What all can you do with a old school bus?
 

I've always dreamed of buying a school bus and making it into a RV camper. Well the nearby high school is having a auction to get rid of a bunch of stuff. Computers, desk, office equipment, kitchen equipment, etc, etc, and a school bus. The last time I went to the school auction they had 2 buses and both went for only around $200. each. They both was in running order but high mileage.

Well what if any ideals could you do with a school bus? I've also thought about buying one and remodel it into a commercial kitchen for my wife to use. I would park it and put it up on blocks if I done this.

Or, park it on a leased hunting land and make a hunting lodge out of it.

Drove by a GA melon processor broker/processor plant which had dozens of 'convertible' school buses with the back cut off. Saw several on the road stacked high with melons.

If you can talk to the head mechanic at the bus barn. They are likely VERY familiar with any bus being sold and can give you a history of past problems. May just be 'old', but may have also been a shop queen.

cut the passenger area off, and build a round bale hauling truck

that is a good tip. Also probably available are common breaking part numbers at the local parts store, oil filter numbers, etc

All kinds of possibilities!!!! First thing that comes to mind is a movable chicken or goat building. Take out all the seats (except the driver's seat) and you can move your livestock from place to place - think chicken tractor except the bus is the tractor and you would need movable fence.

A school bus would also make a wonderful storage building. While it might get hot in the summer with all those windows, storing lumber, hay, feed, or other supplies could make it pay for itself.

You could even live in it if you needed to. I know of a guy who used to be a junk man that his wife left him and having very little money, he lived in a school bus for several years. Seems to me that he died in the winter - I wouldn't doubt froze to death.

Even if the bus doesn't run, any of the above would still work without raising your taxes - it's moveable!!!!! Either under it's own power or towing it if the engine is dead (or missing)!

portable milking parlor for pastured cows

as you mentioned earlier you can make it into an RV

http://www.rv-busconversions.com/
http://www.vonslatt.com/

Could also then always have a guest cottage for overnight visitors

My Mom's neighbor lives in his.

Portable round bale feeder.
Saw an old one converted to a motor home going down the road once. Had a small window unit AC in the back window:)

I've thought about converting one into a guest cottage.

just remembered that I’ve seen one made into a flatbed/ roll back for tractors once

You could go 4 Wheeling.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/92/24...786f3a0201.jpg
Pop a wheelie
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/61...cdb367e58b.jpg
Crush your neighbor's car
http://www.alihessami.com/funny/imag...school-bus.jpg
Build a guest house
http://www.bubo.org/photo/030329_Him...%20Sanawar.jpg
Start a collection
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/127/3...a93c91eadb.jpg
Decorate your yard
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/72/16...1c487e0ab3.jpg
Use it to pick up chicks
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/199/4...23b15e7bc6.jpg
What could be more fun than a school bus? :)

:) Hey thanks Denvergirlie, my wife may just have to wait on that commercial kitchen! Wow, I may have to just go put a bid in on that school bus. Hopefully I'll be paying only $200. or less for my future RV schoolbus.

Cornhusker, I've tried that last suggestion of yours. I would try it again today but I'm afraid Coach Mordecai might still be alive and take me to the principals office again.

I wanted to get one and turn it into a green house. Kids were not impressed...

Farm Show magazine has a special edition for school bus and combine conversions. It is amazing what people can do with those things. Check out http://www.farmshow.com/store/books.asp , I received it free when I subscribed. (It's a very cool magazine by the way)

For every schoolbus that has actually been converted into a completed, usable RV, there are 20 others (many would say 50 others), half completed, rotting away in some field.

Don't know about other states, but in Wisconsin, schoolbuses must be certified on a regular basis. Schoolbuses that can't meet certification without the investment of thousands usually find their way into the used bus market.

$200 is an unrealistic price. $1500 - $3000 is more realistic of what these sell for around here.
Wisconsin vehicles commonly experience surface rust long before the mechanical components are even close to needing attention.

One of my friends actually completed a school bus to RV restoration. He made it into a Nascar vehicle, complete with ladders to the roof, railings all the way around, indoor plumbing, sleeping area, cooking area....the entire 9 yards. He takes it to the Nascar race in Michigan and Illinois. Has it painted in Earnhardt Jr #8 colors.

