Two Buses in One

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

If you have a large family or have a Mother-in-Law that likes to travel with you , a Double-Decker Bus may be the way to go.  You would need to be careful on the East coast with the low bridges, but most places you would be fine. 

This would also make a nice Coffee Shop, External Apartment unit, or you could bring in some extra income to pay for the fuel for your other bus so you could travel for free by using it as an Airbnb.

Check two of them out here and we will get you one and we can also paint it any color you like to make it your own.  https://www.busconversionmagazine.com/bcmclassifieds/

Gary

[chessie4905]

Anyone considering one of these for other stationary or extremly limited use is crazy. Plus parts are going to be a problem as it ages. If someone is seriously considering one they could double decker a school bus or buy one of those articulated Neoplans in Florida. It can be done, but  limited under vehicle storage will be a significant challenge. Course if you want to go for the conversation piece wherever you go and thrive on that kind of attention, go for it.

[Iceni John]

I'm surprised that the Bristol VR is said to only do 45 MPH.   All the Eastern Counties VRs I rode in (except the clapped-out Series 1s from Scotland) would easily do 55 MPH, and a few would do almost 60 if their engine was running well.   Mind you, those VRs had the SCG semi-automatic 5-speed transmission, so maybe a fully-automatic one is slower?   I'll take a VR any day over any Leyland, not least because of its legendary Gardner engine.

I like my ABCs  -  AEC, Bristol and Crown.

John     

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

I'm surprised that the Bristol VR is said to only do 45 MPH.   All the Eastern Counties VRs I rode in (except the clapped-out Series 1s from Scotland) would easily do 55 MPH, and a few would do almost 60 if their engine was running well.   Mind you, those VRs had the SCG semi-automatic 5-speed transmission, so maybe a fully-automatic one is slower?   I'll take a VR any day over any Leyland, not least because of its legendary Gardner engine.

I like my ABCs  -  AEC, Bristol and Crown.

John   

What do you know about England buses English John?     I am kind of surprised you didn't convert one of these yourself. :-)

[Iceni John]

What do you know about England buses English John?     I am kind of surprised you didn't convert one of these yourself. :-)

When I was fresh out of high school I had this crazy notion to convert a Bristol Lodekka with the 5-cylinder Gardner and ECW body into some sort of mobile bachelor pad.   Reality set in when I realized that the only people living a mobile-ish life in England in those days were generally on the fringes of society, such as "Gypsies" and other wanna-be Romanies, so that was the end of my first bus fantasy.   I later toyed with the idea of buying a canal narrowboat, and almost bought one if I could have secured financing for it, but again 'twas not to be.   So here I am, several decades later, finally with my bus.   Better late than never.   And I'm still working on it, making glacial (OK, tectonic) progress.

John

[TomC]

Problem is most London double deckers are 14'6" tall. Most all states are 13'6". I know California is 14'.

[Oonrahnjay]

Problem is most London double deckers are 14'6" tall. Most all states are 13'6". I know California is 14'. 

     The UK standard is 14'4" tall, Tom.  About 15 western states have the 14' limit -- you're right about that including California; 13'6" is the limit in most states east of Denver (Canada provinces are about the same - east of Winnipeg is the metric equivalent of 13'6 (mostly) and west is metric 14'.
     The only way to have a UK double-decker in practical terms is to find one of the rare "low-bridge" buses -- mostly made for rural routes that have no way to get past a railroad track except to go under; they're 13'6".  But only an idiot would convert one in the US!

    Uummm, DAMHIK!

[chessie4905]

I wonder how they handle on a windy day?

[Iceni John]

I wonder how they handle on a windy day?

If the older ones had a full load of passengers, sort of like being on a boat on a light swell, or being in a 2CV going round any type of corner!   Actually most unladen double-deckers have a lower CoG than most single-decker buses, because their heavy frame rails and running gear are very low to the ground.   (Double-deckers were the first "low-floor" buses, decades before they became common these days.)   A few years ago in Mexico I took an ETN double-decker, and we encountered some strong winds along the way  -  there was surprisingly little sway in the gusts, but that was with a modern Scania seating only 25 passengers, so I guess newer designs with good suspensions are better than what I'm more used to.

John

[Jeremy]

Good grief, $23,000? That would be worth peanuts here - as a quick example here's a 2001 (ie. 10 years newer) double decker on UK Ebay for £3999, and I've seen them for much less than that. Maybe I should go into the export business.

Jeremy

[chessie4905]

Maybe that is why they are listed here. They might thing we'll spend the  big bucks on any platform just to stand out. Some of us will bite on earthworms, while most need a fancy fly or spinner to consider.

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/bluefish-fishing-high-res-stock-photography/172834430
If I could photoshop, I'd put an image of that bus in place of the bait in the picture.

