Dina: The new Eagle? (rust)

[belfert]

I was down at Raines bus yesterday where he has 5 Dinas.  Man they were rusty!  Even the two still on the road had a fair bit of corrosion.  One of the junked ones had been leased to a coach operator out of Chicago.  It had some metal rusted all the way through.

I thought Eagles had rust issues, but these Dinas are right up there.  My Dina has very little rust as it was run out of Atlanta.

Dina uses galvanized steel for the tubular steel in the body, but it doesn't seem to help much.  They even undercoat the entire bottom.

[luvrbus]

Brian, what to see some rust check the Neo's,Vanhools and older Setras makes the Eagles look good lol


good luck

[Busted Knuckle]

Brian, what to see some rust check the Neo's,Vanhools and older Setras makes the Eagles look good lol
good luck

SO TRUE Clifford! So true and I even admit it on the Setra's! Especially if they ran the north east!
Now that said all of the Setra's we've ever bought had very little rust. Not that they were special or anything, just that they were from Southern environments. Our very first one was an '89 and came from AZ (still wish I hadn't sold that one!)

Brian as for "Fritz's" (that is the name many of us know Carl as) buses all of the buses you saw of his were @ on time or another leased to companies in either the Chicago area (Most) or some NY or NJ areas. Then at the end of the lease or when they were repo'd then Carl would put them in his service! (some where just leases and some were lease purchases, but many of the lease purchases never got completed)
Carl's (with a partner) big thing back in the '80s & 90s was leasing buses to small operators like ours that didn't have the credit or clout to buy new or even close to new without going thru someone like him. He'd get a huge down payment an even some regular payments before the majority of them got repo'd and resold! Carl & his partner had a huge Hispanic clientele and would resell release them over and over many times without even picking them up, but having the new customer pick them up from "their neighbor."
Not all of his/their customers failed and many actually did and still do very well.
And last I knew he still buys and leases, and sells on lease purchases.
But his buses have all been exposed to much salt & chemicals both up north and in his immediate area which gets very heavy snow much of the time!

Too bad I didn't know when you were going to be @ Carl's I could have come up & seen him, and you & given you a hand picking parts ect. (I need to go see Carl anyway, I owe him some parts & $)
Carl has been a great friend to many many bus owners over the yrs. If he had a part you needed he'd tell you come get it, and bring me a replacement when you get it! (for new parts) Used parts he'd always shoot you a real fair price and ask when you wanted it ready to pick up, or do you need me to ship it!

Shoot once he had a guy in Chicago send me a part of one of his leased buses "just to see if it was the problem with the one I was working on or not. If so either send me a replacement or that one back when you get a new one!"
  BK 

[belfert]

Van Hools before they switched to stainless (in 1995 I think) rust out really bad in Minnesota.  I looked at Van Hools at ABC Companies in Fairbault when I was looking for my bus.  One of the buses had the engine door held on by baling wire.  The hinges had rusted through!

[Ericbsc]

Don't be to hard on the old gals!!!! Just like us, they get old, moan and groan under load, smoke more than they should, and get a little rusty around the edges!!! We go to the doctor, they go to the shop. We get a knee replacemt, they get a little rust removed!!! The common factor is that there will be pain either way!!LOL