Daydreaming about future build

richard5933 · April 23, 2019, 03:39:04 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBVMaetTMdY

This is an amazing looking bus - would be great to get one to convert if I had an unlimited budget. Fun to dream about.

There is no basement storage to speak of, but that lower level seating area could be made into a great indoor basement where the tanks, mechanical systems, generator box, etc. were housed in cabinets along both outside walls. Almost like an engine room on a yacht - sound proof it from the rest of the bus, and then you'd have a heated work space with everything accessible from inside.

The upstairs area looks large enough for nearly any design/layout, and the whole thing appears to come in at just at the 13'6" height point.

Just dreaming...

CrabbyMilton · April 23, 2019, 03:55:42 AM

That is a very beautiful and impressive coach.
The VAN-HOOL TDX is as close as you can get to that one over here.
Yes, many possibilities with that one.

Oonrahnjay · April 23, 2019, 05:44:32 AM

Quote from: CrabbyMilton on April 23, 2019, 03:55:42 AMThat is a very beautiful and impressive coach. The VAN-HOOL TDX is as close as you can get to that one over here. Yes, many possibilities with that one.

Is the TDX the double-decker that Mega-Bus uses in the US? I was in Peru on my honeymoon not too long ago and many of the bus companies there were using the "Marcopolo" double-deckers which appear to be a direct copy (or a joint venture with VanHool) -- there is a unique radius on the lower rear corner of the rear-most window on the lower deck and it appears on both models.
It is interesting that the Mexico Volvo bus is 13' 6" - it's pretty difficult to squeeze two decks into 13' 6" (most British buses are 14' 4" or 14' 6").
And, yes, basically, a double decker will have no underfloor "bays" (although with a little work and planning, you can add some useful storage space) so that's a workaround but we all like challenges, right? Both the Volvo Mexico and the VanHool/Marcopolo seem to really be "sesqui-deckers" with a full length seating area upstairs and a half-length seating area downstairs; I assume that the rest of the downstairs is luggage storage (equivalent of bays for tanks, generator, etc.) and the engine and drivetrain area.

CrabbyMilton · April 23, 2019, 06:25:02 AM

Yes that's the one.
I don't know much of the history or partnerships that VAN-HOOL has had with any other bus builders in that part of this hemisphere and anything involving that MARCOPOLO bus is a spaghetti plate with any number of different platforms.

richard5933 · April 23, 2019, 06:37:45 AM

Slight correction, now that I've read the spec sheet. Height is 13'9"

https://www.volvobuses.mx/content/dam/volvo/volvo-buses/markets/mexico/our-offering/buses/9800-dd/9800-DD-Data-Sheet.pdf

That's the link to the Volvo datasheet.

chessie4905 · April 23, 2019, 07:14:23 AM

Buy it and add roof airs. Just keep your speed up enough so the momentum will get through those low clearance locations. You need to review this video several times before purchasing tall vehicles.😁

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=USu8vT_tfdw

Jim Blackwood · April 23, 2019, 07:23:52 AM

Wow, talk about isolating the driver. Don't think I'd care much for that.

Did that say, "BusNut" on the rear window?

Jim

richard5933 · April 23, 2019, 07:32:38 AM

What are those chrome gadgets attached to the front hubs?

CrabbyMilton · April 23, 2019, 09:39:24 AM

it does have a lot of airliner looks to it with the white plastic walls in the lower deck.
Having a separate drivers area can be as good as it's bad. The driver can talk out loud to himself and nobody will hear him.

brettpearson67 · April 23, 2019, 04:20:18 PM

Quote from: richard5933 on April 23, 2019, 07:32:38 AM
What are those chrome gadgets attached to the front hubs?

They look like inflation lines.

Iceni John · April 23, 2019, 09:48:04 PM

Like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeMT1d_L-hw
Or this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVbyIMWlTWU
With limitless resources, anything's possible. For the rest of us mere mortals, we can but dream.

John

chessie4905 · April 24, 2019, 03:59:28 AM

Looks awfully cramped in there. Unfortunately, it's also still a Neoplan.

Oonrahnjay · April 24, 2019, 04:09:30 AM

Quote from: chessie4905 on April 23, 2019, 07:14:23 AMBuy it and add roof airs. Just keep your speed up enough so the momentum will get through those low clearance locations. You need to review this video several times before purchasing tall vehicles.😁

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=USu8vT_tfdw

I live about 10 miles from the 11' 8" bridge. Dometic loves it -- Penske Truck Rental, not so much.

chessie4905 · April 24, 2019, 04:13:13 AM

Is there a viewing platform there? Be nice to take a six pack and a lawn chair the next time I'm in the area.

richard5933 · April 24, 2019, 04:28:53 AM

Quote from: Oonrahnjay on April 24, 2019, 04:09:30 AM
I live about 10 miles from the 11' 8" bridge. Dometic loves it -- Penske Truck Rental, not so much.

With the number of rental trucks smacking into that bridge, you'd think that the local rental outfits would find some way to geofence that bridge with some type of alarm on their GPS units. Just one more reason that maybe it shouldn't be legal for just anyone with a driver's license to be able to rent/drive rental trucks.