I just want to say thank you for this video. I grew up just South of Seattle Washington and our school district used this style Carpenter when I was in Elementary school (late 80s and early 90s) and it actually got me into buses as an interest for restoration/RV conversion. I have had difficulty finding much info on this bus online and I am happy to see this video! If you happen to know of any Carpenter rear engine buses in this style around your area that are in decent shape for sale I would really appreciate a point in their direction!
Some GM history for you Tommy, it’s actually not a Chevy V6, these are a GMC specific V6 engine, ranging in size from 305 to 478, also made a V8 and a V12 called the Twin Six based on this platform. Most of the GMC trucks, from the 1500 series and up from the early to late 60s had this engine family before they switched to Chevy engines
now that is totally awesome video about 1971 carpenter school bus rv conversion .. i can't wait to see more totally awesome videos about your school busses
@TommyRetro Saludos desde León Nicaragua 👍 EXCELENTE BUSES mi padre tenia buses Blues Bird de transporte interurbanos y Yoooooo era niño y en Vacaciones pasaba mis mejores vacaciones de infancia. 👏👏👏👀
its a nice conversion i can't believe it was in school bus service for a very long time as here in pa its like 12 years they retire busses from service and place new busses in service. in the rv nowadays people do away with the roof top air conditioners on how big that bay was that housed the original engine and compressor you can install a mini split system as it will keep the bus cool than drawing more power from the 2 roof top ac units as the mini split has a heat pump too would help on keeping the bus warm in the winter time. as this conversion was done on this bus in 05 mainly before these mini splits came popular. i see got the original Bergstrom fans but has the split bergstrom logo on the cages the earlier ones says Mor Heat Bergstrom mfg co Rokford Ill. than the split logo till today its half sun and snowflake logo from the late 70s to present. As this 1971 bus was made right when Carpenter had better tooling as its the Carpenter busses prior to 1995 when they went out of business had the problems with the roof welds. was more serious after a Florida rollover crash when the roof collapsed. as Carpenter where this was made was in Mitchell Indiana. Had you kept your eyes open for any busses with a Superior body on them? the ones prior to the mid 70s were superior coach and then they were ran by the Sheller Globe Corporation. till the early 80s. then Mid bus took over that plant in Lima Ohio. as its closed now.
Thanks for your comments! It’s interesting how long school buses stay in service depending on the region that they serve! I am on the look out for a Superior bodied school bus. That is the only school bus body of the big six that I currently do not have. Please let me know if you see or hear any leads.
I rode a similar bus to school in Kelso, WA for a while. Theirs had the round fishbowl windshields and were diesel. No A/C. It looks like yours may have a slightly raised roof, I'm guessing factory mod for the A/C.
now that is totally awesome video about your carpenter school bus rv conversion are you going to build a garage for all your school busses just asking my friend .. can't wait to see more totally awesome videos
Hey Tommy Wondering if it was possible for you to give us a tour of your entire fleet? Would be very interesting to see you go down the line of all the buses you own. Thanks!
Will do! I am going to be running most buses this weekend getting ready for winter storage. If I have time, I’ll do a brief video of all of the buses. 👍
When will you be doing a full update on all the buses you have like you did in one of your previous videos I really liked it and as soon as you post new updates I stop what I am doing just so I can watch you got me really wanting to do the same thing
Growing up, whenever I would ride on a bus that had a gas engine with an Allison transmission, the transmission would make the most amazing sound when it would change gears. Does your bus here make any sound when it changes gears? I wish I could describe the sound, but I can't. It is sort of like a whine. Maybe someone else can?
I'm glad I'm not the only one that loved the sounds of the Allison transmission, we had early 70's Ford 600 chassis and Bluebird All American FE (both gas powered) the FE had dual exhaust and besides the transmission sounds the exhaust tone was awesome! Like it huge glass packs on it
Hey Tommy this is Aldrick GMC I just want to ask you when you get done buying your buses are you going to build your own bus museum or what’s your plan with these buses
