My wife would kill me... (School Bus Content)

So... I was on govdeals.com and came across a Polk County auction where they are selling off old school buses. Starting bid is only $500. I would love to have one. I always thought they would make a great/cheap/stupid and reliable RV/tow vehicle/secret lair.

My wife would kill me and then divorce me... or maybe the other way around. But, maybe some of you are in a position to capitalize... btw, within budget for the challenge

Link: http://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.AdvSearchResultsNew&searchPg=Location&inv_num=&category=00&kWord=&kWordSelect=2&sortBy=ad&agency=3015&state=&country=&locID=8501&timing=bySimple&locationType=state&timeType=&timingWithin=1

First 5 I looked at all had Diesel engines- mostly 7.3L with Allisons.

Unfortunately none of the first 5 run, and sound VERY terminal.

School busses are slow and don't have much excess power for towing. RUST !

I may be passing on rumours, but as I recall insurance companies have a thing against converting them to haul cars. That was a thing back in the 80s when I hung at the drag strip and I cant recall the last time I saw such a conversion.

In reply to NordicSaab:

Your wife would divorce you then kill you then bury you in the 928 and park the Bus on top of it.

iceracer wrote: School busses are slow and don't have much excess power for towing. RUST !

Umm.. Yeah, but they are designed to hold 60 or more passengers and their bags.

60 x 120 lbs = 7200 lbs of payload.

That's a LOT more than most rigs, and it can easily be transferred to towing capacity.

Those are too new, u need something from the early 70's

The worst thing would be that it:

You really want some of the newer buses that still have a few years before retirement. As I recall from when I still rode the bus, like 6 years ago, the ones that would get out of their own way were easily identified by the giant tailpipe.

Yeah, I.drove a 2001 IH bus my beer job picked up recently, and that thing is a 3 legged pig stuck in the slop. Totallly slow.

it's not about speed with them.. it's the torques. Around here the school buses are GVWR at 32,000 pounds.. that's a lot of weight

I've always wanted to stuff a school bus with as much jet power as will fit and take it to the salt flats...Any of those could make a great starting point.

Granted, it's been a few years, errr... decades. But I seem to recall school busses, running, that sold for between 500 and 800 dollars at a county auction. They had some other halfway interesting cars there too, like a late 50's Jaguar Saloon.

SVreX wrote:

iceracer wrote: School busses are slow and don't have much excess power for towing. RUST !

Umm.. Yeah, but they are designed to hold 60 or more passengers and their bags. 60 x 120 lbs = 7200 lbs of payload. That's a LOT more than most rigs, and it can easily be transferred to towing capacity.

The point being, with what ever the load, they still are slow.

Great. A link to cheap junk that I don't need... Like I need another timesuck

Be sure to check out the military trucks - 4x4'x - Humvees etc

I've seen a couple of school buses turned into race car haulers. One in particular, from a few seats back was cut off and turned into a flat bed - drive on portion with a metal wall welded in place.

I've thought about used fire trucks for a tow vehicle

iceracer wrote:

SVreX wrote:

iceracer wrote: School busses are slow and don't have much excess power for towing. RUST !

Umm.. Yeah, but they are designed to hold 60 or more passengers and their bags. 60 x 120 lbs = 7200 lbs of payload. That's a LOT more than most rigs, and it can easily be transferred to towing capacity.

The point being, with what ever the load, they still are slow.

Umm...

Ok, but that's about gearing, not power.

My point being that I am aware of no reason that a school bus couldn't be made into a reasonable support vehicle.

I drive a vehicle with a 7.3L. They've got plenty of power, and are easy to chip.

With only a chip, 350 hp and 650 lb/ ft of torque are easy.

And I've never seen an RV or other support vehicle that I would call fast.

SVreX wrote: And I've never seen an RV or other support vehicle that I would call fast.

Thank you for being the voice of reason. I can't believe we have a thread about school busses, and people are complaining about them being slow.

There's a guy lives near here with not one, but two of these awesome vehicles. I see them for sale from time to time on CL, but not sure I need a lawn ornament of this size.

https://richmond.craigslist.org/cto/5005584140.html

In reply to 1988RedT2: I'M THRILLED MY BREAKFAST WAS DIGESTED BEFORE I SAW THOSE PICTURES!

My old boss had a deuce and a half that he bought for $2000. Nothing wrong with it at all.

It was awful to drive (beat the crap out of me).

I considered Challenging it.

I've had several converted buses. 1 shorty camper conversion , 1 full size conversion and 1 that had the conversion and also carried my racecar. All Internationals with the 345 gas engine. With highway gearing they aren't any slower than an RV. Also, unlike RV's they aren't made of tissue paper and fairy dust.

In reply to Don49:

Great point.

I would MUCH rather a converted bus than an RV.

And I have had many RV's

In reply to Rupert:

Wat?

In reply to 1988RedT2:

The Bro-est of all the brodozers!*

• Bro not included with vehicle for sale, sold separately.

A cool military truck is a cool military truck. A Miata isn't gay.

So gay-bashing equals bad but redneck-bashing equals good? Think about it.