BLUEBIRD EXPRESS 4500

[Jason Bond]

I guess I'm number 501 or so. In regards to the BLUEBIRD EXPRESS 4500, are these good coaches? I don't recall seeing any thus far.

[belfert]

The Express 4500 is going to be a pretty expensive shell having been introduced in 2003.

You don't see very many Bluebird highway coaches as they had a bad reputation until recent years.  The highway coaches they sold for a while were just upgraded school buses and often had spring suspensions which makes for a poor ride.

I woudn't have any problem buying an Express 4500.  The design is really no different than a modern MCI and has no resemblance to a school bus.  They even have an all stainless farme.

Brian Elfert

[belfert]

Okay, I thought about a couple issues with a Bluebird Express 4500. 

Parts may be hard to come by like a Dina.  I rather doubt anybody has heard of an Express 4500.  Everybody has heard of a 102DL3 or similiar MCI model.  Also, I thought I read about Bluebird filing bankruptcy or restructuring financially or something like that.  They may not be around for the long run.

Brian Elfert

[tekebird]

I know they made some........not sure who bought them........NY has a couple that were demonsrators and were first at DART in Dallas.

They are far cheaper than any MCI coach, and built cheaper too......

I would hazzard a guess that if DART or NY MTA didn't buy......there is a problem  with them...

[Scott & Heather]

I know this is an old thread that's coughing up dust, but I was intrigued and wanted to post a recent find. It's the full rundown on a durability test for the express 4500. Interesting info: http://www.altoonabustest.com/buses/reports/80.pdf?1268425155


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[luvrbus]

The City of Houston ran a lot of BB Express 4500 I have a friend in Houston that sold his H-40 or 41 to convert one

[OneLapper]

I know this is an old thread that's coughing up dust, but I was intrigued and wanted to post a recent find. It's the full rundown on a durability test for the express 4500. Interesting info: http://www.altoonabustest.com/buses/reports/80.pdf?1268425155


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Holy Unscheduled Maintenance list! 

[CrabbyMilton]

Looks like on balance, they weren't very good buses. Like anything else, if it was good enough, they would still be in production. Perhaps the one's that are still out there have long since have been debugged and are fine but the fact that they were less than grand to start with is what did them in. The EXPRESS, WANDERLODGE, and CS/Q were separated from the school bus line and were bought by a some firm but for whatever reason, couldn't make a go of it and with it went the legendary WANDERLODGE line. BLUEBIRD has been around forever and is a leading school bus builder but they wanted to concentrate on skoolies.

[luvrbus]

Look in the bus projects page here on the board a guy there has one with a 600 hp Cummins he loves his BB

[CrabbyMilton]

That's great. Since they don't build the WANDERLODGE anymore, he may as well build his own. 600HP CUMMINS? What's a hill?

[Newbob]

No Sh!+ - I'd be happy with 300 - lol

[Iceni John]

Look in the bus projects page here on the board a guy there has one with a 600 hp Cummins he loves his BB

He wrote a complete description of the build and engine swap on another forum  -  he wasn't happy with the original Cat C13's 410 HP, so he bought a new ISX that he set to 650 HP after taking off the DPF exhaust and EGR.   Wow!   By early last year he had about 16,000 miles on it, "running awesome" in his words.   With that much power and torque, how else would it run?   He didn't report any problems like Penn State encountered, so maybe his own Quality Control is better than Blue Bird's !

John

[Scott & Heather]

His thread is extensive. And amazing. Nice bus built from the ground up.


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