The Difference Between 2 MCI 8 buses

[luvrbus]

You MCI guys what is the difference between the Crusader 8 and the super 8 a guy just bought one from the Indians here only difference I can see is it has 9 windows what else ?

[Ed Hackenbruch]

 The only thing that my book about buses says about the 8 is that they were the first model to be built at the TMC plant in Rosewell NM and the original 8's had a blank panel which meant that a pair of seats on each side of the aisle had no view and were always the last to fill up so they  changed it late in the production cycle so all seats had a view.

[Boomer]

Never heard of a super 8 but they are probably referring to the 1978 MC-8's which had square windows without the Z bar in the middle part of the coach.  MCI only made them in '78 and the MC-9 came out in '79.  The '78 square windows were still much smaller than the MC-9 windows, but they were square. We owned several back in the day.

[Melbo]

I have an MCI that was built in December of 1977 and registered as a 78 MCI and it has the triangle window behind the driver. It has been skinned over but the frame is there.

HTH

Melbo

[Dave5Cs]

found this and looks like the Crusaders were built in the end of the 8 run but still doesn't mention the Super 8?

The MC-8 replaced the MC-7 in 1973. It was produced until 1978 and became the most popular MCI model with 4,475 being produced, 3,053 by MCI and 1,422 by TMC in Roswell. It differed from the MC-7 by its less pronounced roof dip and by having the destination box behind the windscreen rather than incorporated into the roof cap. The MC-8 was also the first model produced in the new Transportation Manufacturing Corp. (TMC) plant in Roswell, New Mexico. Coaches produced here carry a TMC rather than MCI insignia, but are otherwise similar to the Pembina / Winnipeg produced ones. During its last year of production the window style was changed from the traditional slanted to the rectangular one as already used on the MC-5C. The windows remained, however, less deep than on the MC-9 and the first window retained its triangular shape, helping to distinguish these late MC-8 from the MC-9. With the MC-8, MCI also introduced a new name for its coaches: "Crusader".