I know of many many other bus conversion "projects" that never reached completion. I guess its because used RV's are out there in abundance, where the only thing required is $$.

Just keep in mind that because of it's weight, it is a class B vehicle and you'll need a CDL to drive it.

Take a look at the inspection stickers to see if it is up to par, or just an old beater that they want to get rid of.

I used to be a school bus fleet mechanic, and have repaired more of the big yellow monster than I care to think about.

Some repairs may require expensive parts and tools that are beyond the kind you'd normally find in your tool box. Most of them will have Cummins straight 6 turbochaged diesel engines, some will have International 6's or 8's. Some, depending on age, will have a gasoline powered V-8, but you don't run into that too much nowadays.

I've always thought about converting one to a camper in such a way that it has the sides cut away on the back to make a porch. The porch would be used to haul motorcycles or a Jeep while on the road so we'd have something small to drive when we got wherever we were going.

I've seen lots of busses converted to be race car haulers, they are just wide enough to drive a car up into it if you convert the back to a ramp.

For $200, buy it, have fun with it, and if it dies on you, park it in front of your house to use as a shed and keep property values down. Who knows, it may keep snooty city people from moving in across the street from you LOL.

If I could get a running bus for $200 and I could fit on my race trailer or equipment trailer for transport, I'd run it in the school bus figure eight races at our local fair grounds.
http://tennessean.com/galleries/2005...ages/bus01.jpg

Be very careful if you are really thinking about converting it to some type of RV. While the whole hippy school bus deal is romantic and fun to talk about, the reality is these things can be very expensive to convert, and much of the time the results are less than good.

http://www.geocities.com/crazy_hill7...ster2small.jpg

Not many RV parks will allow a school bus to park , same goes for a number of camp grounds found this out the hard way . Ours isnt a complete conversion yet but its getting there and close enough for camping .
Ours has a dodge 360 the problem we have had is number one piston burning lean and burning a hole in the piston . the problem was someone had bypassed the vac. reserve tank.
It has made a trip to the grand canyon and had more state troopers search it than its had folks sleep in it :rolleyes:
after the 93/94 floods we lived in it for over 6months .
If your a young couple living in a bus Never store canned goods on the shelf over the bed . a can of green beans will put the most amorous man out of the mood

Here's a couple of my favorite bus conversions. Pyrodon is right about school bus conversions being less than welcome in many campgrounds and RV parks. Hey Buspete is that CDL requirement set in stone in all states? It seems that the owners of conversions I've known never mentioned that they had to have a CDL.
http://www.mrsharkey.com/busbarn/grace/grace1.jpg
http://www.mrsharkey.com/busbarn/jeannie/jeannie4.jpg
http://www.mrsharkey.com/busbarn/osprey/osprey4.jpg
http://www.mrsharkey.com/busbarn/patchs/patchs1.jpg

You know, I'm not sure if the various weight classifications are on the state or federal level. My license was in Massachusetts, and when I moved to NH they just transferred the same class of license at the DMV. I don't work at a bus company any more (had enough of grease and bloody scalps from whacking my head on things), but I kept the CDL so I could rent bigger trucks now and again.

A full sized school bus is in the 14,000 -20,000 pound range. I think the biggest thing you can drive with a regular passenger car license is 10,000 pounds. There is usually additional licensing to be done on top of the CDL to actually drive a bus as a bus (in other words, with passengers) and even more to drive it as a school bus (I.E. with school children).

Take the screaming kids out, and busses are fun to drive. They are even yellow, like big stupid Tonka trucks. Which reminds me, the yellow-with-black-stripe that is the standard motif for a school bus will need to be changed to be legal. You'll have to remove all of the lettering, the red lights and stop sign too.

We've been looking at a bus we want to convert and have had a tough time getting straight answers about the CDL thing. I really haven't talked to the right people, but I do know AK is getting tighter on the requirements.

Cornhusker and freeinalaska- LOVED your photos!
Try www.wrybread.com and click on "dwellings" for more converted buses- and vans- and even a Ford Fiesta!

The site for school bus conversions...

www.skoolie.net :goodjob:

You could use it as a storm shelter.
http://www.dailyhaha.com/_pics/redneck_tornado_shelter.htm

Friend of my dh made one into a chicken coop. DH said it was pretty cool, door closed in the evening to keep unwanted guest out, screens allowed for air flow.

