eBay find: 1963 Crown Tour Coach

[Dj]

Found this on eBay today.

It's not mine, I know nothing about it other than it's on eBay, please don't contact me about it.

Just passing it along in case someone here is interested.

1963 Crown Tour Coach

Wish there were more pictures...

[Sharkey]

Hmm, interesting, but kind of short on factual information. The paint scheme obscures the windows, but it looks to be a school bus body, rather than the tour bus model which had slanted window frames. The corrugated metal on the skirts is a unique feature, though. Could be that this bus was one of the specialty coaches that Crown made from time to time.

[Mark R. Obtinario]

I would agree the pictures could be better but it is not a regular school coach body.

If the paint were stripped I think you would find the lower body panels are either aluminum or stainless steel corrugated panels.

Also, it appears as if the rear clip is a tour coach and not a school coach. The difference was the tour coach was squared off instead of the rounded rear quarters one usually sees on a Crown. This allowed for a full size window across the back of the bus and a larger rear trunk.

The bus appears to be very low on the suspension which leads me to believe it most likely has an air bag suspension rather than steel springs.

The vent panels in the roof also suggests the bus may have an A/C system. Some of the Crown's that had factory A/C systems had a pony motor on the curbside next to the main engine. The pony motor directly powered the A/C compressor and an auxillary alternator to run the blower and condensor fans.

Again, if the pictures were clearer one could get a better idea of what the bus is.

It doesn't sound as if the seller has any real idea of what he has.

Regardless, it looks as if it could be a real keeper for someone.

Mark O.

[Navservice]

Hi, I just bought that Crown Tour Coach on eBay yesterday and I stumbled onto this forum looking for more information. I haven't gotten to Oakland yet so I can only tell you what I was able to figure out from the photos and speaking with the seller on the phone. The owner is a church that found out they didn't have as big a need for a bus as they thought. My guess is that it sat for a while because they didn't want to pay the insurance and registration (it's two years behind). I've seen this version of Crown before, many years ago, so I wasn't too surprised to see it on eBay, I just assumed that there were others out there. When I found out it had a Cummins engine (NOT a 6-71) I got more interested. When I saw the photos of the interior, I saw a growth on the stick shift that I assumed meant it had to be a ten speed, another plus in my book. I noticed the vents on the roof and thought it might have something to do with AC or ventilation but just figured I'd find out when (if) I got the bus. This forum is the first I've heard of AC in a Crown. This is also the first I've heard of air suspension in a Crown, I can only hope you're right! I didn't notice the low height and never would have attributed it to air suspension if I had. I am concerned by the amount of rust at the rear and I hope there isn't much more, I thought the bodywork was aluminum. I was worried that it might need some attention before starting after sitting for a year so I called the only person I knew of that was well acquainted with Crowns, Patrick Young of The Wheelchair Project. He passed along some insight and a lot of what I consider to be good advice. I will certainly have fun picking it up and, I hope, driving it back to Kingman, AZ. I have a lot of questions, still, about the bus and it will be fun to find the answers. The seller works for the church and really knows nothing about the bus. I'd noticed it on eBay when it was first posted (at $1000) and no one was bidding on it for several days. I thought it could be a great deal but I just didn't think it would be practical for me. The night before the auction ended, I couldn't sleep even though I was really tired, all I could do was think about that bus. I finally got up at 3:30 am and placed a bid of $2100. I figured I was willing to bet $2000 that it might be a good deal. Besides, there were other people bidding on it and I was sure I would be outbid. The guy that was the most active, and the original, bidder stopped at $1999 or so. I wound up getting the bus for about $2025, what a surprise! I'm heading to Oakland next week to get the bus, I let you know what I find out about it.

[Sharkey]

Hi Navservice, welcome to the forum. Pretty amazing that you found this place after buying the bus. If that coach has a Road Ranger, the transmission alone is worth your purchase price.

The additional photos have made it clear that this is one of the true Crown tour coaches. Last one of these I saw for sale had the asking price of $16,000! What are you plans for the bus? Going into charter service?

Here's an additional photo from the listing.

[Navservice]

Hi,

I've thought quite a bit about a charter company, I've driven for several, but after finding out the cost of required insurance I don't think that will ever happen. I pretty much stopped looking at buses after speaking with an ex-boss and finding out I could expect to pay in the neighborhood of $28,000 a year if I was lucky enough to find a company that would insure me with just one bus.

I already have my federal motor carrier authority, I bought a Freightliner cabover last year in a misguided attempt to simplify my move from Mexico back to the States. I think alot about using that to make money part time when I'm home, I work offshore all over the world and I'm gone a lot.

I needed to use my travel trailer and my tow vehicle, a beefed up Chevy Astro, is looking less and less like it's up to the job, the trailer weighs about 6500 pounds. I started looking at other vehicles, beginning with a fire engine for sale locally in Kingman (Craigslist - Phoenix). The guy is asking $3500 in the ad but is obviously anxious to get rid of it, I'm sure he'll go down to $2500 very quickly. I looked at it and drove it and decided it would not be comfortable for anyone, not me or my wife and stepdaughter, it was noisy and bouncy. Also, there was quite a bit of rust and I didn't see enough of any strong structure in the back to support a trailer hitch. Structure can always be fabricated but I was in a hurry.

