Pretty good picture of the First M2WB Scenic

[MightyThor]

Sure would like to know the last resting place of this old girl.  I think some of the extra parts in 472 came from this bus.

[DKO]

Nice

[chessie4905]

   Seems like once they are used for churches,singing groups or bands, it's downhill for the coach from then on.

[Jim Eh.]

Because those groups are not interested in transport maintenance.

[eagle19952]

   Seems like once they are used for churches,singing groups or bands, it's downhill for the coach from then on.

not true in every circumstance.... my ex-entertainer is one of them.

[kyle4501]

Cool picture.
Any idea when it was taken?

[MightyThor]

Cool picture.
Any idea when it was taken?

Best guess this is mid 70s 

[kyle4501]

Best guess this is mid 70s 

Well then, shouldn't be too long before the colors & fashion are back in style. 

[RJ]

Typical band, traveling between gigs w/ a couple of female groupies!

Ah. . . youth. . .

[pd4501-771]

One has little choice when it comes to the sins of former Scenic owners. The mere fact that one is still around (60 years later) is about all you can hope for at this point. By now almost all survivors have been owned by schools, churches, sub-par charters, bands, etc.

It comes with the territory!

[dukegrad98]

Here are at least some parts of "the rest of the story" for you.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/picture-gallery/news/2014/10/03/mission-mountain-wood-band-bus/16641723/

Cheers, John

[MightyThor]

One of the band members sent me the following info:

> Bus in that wreck drove through the Roadhouse Bar in Ferndale Mt. One late night (early morning) at the T that exists there in Fenrdale. Drove it straight thru a stop sign and into the front and out the backside. If you are ever there, (the bar is still in operation), you can speak to the owner and ask his end of the story.  The one you have is the one that was resurrected from that'n. It IS a Mission Mountain Wood Band bus but it is the second Scenicruser that we had. The first one was supposed to be Copper Silver and Gold but it was delivered more yellow than Gold and it looked like a NYC cab. So we re painted it over and over until we ran out of money and time and it did wind up blood red and dirty Gold. We drove it 2 1/2 million miles on two 318 Detroit Diesels and even though it went thru a bar, drunk, it still had seen better days. It was time for another and that one is the one you have.

I was behind the wheel one night about 4am on the way to Jackson Hole on ice covered roads with walls of snow 10feet high on both sides of the two lane highway the night a blind drunk swerving all over the highway and heading straight for us slammed into us head-on and that bus $#!% him and his car up in the air and over the top of that 10foot snow berm into the ditch. He was unscathed. We however had a dented, smashed, pushed-in door side bus that never ever was the same. It, to this day, breaks my heart to think about that. I loved that bus. Loved it. And now it wasn't perfect anymore. We got it pulled out and fixed up, but still, it still pisses me off to think about that. Nothing like the night that bus went through the Roadhouse Bar in Ferndale.


I talked with the folks at the Ferndale Roadhouse and they confirmed that the First scenic missed the stop, and went straight, but did not hit the bar (it is off to the right of the intersection) but may have hit part of another building that was there at the time.   Another band member informed me that the first Scenic broke a tie rod on the road near Seely Lake Mt. and that was pretty much the end for her.  I have a clue as to where the bus might be now that I am chasing down.

[RJ]

One of the band members sent me the following info. . .

Ask him about the two groupies in that photo!

[challenger440]

don't know about the gals but the one with knobby knees looks a  lot like Rob Quist.  Just saw Mission Mountain a couple of years ago.  Great Music.
  MightyThor, glad you were able to save some great history  with the other bus .

do you think that bus is in Seely?

JM

[MightyThor]

Talked to Jimmy Casto tonight, former band member and on the road wrench for the band. He was there when all the stuff happened and gave me the straight skinny on the buses. First the bad news is that the first bus is gone. It was stripped but sitting in a wrecking yard in Eureka Mt. It is now gone. Mr Casto said they put most of the useable parts on my bus. He does have the panel that was under the driver's window because it had the band's name on it. He did not remember the serial number, but believes it was in the 300's. Mr. Casto said he would look to see if he still had any paperwork that would show the bus number.

The good news is that the bus was not wrecked by running through a bar. It died on the road near Seely Lake Mt. and it was bolts on the power steering that sheered off.

The bus that went through the T intersection was my bus, but The Big Dog didn't hit anything. Mr Casto related the story of standing in the parking lot with a large crowd of people when 472 came rumbling past the stop sign, straight thru the T intersection, right on thru the bar parking lot, past a crowd of stunned onlookers, and out into a field.

Somewhere on the internet there was a picture of one of the band almost armpit deep in black DD goo and Casto confirmed that is a picture of him. He said they had a spare engine and when one would wearout or break they would have the spare hauled to them, swap the engines and drive on. The old motor would be hauled back to Montana and rebuilt.