Yes, yes, yes, DO IT>

My dad, sis and I lived in an old 66 GMC school bus conversion for a couple years when I was a teen...back then (mid/late 80's) we never had a problem at campgrounds and small RV parks. It was nicely converted inside...but we didn't do it...traded for it that way.
The thing I liked was that the interior was not "RVish"...they finished it like you might a cheap room or efficiency apartment. We further added some cubicle like walls to give each sleeping area some privacy and it had a full sized (double pan) kitchen sink and a big kitchen table which utilized two of the old bus seats for seating.

It served us well from Indiana to Florida, to Arizona and finally back to Florida. We lived in it...stored stuff in it...used it as a guesthouse...and finally traded it for some work on a couple cars that were beyond our tool capacities.

Last I heard...that old rig had been used in a school bus crash em up derby... :(

As far as a CDL goes...I don't believe you need one as long as it is for personal use. In fact, with a regular license, you can rent any sized/weight straight truck as long as you are hauling personal items with it.
I just recently left a position where I was a supervisor for a transportation company for 11 years...so I am somewhat familiar with DOT regs.

mu late FIL had one on the farm it was a home for a friend that was down on his luck for awhile and then shelves were put in it for all his hand tool and nuts bolts screws and what not

Wow, lots of wonderful ideals! I'm really thinking that if I do buy one I will probably only use it for hunting/fishing camps. Thinking of putting a small kitchen in the back and bunk beds in the middle. Living room toward the front. A small shower somewhere near the bunk beds. I have a pot bellied stove to install in it. My only problem is I don't like paying insurance for something that is parked more then it is driven. But, I'm also thinking that if I ever get rich enough, I might buy some hunting property and just park the bus on blocks and make a hunting cabin out of it. Then I could build a deck around it and not ever have to worry about tags and insurance.

But then again my wife has been dreaming and dreaming of a commercial kitchen so she can put herself back into the bakery business again. We still have a lot of equipment from her previous business that we could install in the bus. But the business is not lucritive enough to pay rent or make payments on a new building. So we need a cheap school bus and convert it into a commercial kitchen. But I haven't mentioned anything to her about this ideal so I don't know if she would go for it or not.

forgot to mention. Since I do deer processing for a few people, a school bus might come in handy for a walk-in cooler also.

Maybe I aught to use the bus for a business and buy a real RV with the money we make.

I had a 54 ford school bus converted into an RV, it was cool. They will go anywhere.

mine was retitled with a class A title, which means no CDL needed to drive it... just a regular auto DL.

every yr at the county fair here, they have a school bus demolition derby. its a hoot. it take a lot of pounding to kill a school bus.

I sold my bus.... stupid mistake.

FYI,
From what I've found you only need to get a CDL if
1. It has air brakes
2. It is still used to haul kids.

If you turn it into a RV, some states just require a regular liscense. Like I noted above, if it has air brakes a class B CDL is required from what I've been able to learn.
I also found that most insurance companies won't insure them. I don't know if that is because of it's weight or they think you are making money and just want you to by business insurance.
My insurance company won't insure anything with dualies, but if I bought a truck that was the same model etc, but had single wheels in the rear they would insure it..Go figure..

Before you buy check with your insurance company. It may save you a hassle later..

That's where they draw the line in our state, primarily. That's why most (if not all) the trucks rented out for moving don't have air brake systems.

Melissa, I have wanted to do that forever!
I drove a school bus for about 10 years, would love to see one nurture plants.
I had thought if I took one that didnt run and parked it, put that clear plastic roof stuff on the roof, with all those windows you would have a perfect greenhouse. I gaurantee those babies get really really hot!
I've seen the buses in our district go for 200-1000 dollars. wrecked ones, some that just were too old and rattely to be used as a bus, but had fine engines. I would never pass one up!

This buss is in lakeland. My hubby thought this was just too cool
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93...d050520001.jpg

Any thing over 26,500lbs and 10,000 in tow needs a CDL. There are ways around this like Ag plates, but you would still need to add an airbreak endorsement to your regular license.

The best use I can think of for an old school bus is to crush it and sell it to the scrap yard at 100.00 per ton.

Seems it was someone on HT today who put a slide-in pickup camper on a low-boy trailer. Under the part which went over the pickup cab they had storage. Unused trailer in back was a patio so to speak.