I used this manufactured need as an excuse to look at buses again but with a different objective than before. I decided to try and buy a bus that was advertised in the Phoenix Craigslist, if you search for 'Mexican Bus" you will find it. A 1993 five row International with a 7.3L engine and an automatic transmission. I like the artwork on the bus, I think it looks great. I was a little concerned about the engine, I didn't know anything about them but from what I could find out, that is a Ford pickup truck engine. I wasn't sure that that engine would be strong enough and I wanted a stick shift. Still, I was in a hurry and my wife liked the pictures so I tried to buy it in a hurry. The price seemed very reasonable at $2500 and the seller, an ad agency in New York that used the bus in a promotion, was anxious to get rid of it, they'd already lowered their asking price by $2000. The bus is in Phoenix and the transaction would have had to take place by mail. I had to get to California to help my mother with her terminally ill husband, so I made the trip without the trailer, wife, and stepdaughter.

I'm still here and very anxious to see my new purchase. Is it true that Crown made some buses with air suspension? I guess they probably made at least one of everything but I had no idea it might be possible to buy an air ride Crown. In the 70's, when I first started driving buses, I was driving school buses for various companies in southern California. I drove lots of Crowns and always liked them.

I probably have a defective gene somewhere, but I've always been crazy about buses. In more recent years, I've spent a lot of time in Prevosts and really like them, but this is the first bus I ever bought and it came as a real surprise. I will use it as a tow vehicle for now and maybe consider ways of making it more comfortable as a day coach (restroom, galley, some furniture, and such). Honestly, it would be very hard for me to say, right now, how it will end up. I'm a little worried that I might have purchased a mountain of problems.

Does everyone have lots of trouble with this "Confirmation code"? It takes me forever to submit a post.

Man, this really is something, it feels like pulling the handle on a slot machine! Is someone making a nickel everytime time I click on "Submit"?

I've got other things to do with my life, I'm going to give up trying to submit this for now.

Well, I registered, maybe it will be easier to submit now...

[Sharkey]

Thanks for registering, I think you'll find posting a lot easier now. I've edited the database to attribute your guest post to your new user name and incremented your post count (just because I can...). The awful confirmation code is a modification that I had to install because there is a world-wide invasion of automated spammers posting to forums with links to porn, medicines, mortgages, online casinos and such. The stock out-of-the-box confirmation code was ineffective at keeping them away, so I had to convert to a much more difficult system that optical character reading robots couldn't crack. There's a two-page post about it in the "Trouble Report" forum here. The difficult code is about the only reason that I didn't nuke the forum as a whole after repeated attacks by spammers. Making the "submit" button send me money sounds like an excellent idea, I'll look into that!

Mark O. can lend advice about running charter service, he has been doing so with Crown coaches for a number of years. His charter is "Cowlitz Coach". He's also posted some valuable information about various coaches and drivetrain options: http://www.mrsharkey.com/forum/vwtp.php?t=337

You'll find Patrick Young is an infrequent poster here as well. See if you can convince him to come around more often.

[etinhidesert]

Navservice,
Have fun going to get your new bus! I grew up in Bullhead City and have a cousin and Aunt living in Kingman. That rust on the bumper shouldn't be a problem. A little work with a wire wheel or brush should take care of it. I also noticed the range selector in the shifter. I just bought a 10 speed Roadranger from Patrick to put in my three axle Crown. If you have the time, make sure you stop in Fresno to meet him. It will be an experience you will not soon forget.

Northern Arizona University had a 1966 three axle Touring Crown styled like the one you just bought (Sharkey has a photo of it here under "Other Crowns"). I spent a lot of miles on that bus as a trainer for the baseball team. It sure rode and drove nice. With the Cummins and 10 speed, it should have all the power you need.

Let us know how the trip went...

Elden in Hesperia, CA

[Sharkey]

(Sharkey has a photo of it here under "Other Crowns")

I do?, eh I mean, yeah, I do....


This was the coach that I was saying that was for sale for $16k.

Elden, if you need advice about installing that RR, I've been in contact over the years with Gary Stadler, who has done the conversion and has lots of tips about the job. Apparently there are some fiddly bits with the clutch.

[etinhidesert]

Thanks for the heads up on the clutch install. Funny how things are, but after that post, I went out to the garage and discovered that when my wife was backing out this morning, she hit the tranny and knocked it off of the furniture dolly it was on, spilling the gear oil out of an uncovered bearing. I have spent the rest of the day in near freezing temps trying to sop up the goop. It was so cold here last night, the water in the goat pen froze to more than an inch thick (this is Southern California.....it should not be this cold for this long!).

Elden in Hesperia

[Tim Clevenger]

Hi Elden,

Yeah, hard for people to believe that SoCal can get this cold. We have four inches of snow on the ground still, and the night before last it got down to 13 degrees here (below zero with wind chill.) My mother-in-law's fish pond is over an inch thick with ice.


Tim in Crestline

[Navservice]

Hi, I've been without net for a couple days. I also saw photos of the Flagstaff Tour Coach at the Crown Photo Archive at: http://crowncoach.tripod.com/. Elden, do you remember if that coach had air suspension, I'm still pondering the possibilities. I won't get to pick up the bus until Thursday or Friday. I'll definitely stop by Fresno on the way down. Kingman was 13° (above zero) on Saturday, the high was 36°. Well, I'm getting anxious...

[Dj]

I can't wait to hear the story of bringing the coach home. Be sure to take your camera, we want pics!

I can't tell you how tickled I am that the person who bought that bus ended up registering on this forum.

[Sharkey]

Me too!

[captainkf]

I too look forward to the new addition to your family coming home.

-Richard