Can anyone identify this beauty? Just spotted it hiding behind trees alongside a country road.

[nginco]

Ricky

[CrabbyMilton]

The CROWN experts can probably narrow down the age of that beauty. It looks to be at least 55-60 years old.

[Iceni John]

I'll post this on the CCJ forum  -  someone there may know the story of it.   Where is it now?

John

[Iceni John]

It's a Crown Skyview, probably an ex-Gray Lines Tours of San Francisco.   A CCJ member recognizes it:  he used to correspond with the couple that owned it over ten years ago  -  they used to do raft trips in AK and AZ.   Is this bus now at the Lemay Marymount "museum" in WA?   We've seen pictures of other old Crowns there in the woods covered in similar-looking moss!   If this bus is a shorty 30-footer it could be even rarer than other Skyviews.   Let's hope someone rescues it before nature reclaims it completely.

John

[ozarkauthor]

It's a '58 (or '59) Crown Skyview.  I own one identical to this ... except in much better shape!  lol 

[PP]

You gotta just love that body style. Classic. The old coot from Cave Junction might know something about it. He's into Crowns.
Will

[HB of CJ]

Probably between about a 1962 and 1967 model with curved windshields?  Best educated guess.  Crowns forever!!  HB of CJ (old coot)

[HB of CJ]

Lenix Firefox Mozilla thinkum dinkum running slow today compounded by very slow Internet by Frontier Communications.  My fault.  I did not let the machine load the other pictures.  I only saw one picture.  Opps!

Better answers than mine and thank you.  From what I can now see better because of the other nice and cool pictures, I am now, (edit; NOT ... not "now")  sure exactly what it is other than some sort of early Crown Supercoach highway coach.

Transitional rear truck door tail lights.  Still has split rims.  The large front turn signals and rounded wheel wheel rubber might indicate, (might) about between a 1962 and 1966 or 1967 model?  Short curved wind shields.  (edit;  Short narrow curved wind shields.)

But then again it might be much older than that.

I missed the cool short over all length and thank you again.  I also wonder where the coach is right now?  From what was visible from the open engine hatch door, looked kinda like a 190-220 hp 743 Cummings?  Not sure.

Very $collectable$ for the right person.  Or ... sadly only worth scrap value.  Oh well.  I hope the old girl has also landed in some museum.   Very representative of an earlier age of a bygone American era.   HB of CJ (old coot)

I think the pictures look old, but I may be wrong?

[Oonrahnjay]

... Transitional rear truck door tail lights.  Still has split rims.  The large front turn signals and rounded wheel wheel rubber might indicate, (might) about between a 1962 and 1966 or 1967 model?  Short curved wind shields.

But then again it might be much older than that....

    If the turn signals and tail lights are original, it could indicate a model year about 1967.  FMVSS 108 came in about then and it required larger lighting devices than had been in use before (some states brought them in earlier, so - esp. if it's a CA bus - it could be earlier) and many manufacturers stuck "off the shelf" hardware on vehicles when the requirements came in and then a couple of years later and then went to lights/reflectors designed for their models meaning that the "generic" look went away after a short time.  Also, there are what looks to be illuminated side marker lights adjacent to the taillights (red) and front turn signals (amber) and these were also required by the first FMVSS 108.  Of course, many older buses had these lights installed to meet state requirements before and some were modified to add the Federal spec lights to vehicles already on the road.  But this bus has just the equipment that would be typical of a 67-68 manufacture.
    Ozarkauthor says that it's like his '59 so that might mean that the lights are deceiving.  Hey, Ozark, does your bus have lights and reflectors like this?

[HB of CJ]

My daily ride in 1971 while pretending to go to Junior College part time before I was drafted was a 1963 Crown 10 wheeler.  220 Cummings, Jake and the 10 speed.  Ridge Route runner.  The front and rear lights setup on our mystery Crown look KINDA similar if memory serves.

Another Crown I drove way back in 1970 or so was a 1968 Crown Supercoach 35 foot schoolie and it had the distinctly different modern type rear tail light complex mounted to the sides and kinda above of the rear trunk.  No lights on the trunk doors.

What I do not understand maybe kinda, (been too long ago) was that my 1963 model had four headlights and smaller turn signals mounted above?  The 1968 Crown had only 2 big headlights and two big turn signals and no separate smaller turn signals.

Could it be that at sometime the Crown in the pictures had the lights upgraded or changed out?  Like already said better, this would have been about the time the Feds started poking their noses around, but before the big beef up of around 1975 or 76.

Crowns Forever!!  Have not said that in awhile either and thanks.  HB of CJ (old coot)

[Oonrahnjay]

... Another Crown I drove way back in 1970 or so was a 1968 Crown Supercoach 35 foot schoolie and it had the distinctly different modern type rear tail light complex mounted to the sides and kinda above of the rear trunk.  No lights on the trunk doors.

What I do not understand maybe kinda, (been too long ago) was that my 1963 model had four headlights and smaller turn signals mounted above?  The 1968 Crown had only 2 big headlights and two big turn signals and no separate smaller turn signals.

Could it be that at sometime the Crown in the pictures had the lights upgraded or changed out? 

    That's what I'm thinking.  Maybe a local owner decided to upgrade to the new Fed standards, or maybe was forced to by the State.  As I said, some light systems about the time of the Fed standards were sort of amateur from the factory so it's hard to tell sometimes if it was factory or a later upgrade with truck-type parts.

Like already said better, this would have been about the time the Feds started poking their noses around, but before the big beef up of around 1975 or 76.

Crowns Forever!!  Have not said that in awhile either and thanks.  HB of CJ (old coot)

    The National Motor Vehicle and Traffic Safety Act was 1966 (Ralph Nader - ughhh); that set up NHTSA soon thereafter and the standards followed. Lights, signals and reflectors (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108) was one of the early ones.n  This just feels like earlier and upgraded later.  I'm going with Ozark's call on this one.

[Iceni John]

Another complication to consider here  -  no two Crowns are ever exactly alike!   Even the sister bus to mine, Mid-Placer no.35 (mine was 37) for which I have the full factory build sheets and parts diagrams, has minor detail differences to mine, even though they were exactly the same build batch  -  no.35 was for sale a few years ago, and its photos show several differences.   Crown sometimes would use whatever they still had in the factory, so lights, ventilators etc aren't always an accurate indicator of the bus's age or ancestry.   

John

[RJ]

Ricky -

Where is this Crown?

It has Alaska plates on it, but is that where it's located, or is it in the lower 48 somewhere?

Somebody may want to rescue it. . .

FWIW & HTH. . .

[luvrbus]

Probably is Washington we took a float trip with that outfit Eco Orca and they are in AK also fwiw

[Professor]

This bus is located North of Saettle Exit 232 Cook Rd. East toward Sedro Woolley.Cook Rd and Gardner Rd.