I enjoyed it it’s fun driving those old buses

Boy does this bring back memories. I rode a 1968 Chevy School bus in 7th and 8th grade. I was going to be a mechanic growing up so I quickly learned about VIN plates and how to read them. I found the one on the bus I rode which was inside the body. Later on in life I actually worked on these buses. Everything from 1979 to 1988 school buses. You don't stick shifts any more in a bus.

Hearing the transmission brings back memories.

Love the sound of that driveline lurching forward and back until it stabilizes. Dump trucks I don't recall doing that. I owned one of those for years. Bought in Colorado mountains. Blew two engines due to lack of governor parts and insane gearing. Topped out at like 55 MPH and 3.5K.... Gramp's 71 automobile turned twice as fast. Crank angle seems the issue. Great for torque. Very fun to drive... except in traffic. Camper conversion left no view at all. Never back up. Easy enuff until city. oil bath air filter speed governor on distributor vertical 1 Qt. oil filter...zero spill! Access panels for clutch fore and aft. Air brakes were dicey. Slack was very fast to appear and sudden enough to be deadly. I don't overbrake... yet had to tighten all wheels every 500 miles or less! New adjusters made no diff.

Hey Chad, when I was a school girl .. I used to ride an old Ward school bus first one was a 1967 Ward International with split windshield that separated by a metal strip.. and second bus I rode in was a 1978 Ward with a Chevrolet chassis.. though our school district did have a 1973-74 Ward Chevy as an activity bus.. a 60 passenger. the ones I rode to and from school were both 48 passenger

Hey. I know this is an old video, but I am a huge fan of Ward buses. In a movie by Long Road Productions, they would classify the transmission on this buss as a compound box and they often also call the 1st gear a deep under gear. They come in handy for if you have a great big steep hill ahead of you or if you are traveling on ice. Due to the slow speed, it can also be useful for traveling on parking lots as well. The compound transmission often had a deep under in 1st gear. If you had 4 possible speeds and you had a deep under in 1st, only three of the speeds were truly usable on the highway. If you had 5 possible speeds and a deep under in 1st, you had 3 or 4 possible speeds because 2nd was classified as a regular under. One neat thing I like about driving a bus in a field is sometimes you can drive with the door open and not worry about getting a ticket.

I am visually impaired, so don’t take what I’m about to say wrong. Your voice, the way you are narrating this video reminds me of Mr. Fred Rogers. It’s got an easy-going personality. Enjoying hearing the old bus run in the background.

Nice old busses. I love the old door handles..... They all ought to still have that. We have a 68 GMC bus we have a camper made out of. Runs and drives great... Very road worthy.

Great Video!!!!!

This bus actually came from Missouri originally, there is a sticker for "Allied Bus Sales" as a dealer inside. It was last used as a church bus here in Texas.

This bus reminds me of the old manual transmission buses I used to ride when I lived in southern Missouri.

teh first retrochad video i ever watched. love the manual buses. nobody is willing to drive bolt action anymore

Around here, stick-shift school busses were phased out of service in the mid to late '90s. Generally the change from stick to automatic occured at the same time as the change from gas to diesel, so I only ever saw a handful of stick-shift diesel or automatic gas school busses. One nice thing about a gasser is that the engine can be almost completely silent and vibrationless at idle.

Nice work. This reminds me of my old 1980 GMC Thomas. Only it had a 4 speed allison automatic.

Cool 😎😎

I will try and do that soon! I still need to change the oil and filter in the bus but it has been real nice weather here so I hope to do another demonstration soon.

that is a cool bus i wold like to drive it

Thank you!

Terrific job.

that whine of 1st and reverse is a sound from my childhood!

@susanhaloe2467

5 жыл бұрын

I know I miss it I miss the sound of the old Allison tranny so bad think about it all the time! Some of my Fondest Memories of childhood in the early 70s!

Here we have...

Nearly every school bus I've ever ridden on was a stick shift. I finished riding school buses around 1993. Mostly rural routes, which might have something to do with it. Cities like to order automatics because sticks get to be a pain to drive in all the stop and go. Actually, I'm curious now if they ever did switch to autos in my old stomping ground, even now. I will find out and get back to ya!

