Not pro car, but coach built...

I enjoy all types of vehicles and one thing that has always interested me are trucks and buses. A friend of mine put me on to this site that sells buses and they have a whole "antique buses for sale" page. It is interesting to see so many coach company names amongst the listed buses for sale. Names like Flxible, Wayne and Superior to name a few.

Link to the antique bus listings.

A couple of the ones that stuck out to me.

1948 Flxible
1960 Flxible
1957 Wayne Chevrolet
1941 Superior Chevrolet
 

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Thanks for posting this link Charles. I have a passion for all vehicles too and I am a huge fan of vintage busses.
 
Now you've done it!

Ive always wanted a bus motor home conversion. My plan is to someday buy one when I retire & have it be my primary residence.
 
This old Clipper - sitting near Laverne, OK - had been converted to a motor home years ago.

(SL photo)
 

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For me, the original passenger configuration vs motor home conversion in the buses is very similar to the stock vs custom debate in professional cars.

I don't know which I would rather have. I wouldn't mind having an older school bus that was ALL original, but I also think that some of the motor home conversions look good.

Just like an old professional car that has been sitting for a while and gutted out, where would you start to restore one of these old buses or would you be better off customizing it to fit your own needs and likes? Couple of nice buses on that site for sale, but I can't imagine where one would go to find original or replacement parts.
 
I really like the looks and the lines of this 49 International. Unfortunately, I don't understand. The exterior has been restored very nicely, but it is listed without motor and without interior. Where would you start to find seats and everything else to restore this bus? Is there an IBOA (International Bus Owners Association) out there somewhere?

Also, why would you take the time and spend the money to completely re do the outside and leave the interior empty and the drive train missing? Would this have maybe been a movie prop at one time? Tow it in, park it at the school and as long as it looks good from the outside, it is fine?
 

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Can anyone that is familiar with Superior Coach answer a question.

The name plate on the 41 Superior Chevy says Lima Ohio. Did Superior build the buses in the same facility as the professional cars in Lima or was there a completely separate facility somewhere else in town that the buses were constructed?

This is the name plate from the 41 Superior shown in the first post of this thread.
 

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I do remember seeing a picture of the Superior plant where they were building hearses and the school busses were being built in the background at the same plant,
 
This thread is being put back into the General Discussion Forum as a joint decision of 3 of the 4 Website Administrators.
 
I really like the looks and the lines of this 49 International. Unfortunately, I don't understand. The exterior has been restored very nicely, but it is listed without motor and without interior. Where would you start to find seats and everything else to restore this bus? Is there an IBOA (International Bus Owners Association) out there somewhere?

Also, why would you take the time and spend the money to completely re do the outside and leave the interior empty and the drive train missing? Would this have maybe been a movie prop at one time? Tow it in, park it at the school and as long as it looks good from the outside, it is fine?

All though I can't speak as to why someone would a restore the outside of the bus with no engine, KB series International truck engines shouldn't be too hard come by. I know of one still in a truck here in Lunenburg that could be had for scrap price - it hasn't run in many a year, but is a starting point, and I sure there are many more KB Internationals rotting away in the bushes on farms across the nation. As for interior seats, I checked out a similar International bus (sadly scrapped by now), a few years older than the '49, and you would hard pressed to tell the difference between the seats in it, and the seats out of the school buses I rode circa late 80s, early 90s. If there is a difference in the seats, I don't know that anyone would notice, and school bus bench seats are pretty easy to come by. I can probably get you a "bus load" for nothing. Just :my2cents:
 
I received and interesting e-mail from a Superior employee. Conversed with him a little and asked if he minded if shared his knowledge here.

Charles

I worked at the old Superior plant for 17 years and we built buses on one line and the hearses and ambulances on another line. We would build 20 buses per day in the winter and then in the summer before school started we would jump to 40 per day on 2 shifts. We would build 6 to 8 hearses and /or ambulances per day in the early seventies.


Thanks for the information Joe!
 
I too am a fan of those Flxible Clippers! Interestingly I learned from a friend who knows more about them than I do that the Clippers were powered by a Buick straight 8 and a Dynaflow transmission. Kinda explains why Flxble built mostly Buick professional cars, or a chicken vs. egg situation? The Dynaflows were horribly inefficient in cars, so I can imagine how much gas a big bus would suck down with one! He remembers how a Dynaflow Buick would rev up greatly before finally starting to creep forward. Even though they obviously weren't speedy, they are still a beautifully designed vehicle!
 
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