They say its more ecological to ride the bus,
but none of my busses get better than 10 miles per gallon.
The following 37 Chevrolets are busses. My favorite
is the "Flx" but the
Superior runs best and recently took me to a distant truck show in
Spokane. (2000 miles+ round trip).
The green Crown has 157" "SD" chassis
and the Brown Superior has 131" "SB" chassis.
I modified a sales brochure photo of a 157" WB Superior to look
like my 131". I wonder how many school kids were backed over
with no right mirrors on these busses?
Here's a clearer photo of my Superior Shorty in Humbolt
County. Looking at the drawing above and photo below, notice
the 4 vents and grab bar by door. There is a very short piece of
running board between the cowl and front fender that collects leaves and
causes rust. It's bad enough that someone used a J. C. Whitney's
idea of a passenger car grille, but to install it, they tack
welded it to the chrome trim. And, of course, I have 3 mirrors
and turn signals for safety.
Here are some other 37 Chev School busses listed in alphabetical order. Compare the styling of the Hockney to that of the Flxible and you wouldn't believe they are the same make & year.
Bender Cleveland, Ohio
Delphi Delphi, Ind.
Hicks Lebanon, Ind.
Hockney Wilson, NC
Pacific Foundry Seattle, Wash
Rex Watson Canastota, New York
( Left, from school bus brochure, is on a 157" truck
chassis. Right, from Silver book, is a Rex Watson on a stretched
passenger chassis. )
Superior Lima, Ohio (157"
WB pictured here. My brown bus in a superior on 131" chassis)
36 Dodge with Superior body
Wayne Richmond, Ind. (Look at all the Waynes
pictured below)
1940 Chev/Wayne
1946 Chev/Wayne Changing a rear tire
on these Waynes, with skirted rear duals, is a lot of fun on a steep
dirt road. Block 3 wheels after digging a pit for the blocks.
Remove spare from under body. Loosen Lug bolts. Jack up axle.
Jack up body till Jack sinks in mud. Place large heavy plywood under
jack and try again till body clears rear wheels. Move quickly away
as it skitters sideways into substantial tree. Plywood under both
jacks. Up again with tree preventing sideways movement. Gingerly
replace inner dual with bald, rotten (but air holding) spare. Friend
returns from hitching to town, at beginning of operation. She forgot valve
stem but remembered beer. Keep "friend" away from bus long enough
to lower jacks. Scrape off clearance light on the tree as you drive
away. **The details of
this bus' purchase are at the end of the page.
The 46 Chev/Wayne above has 3 round gauges like
the 36 Deluxe passenger and trux did. In 1940 all trux except the
school bus chassis used a rectangular gauge of the 40 passenger car.
They always unload all the old stuff on the busses. Seat belts have
been mandatory on automobiles for years and a fine is given if you are
not wearing one. They are not available on school busses. It
shows how concerned the law makers are about child safety when the $$ comes
out of their pocket.
The 1956 GMC/Wayne pictured below, is unusual
in that it originally came with a 6 Volt positive ground system.
Another example of manufacturers using old stock in busses. This
is the only Task Force I've seen with a 6 volt system.
I Looked at a 37 Wayne 20 years ago with a wheelbase too long to fit
on my trailer. (My trailer will just fit a 157" chassis.) I
explained to the owner that I still wanted to buy it but would need to
find a truck long enough to haul it. Two weeks later when I called
to tell him I had found a long truck, he said he had a scrap man torch
it last week. Below is an ad for the 38 201" WB School bus
chassis. The parts book does not list the 201" nor the 187" WB, used
on the Flxible and many foreign 37 Chev busses.
Tho it's not listed in the parts book or production figures, below is
a photo of many 1938 - 201" WB chassis in North Carolina at what
I assume is the Hockney plant.
39 Bus Brochure
41 Bus
European Busses
The European 37 Chev busses come in 2 varieties. Above appears
to use a GMC COE chassis with a "Bow Tie" on the grille and a 216 for power.
A Hercules Diesel was the optional engine. Below is Cab Forward design.
(That means the cab is forward of the axle. Modern Chrysler's "cab
forward" means you sit behind the front axle with less foot room.)
Small Busses
I
have seen several long Panels converted into School Busses in many years.
Click photo to view other Panel trux.
Click this line to view Suburban Carryalls.
**I took the Shorty Superior to Anaheim with girlfriend
and 2 daughters. I brought a towbar to retrieve a Suburban Carryall
from a friend. Girlfriend mentioned to friend that she could use
another bus for her mobile condominium. We were able to locate a
chap being harassed by the Anaheim police cuz his choice of dwellings was
the 1946 Chev/Wayne pictured previously in this article. It started
and ran but required tremendous brake pedal effort to slow it down,
despite the vacuum assist. 500 miles later at my garage,
when I inspected the brakes, I discovered that only one rear facing piston
would move. The other 7 wheel cylinder pistons would break before
they would move using a sledge hammer.
Her 46 Wayne has
a later 235 and 5 speed overdrive Clark. (Click
for transmission info)
My 37 Superior has a later 235 with stock transmission and 2 speed GMC
rearend. It has the optional Ventilated Disc Brake that pulsate then
heat and fade quicker than the stock Drum brakes.
We got moving permits for both vehicles. Below I was hitching
the Burb to the Bus.
We got an early
start from Anaheim and caravaned till Santa Barbara. She left me
in the dust on the next hill. Her bus weighed more but I was
towing a Suburban. Good thing we didn't have to go down the hill
with our brakes. On a straight stretch of Hiway 101 before King City,
I saw her parked beside the road. I coasted to a stop and thanked
her for waiting for us. She explained that she ran out of gas, as
her new acquisition didn't have a working fuel gauge.
This is the suburban from
the City of Beverly Hills.
(click here to look at Burbs)
Fortunately, no sport car owners wanted to test their antilock brakes infront
of either of us.
Thanx
to this site the former owner of the Superior emailed some photos of when
he drove it from Arkansas to Oregon around 1976. He had an oppertunity
to paint the bus but was not pleased with the grille misinstallation.
As he bought it:
Heading West with his son scouting the way:
More Busses
Here's
a bus site from Wollongong, Australia. (Wollongong has historic light
house location.) < http://www.dions.com.au/Historic%20Gallery/pages/1937%20Chevrolet%20Maple%20Leaf%20-%20Crown%20St%20Wollongong.htm
>
Here
is another Bus site called the Bus Yard. <A HREF=http://members.aol.com/njtbus/Classic.htm>
The
Pacific Bus Museum web site <http://www.pacbus.org/>.
Please bookmark this site to return.
This sounds interesting :
< http://www.busnuts.com
>
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