Why a Bus Conversion?

[luvrbus]

I admit I did like my buses we have owned 3 MCI's 1 Prevost and 2 Eagles we never owned a GM,it was the people I liked that owned the buses some are still close friends and we stay in touch   

[RJ]

I've been a "busnut" ever since I was six years old, riding the "Fearless Peerless" pictured below between the San Tomas district of Campbell, CA and downtown San Jose with my mom and little sister. From the shotgun seat, I was fascinated watching the driver steer, shift and make change all at the same time!

I put myself thru college driving Crown and Gillig school buses, and then into the charter and transit industries for the majority of my working career. But always in the back of my mind was the seed of owning my own one day to travel in once I retired.

When my kids were growing up, we traveled all around the 11 western states pulling a Coleman pop-up tent trailer behind our Dodge Grand Caravan during summer vacations. Had a ball, even tho now and then I had to make repairs, none of which were major.

Fast forward to 2014. Thru a friend of a friend of a friend, I jumped at the opportunity to purchase a rare MCI MC-5C that had been converted on a new shell by Angola Coach before the "for sale" ad ever hit the internet. (You have to be slightly crazy to fly into Boston in the middle of November and then drive back to the West Coast - but I wasn't stupid enough to come back via I-80!) Over four years and 40,000 miles later, with only routine maintenance, that coach served me well. Many of you remember "Tortoise", nicknamed after Aesop's Fable of The Tortoise and The Hare, because that's the way it rolled. It wasn't fast, but it always got me there!

Nowadays, after a chance meeting in a Safeway parking lot in August 2018, I'm "living rich thru depreciation" in my '92 Prevost XL, converted on a new shell by Vantarè (before they were bought by Featherlite.) I was happy with the 5C, but when this deal came along, well. . . you know how those things go. The difference between the two is 14 years of technology, five feet more length, 102" vs 96", 500 hp vs 235 hp, and the corresponding ride difference between two and three axles. It's quiet and comfy, and fits my lifestyle perfectly - I'll probably keep it until it's time to hang up my steering wheel for good.

There's just "something" about the mystique of owning/driving a coach that's difficult to explain.

FWIW & HTH. . .

[Busted Knuckle]

If you have to ask, you probably wouldn't understand!
In other words why ask, why?
  BK 

[Van]

 Having a busconversion allows me to flaunt the biggest Butt on the road. 

[Handyjim]

RJ, I Grew up in Campbell. Many times cught the peerless stages in Campbell at the Blue Bell café where we purchased our ticket. Rode into downtown San Jose with my mother so she could do a little shopping and we often had lunch at a coffee shop. Happy memories happy times.

[freds]

Because I watched the Bus Grease Monkey channel LOL!!!

[dtcerrato]

 
RAISED AWARENESS!

[silversport]

RJ, in my youth caught the Peerless at the Hayward station to take me to Palo Alto (4 year Palo Alto Military Academy), I also purchased a Peerless 4106-097 I think, still their colors only very faded.

[Raymond smith]

Going to concerts and seeing the busses I had to have one. Being a RV tech, you wouldn't believe the crap that comes thru the shop. I made the right choice, besides, I got room for my bay car. Cheers Raymond

[dtcerrato]

When we laid our class C on it's side & seen how it fell apart like an open pack of tooth picks in mid air, if it wasn't gonna be on a foundated piece of real estate it had to be a bus!

[dtcerrato]

I had to copy & paste this post from the BGM forum as it so relates to this post.

dtcerrato

10:38PM edited 10:43PM
@rmiddleton said:
What Don said!!!! This mentality has created the part changer breed of mechanics. These coaches were made when a mechanic was a mechanic and understood the failure because they knew how it functioned and what it took to repair or rebuild it on the bench. Rant over!!!!

@richard5933 said:
They were also built at a time when the cost to replace a pump cost a lot more money than mechanic's labor charge to install a rebuild kit. Nowadays, with the junk parts being popped out of factories in every corner of the world it's rarely cost effective to actually fix anything instead of just replacing it.


My responses:

@Rodney
These coaches were "also" made when an engineer was an engineer & didn't have bean counters trying to cut corners. Engineering departments chewed fat with the mechanics, the driver's and even studied the passengers in a day when they were laying down super slabs to run war machines to any & everywhere.