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

Good grief, $23,000? That would be worth peanuts here - as a quick example here's a 2001 (ie. 10 years newer) double decker on UK Ebay for £3999, and I've seen them for much less than that. Maybe I should go into the export business.

Jeremy

Jeremy,

These buses are hand-picked from a lot of buses available by a guy that deals in these types of buses. The guy importing these buses uses Double-Decker buses in his business and knows them very well.  It does not make sense to import sub-par buses into the U.S. for sale.   

If you want a double-decker bus for less money, there are a few for sale in the U.S. if you look around.  I have seen a few in person and they are in very bad shape.  But the majority of them are not fit for the road, but would make fine Airbnb buses if that is what someone is looking for and not planning to drive it on the road.

[Jeremy]

I appreciate your support for the advertiser, but I suspect chessie4905's answer was far closer to the mark.

To illustrate the point further, the Ebay bus I mentioned (see below) is one of several identical buses being sold straight out of service by the operator and which still have several month's worth of MOT remaining, which basically means that they're still legal to use for carrying public passengers, which is a much higher and more rigorous standard of road-worthiness than is applicable to privately-owned vehicles. (I bought my own bus directly from the operator too so learned a little bit about the PSV testing process at the time, and it's scarily thorough. The amount of detailed maintenance records that came with my bus is ridiculous)

So just as a casual exercise - buy one of those 2001 Dennis's for 4k (+ VAT at 20% since it's a commercial sale) - perhaps 2.5k to ship it to the US (that's a guess, but that's double the cost of getting a car from US to UK) - US import taxes - 100% of purchase value? (total guess, and assuming Trump isn't feeling threatened by double-decker buses today) - then add on an amount for transport and sale preparation...and you're still at not much more than half the asking price for that 1992 Leyland.

Jeremy

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Double-Decker-Dennis-Trident-Bus-Y856-GCD/153550411092?hash=item23c0515554:g:c0cAAOSwaj9dG2Wl

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

I appreciate your support for the advertiser, but I suspect chessie4905's answer was far closer to the mark.

To illustrate the point further, the Ebay bus I mentioned (see below) is one of several identical buses being sold straight out of service by the operator and which still have several month's worth of MOT remaining, which basically means that they're still legal to use for carrying public passengers, which is a much higher and more rigorous standard of road-worthiness than is applicable to privately-owned vehicles. (I bought my own bus directly from the operator too so learned a little bit about the PSV testing process at the time, and it's scarily thorough. The amount of detailed maintenance records that came with my bus is ridiculous)

So just as a casual exercise - buy one of those 2001 Dennis's for 4k (+ VAT at 20% since it's a commercial sale) - perhaps 2.5k to ship it to the US (that's a guess, but that's double the cost of getting a car from US to UK) - US import taxes - 100% of purchase value? (total guess, and assuming Trump isn't feeling threatened by double-decker buses today) - then add on an amount for transport and sale preparation...and you're still at not much more than half the asking price for that 1992 Leyland.

Jeremy

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Double-Decker-Dennis-Trident-Bus-Y856-GCD/153550411092?hash=item23c0515554:g:c0cAAOSwaj9dG2Wl

Jeremy,

When buying a bus from your resource, who takes care of the paperwork and works with the shipper to import the bus and who pays the import tax and who works with the transport companies to deliver the bus door to door?  I used to import Pinzgauers from Switzerland and all this takes a while to learn the ropes and can get very expensive, and really expensive if you make a mistake and your bus could be tied up in port a LONG time if the paperwork is not exactly correct. 

Then who guarantees the bus you get will be the bus you expected and assures the quality is what was promised when it gets dropped off at the customer's door.  If you have a contact for this person, I would be interested in talking to him as it is always nice to have choices when making buying decisions. If you are the guy, then give me a call so we can talk.

The guy I am working with is very reputable business owner and inspects every bus himself to ensure the customer is getting what he is promised.  He is a one-man turnkey operation so there are no surprises in the end.  He has imported many of these buses and knows what is involved in detail.  Does your contact take care of door-to-door service like this guy?  If so, we need to start promoting his buses as I have fielded several calls about these buses already.

[Jeremy]

Just to be clear I wasn't promoting any 'contact' or particular source - the buses I mentioned on Ebay were ones I found randomly in order to illustrate how cheap that kind of bus is here. Having said that I have exported a boat to Australia and imported a car from the US, so do have a little experience of what's involved. As you will know there are many specialist companies competing with each other of offer the best service and best value in door-to-door trans-continental vehicle shipping, so in theory it least it should be a fairly painless and relatively cost-effective exercise. It was in my two cases anyway

Jeremy