit our needs.
We have absolutely loved every minute of owning our bus, even the sometimes frustrating times that can come with it.
We look forward to many more years of bussing )

-George

[siberyd]

October 1984 we bought our first bus a 1968 Blue Bird conventional with a Chevy gas engine. Did a partial conversion and lived in it for 3 years. Our second bus is a 1964 Carpenter skoolie (still have). Our 3rd bus is a 1957 PD 4104 fully converted.

Siberyd

[digesterman]

Parents starting in the early 50's in first a bread van that they converted, then a school bus, then a flexible bus in the late 60's. So I was pretty much hooked on traveling at a very early age. Each summer we traveled the entire United States. Have had pickup campers, trailers, RV's of every sort. Loved the Revcon but wanted something larger. My son and I flew to Atlanta to bring home our Robert Brothers converted Prevost. Love it, nothing that we have had compares to the ride, the silence and the effortless driving. The only things we have had to replace are batteries, house and engine, mainly because they were a few years old and we didn't want to deal with replacing them somewhere on the road.

Do not understand some of the issues discussed on the board such as turning off electrical loads before switching power sources, we literally do not notice when the coach changes from one to another, except of course we know the gen is running. I am still wondering if there is a big difference in the type of power switching boxes used in the RV industry. I know with some of the older ones the TV's would blink or the satellite receiver would reboot, clocks would need to be reset on microwaves etc. I think the new ones are so fast that they have eliminated those things. Really don't know. I know the electrical bay frightens or mystifies most electricians until they start studying it then they usually comment that someone was pretty bright when they designed it.

Looking for some sort of a diesel toad to tow, not a pickup but something smaller but sturdy enough to handle being towed. Any ideas would be welcome.

Appreciate these boards due to the vast amount of knowledge that some members so generously share with all.

[TomC]

Some of the Diesels that come to mind would be the Chevy Cruze, Jeep Grand Cherokee, VW or Audi (probably would have to run a manual).
I wish Mini would import their Diesel. Good luck, TomC

[LuckyChow]

Started back in the 70's by driving a school bus all the way through college.  Later worked part time for Trailways for many years.  Eventually had a small charter business until I wised up.  I've had an MC-8, a Thomas Saf-T-Liner, multiple motorhomes and currently have a Gillig Phantom.  Just finishing up the Phantom, which is my dog show vehicle and all around fun bus.  Since I'm a transit administrator, I wanted to show our employees there a lot of things that can be done with a transit if you have the mindset.  Plus, they're a great bargin, although these days that can be said about any bus except a new one.  Speaking of, I'm about to buy 10 new ones.  You guys probably wouldn't believe it if I told you what a new transit costs these days. 

[luvrbus]

MetroValley in the Phoenix area I see paid 682,000 bucks ea for the 45 ft CNG buses, 30 grand extra for a CNG engine 50 buses at a extra 30 grand each is some big bucks I believe the total order was a 120 units from New Flyer it was some big money 

[Dave5Cs]

$34,100,000.00 is a lot of Doe, Wow divided by what 42 passengers @ 3 times a day @ 5.00 a trip!....... Minus fuel tires and driver. Is there any money in that?.....Lol

[lvmci]

Hi All, last year at MCI Los Alamitos, CA, while getting my 5A worked on for the 3rd time, saw them converting some, I think they were MCI "D"s, new buses to CNG for use by the FlyAway commuter buses in LA, making them capable of 800 mile range, they said LA county was replacing their entire fleet, lvmci...

[BRUISER]

Had a few campers and always wanted something bigger. Told a few friends I was looking for a project and well that led to my 1983 mc-9. It was the first bus I looked at and is the first and only bus I have bought.

I had a few friends that have been around big rigs and the 8v71 engines so I brought them along. Bus drove great, almost everything worked and now I must admit I love the bus. Hope to have it for many many years.

Bought it July 2011

[plyonsMC9]

Bought our MC9 (Moose) bus back in 2004.   It's been a lot of fun - and a lot of learning.     
Got bit by the bus bug when I was 5 yrs old, watching Crown buses bringing campers up to to mountain camp (Camp Sequoia  YMCA) - running the switchbacks up & down the mountain dirt roads.  Pretty impressive.  Lots of dust & smoke.   

Kind Regards, Phil