@Richard
They were also built in a time (early post war) when the military was dumping huge amounts of raw material on the private sector for mass transportation (planes, trains & buses) that were stock piled & mass produced for war machines - especially aluminum...
There was NO shortage, NO cutting corners & NO conservative engineering practices - lots of the war time engineers working under federal government military contract transferred from military priority to civilian mass transit priority and "OVER BUILT" as we are the testament to in our vintage & antique buses.


There's a unique proudness when this (& I'm sure others) bus nut is behind the wheel pulling on 50' of Johnson bar linkage to park it or wearing an already wore out shoulder, knee, & hip clutching, shifting & steering the ole' girl. No numb relaxing with an auto but getting right into the bare back mechanics of driving a truly rooted mechanical beast of beauty & feeling every bit of it.
THEN: when we stop and live in it a whole new world takes shape - mostly the part that we did.

Oh man! I quit...

RANT OVER!!!

Carry on... 

1953-4104-129 IL 671 NA Dual Exhaust 4 Valve Head
Ownership since 1979
North Central Florida
2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 4x4 5.7L Hemi

[TobyU]

I think they look a lot cooler than RVs and I love the stainless steel (aluminum on Eagles) from middle down!
They are more durable with fewer leaks.

I love the tour bus look.
My quote has always been: "I want to drive around in a bus that looks like ZZ Top just came to town"

I don't buy for safety at least can't think of a time I ever have but they do far better in collisions than a motorhome.
It is true that the driver spot is one of the worst places to be in a bus accident probably due to many of them hitting something that way and the large windshields.
I have seen many bus wrecks where driver is ejected but this happens in trucks too.
Just had a friend get killed at 45 years old in an old 90 or 94 International straight bed truck. He was ejected but always wears his seatbelt.
His wife said the seat failed and the whole thing was thrown out. I didn't see it but old rusty beat up truck it was, so anything is possible.
I rarely wear a seat belt so they might find me if there is ever a wreck.

[luvrbus]

The argument can go on forever people like what ever they own and some enjoy working on their RV or buses ,you see so many dreams go to junk yard.LOL it was a silly question to ask on bus conversion board it was sorta like comparing a Newell on a Prevost board  enjoy what you have  I am   

[JT4SC]

I am pretty sure our story will be fairly unique... I was 27 years old and my wife and I had tried to have kids for a couple years with no luck, so we decided to do something not easily accomplished with kids - go on a road trip!  Neither of us had spent A SINGLE NIGHT in any kind of MH, so we had no idea what we were looking for or wanted/needed.  I did some research and learned bus conversions rode better than typical S&S, were safer and held their value better than other types of MHs.  So, I naively decided a bus conversion was right for me!!  I had ZERO mechanical or big-rig driving experience, so of course it made sense to buy a commercial bus.....

We started looking at bus conversions for sale, they all looked similar to MHs, slightly out-of-date looking interiors and nothing real special.  It was around 10pm when I found the Moosecreek Motor Cabin, and I was in love.   Contacted Mike, went to look at it in late June, bought it June 30th, and left for 6 months on July 1.  Only blew up the engine by putting in the wrong oil and ran out of gas 2 times on the trip, nothing major.....   
Needless to say it has been a very sharp learning curve through the years, but I am now 41 with the same wife, we adopted our 2 kids, and the Moose is still going strong!!!

[dtcerrato]

I am pretty sure our story will be fairly unique... I was 27 years old and my wife and I had tried to have kids for a couple years with no luck, so we decided to do something not easily accomplished with kids - go on a road trip!  Neither of us had spent A SINGLE NIGHT in any kind of MH, so we had no idea what we were looking for or wanted/needed.  I did some research and learned bus conversions road better than typical S&S, were safer and held their value better than other types of MHs.  So, I naively decided a bus conversion was right for me!!  I had ZERO mechanical or big-rig driving experience, so of course it made sense to buy a commercial bus.....

We started looking at bus conversions for sale, they all looked similar to MHs, slightly out-of-date looking interiors and nothing real special.  It was around 10pm when I found the Moosecreek Motor Cabin, and I was in love.   Contacted Mike, went to look at it in late June, bought it June 30th, and left for 6 months on July 1.  Only blew up the engine by putting in the wrong oil and ran out of gas 2 times on the trip, nothing major.....   
Needless to say it has been a very sharp learning curve through the years, but I am now 41 with the same wife, 2 kids and the Moose is still going strong!!!

Yeah buddy! 
Now that"s what I'm talkin' bout!