Even though some of the features were being a little diffcult it was loads of fun, it will be a little easier to drive when I get the power steering/power assist on the brakes working.

Oh yes, me too...the different engines and transmissions in different types of buses each have their own characteristic sound.

@TundraWalk3r The power steering system has a leak in it...it does have power steering but I think it was very low on fluid when I made this video.

in my country, buses like that are even used today as public transport of passengers, Carpenter, Amtram, Blue Bird...

Its a 366 V8 engine and 4 spd. so you are right.

It is a 1970 International with Wayne body...I'll try and make a complete video of it soon.

@MonsterJam2010, no it's not a flatnose, if it was a flatnose, the gauges would been higher than where it sits at, gliovebox wouldn't be there, and the stickshift would been next to the driver :)

Yes it does have mirrors.

I just put it on a tripod which sort of straddled one of the seats...when turning I was a little worried it might fall over so next time I do this I probably will try and weight down the legs of the tripod.

wow the camera held really steady!

@9409312, not ALL buses have automatic transmissions yet, LoL, some 2 to 3 years old buses around here still have manual transmissions in them

Play a prank and ask a parts guy for a air filter for this one. LOL, they have oil bath air filters, I remember servicing those.

It is a 4 speed...almost all school buses before the late 70's or so were standard transmission. I think by the early 90's they had mostly converted to automatics and today I don't know that there are any school buses offered with standards.

@yamahonkawazuki I really should have put it in first gear when I parked it...now that I drive manual transmission vehicles more frequently I always try to remember to do this in case for some reason the parking brake would let go.

Thanks! It uses a 366 CID GMC gasoline V-8. Not sure how many miles are on it or the horsepower. It does have a trailer hitch for towing but I haven't tried to tow anything with it.

the camera stays remarkably stable during the driving. how did you mount it?

i even noticed the dashboard havent changed on your bus from 1974 to 1991 since i uploaded the video

was teh engine knocking? or was that knocking noise something else?

No, the seat is just mounted firmly to the floor..too old for air ride:) I think it does use leaf springs.

Wow! Just 200$?!? Do you have pictures of the bus on the outside view?

It used to be a church bus...I bought it for $200.

my bus drivers bus has a stick shift and its fairly new

@retrochad i do have a question though. been thinking about since 2008, why is it you park it in neutral?, im assuming there is a reason,

I am not sure what kind of transmission it has, if it is actually made by GMC or not. It is a 4 speed, low 1st gear. I don't actually have any Blue Birds, just Wayne, Ward and Carpenter. The school districts in this area used those makes along with Superior in the 70's & 80's...there are not too many vintage Blue Birds in this area although I think the schools are currently using them. On the Carpenter I have I think it is an Allison AT-545.

What does this have for a transmission. I love the wine of the AT-545. GET SOME BLUE BIRDs!!!

did you leave the door open?

No, it is synchronized except for 1st gear and reverse.

Wow, that's old. Where did you buy it? And how much?

Hey Chad. I was wondering if you would ever have in mind to purchase a 1979 Crown School Bus?

@retrochad haha thats what i was about to say it prolly just was sitting to long and it needed some power steering fluid

I wonder if any of these old busses had horns?

Ah that familiar sound : Hmmm Hmmm HMmm Hmmmm ShiFT Hhmmm Hmmmm Hmmm Hmmmm SHIFT

@MonsterJam2010, No it is a conventional.

Don't be so sure.

is it a flat nosed?

can you some more bus vids

@themaritimegirl

7 жыл бұрын

He stopped making videos in 2013.

u can let off the throtle in between shifting gears

I was kind of wondering if maybe he doesnt drive manuals to much.

Okay I think most of us knows how to drive standard

What in the world are you going to do with all those old busses Some people do make motor homes out of them1

you are slipping the clutch way to much. esp on the upshifts.

How to drive a car 🚗🚗🚗

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