NOMADICISTA

Hi, my name is Lindsey, my partner Cody and I have five month old Willa and are ready to purchase a 5-6 window school bus. We are inspired by Grace, as featured on this website, when Cody did some orchard work and ran into the housebus.

Do you have any tips on how to buy a bus in these parts?

How far would you travel to buy the right bus?
What to look for when searching?
Speaking of searching: where do we begin our search?
What questions are good to ask when purchasing?
Know any mechanics in the Santa Cruz/whole Bay area?
Any other useful information for us would be so gratefully appreciated!

best,
Lindsey and Cody and Willa

We are in Northern California, by the way.

A 5-6 window bus is an awfully small bus. The interior volume is going to be less than most Class 'C' motorhomes but a little more than most Class 'B' motorhomes. Most short school buses also have lower ceilings which cuts down on the interior volume some more. The other real problem with short buses is the same problem most Class 'A', Class 'B' and Class 'C' motorhomes have--there is always more bus on top than there is truck underneath to carry the weight. The translation is wear items like brakes, suspension parts, and tires wear out considerably more often than large buses and large Class 'A' motorhomes.

The use for which you will be using your bus is sort of important as well.

If you want to do lots of interstate travel then most school buses are really not the best choice of bus to convert.

If you are wanting to get off the beaten track, travel the back roads, and never go very far at any one time then the right converted school bus may be the best bus to convert.

So before you start shopping for used buses you need to decide what exactly you need, how much space you need, and what sort of budget you have to accomplish your conversion.

This link will take you to one of the nicest conversions of a small bus I have ever seen. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1949-Flx ... 4cf6cfc544 (and if Rudy could capture the pictures and put them in the older motorhome section that would be great!) By the price you can see how much nice is going to cost.

As far as shopping for buses is concerned, once you have determined what size of bus you want then you have to decide what parameters in regards to body make, power package, and chassis at which you will look. In this respect a lot of Ford vs. Chevy issues will play in the determining factor. I personally do not like Blue Bird bodies even though Blue Bird makes a very good bus body. My reasons for not liking Blue Bird are rather petty but there you go.

In regards to how far you will go to get a bus, it all depends upon price. At $5.00 per gallon your fuel cost for transporting a bus from wherever to your home will cost about $0.60 per mile just for fuel. Add the cost of you getting from your home to where the bus is and you will be able to get a good idea of what an expensive bus close by is worth compared to a really inexpensive bus 2000 miles away.

The most expensive part of a conversion is the power package. Always, and I mean ALWAYS, opt for the bus with the better power package. It will save time and $$$ down the road.

The next most expensive part of a conversion is rust repair. If there is any body rust, unless you are being paid to take it away, don't bother.

The least important part of a purchase of an uncoverted bus will be the tires. As long as they are legal and will get you home that is all you will need. There is no reason to pay extra $$$ for tires now that will most likely need to be replaced after your conversion is completed. Tires have a shelf life and will deteriorate just sitting around. I had to throw away a set of tires with a documented mileage of less than 12,000 miles. They were almost ten years old and died of old age, not wear.

If at this point you are still wanting to convert a bus start reading up about RV plumbing, electrical, heating/cooling, and bus maintenance/repair. The more you know the less you will have to pay. Think in terms of shop time to repair a bus in excess of $105.00 per hour and RV repair just about as expensive.

And if this hasn't scared you away, keep us posted and we will help you as much as we can.

Good luck.

What he said!

Mark is resident expert about all things bus around here. Heavy on the mechanical info.

So right about deciding what you want up front. My main criteria is a hippie bus, as inspired by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters - Furthur. Have wanted that and only been the last few years money has been enough and other stuff been non-intrusive enough to even start.

Short trips, back roads, stop often to see what's on the way. Spend a month or two to go from say Sacramento to Seattle, as example. Drive 200 miles, then park it for a week or two to see sights. Then go another 200 and see what is around there for a while.

36' International Superior - as long as I could find so have plenty of room to live in.

EbayMotors is always a good place to check out buses, both school buses, and over the road pro buses and everything else in between! Under the 'other vehicles' section you will find buses listed- it's always a good place to see selection and prices! Keep us posted on what you find, and how the search goes!!

Another consideration is where you plan on staying.

If you want to stay at Wal-Marts across the country you have to be fully self-contained.

If you want to stay at KOA's or other private campgrounds you won't be allowed in if your RV looks like a school bus or a hippie bus. A bus that was a school bus that is painted to look like anything but a school bus is usually welcomed. A bus that looks like it was painted with a roller with odd bits hanging off and junk seen through the windows is usually not welcome.

If you are not fully self-contained it will severaly limit your choices of where you will be able to "camp".

Again, before you ever purchase anything you will need to determine how and where you will be using your bus.

Good luck.

Hi! It's Lindsey again, I am coming back to thank you for your advice! Only one week after I posted this question, we found our bus only one hour from our home, an extra tall 6 window bus. I wanted to show you pictures of our progress.

I've been writing a blog and sharing my housebus in the process.

(You can see photos of our process here: http://glitterandgritgirl.com/category/our-house-bus/)

Congratulations on the bus!

As a side note, I have shifted this topic from the Buy, Sell, Swap section, into the main Housebuses & housetrucks forum.

Wonderful place!!

It looks as if they have quite the house bus.

I couldn't tell for sure but it appeared as if it is all on a Ford chassis. Not my first, second, or third choice for a lot of reasons. Hopefully it has the Cummins 5.9L in it. Hopefully it doesn't have the Brazilian 6.0L in it. Really hope it doesn't have one of the 331/352/391 gas V-8's.

Since they took the roof off anyway that took any concern I had about the lack of quality control Carpenter had in their later years of production. On some of the Carpenter buses the welds holding the roof bows to the top of the side rails were poorly done or not done at all. After a few years all that held the roof together was the sheetmetal on the outside. Not exactly very strong.

With the added height and rear hangover I wonder how it handles going down the road. Too much height and too much behind the rear axle can really make the steering light.

I looked but couldn't see any pictures of the bus after it was completed.