Blast O Lene S’Cool Bus 

Fun Fact: Bus had dual windshield wipers so kids would not be drenched by sheets of water being swept off windshield when bus was stopped while they were standing waiting to board or exit, driver could keep the left side running and wouldn't have to wait for wipers to start up and take a few "wipes" to clear his side of windshield before he took off after stop. Seconds count in transportation! 😀

I am also 58. I recall the busses I rode in school being Internationals with the Blue Bird bodies. Manual transmissions of course. It was always fun to sit way in back and get bounced when the driver hit a bump lol. Great video Steve!

years ago I drove a fire truck with the V-12 version. Just looking at the thing told you it was a monster engine, with two heads on each side. As powerful as it was in our hilly rural area, using that manual transmission was like rowing a boat. You almost never had two hands on the wheel because you were busy shifting gears!

Think about all the kids who rode on this bus, happy to go home because it was Halloween, Christmas, going to hang with friends, laughing and having a good time on this bus. The kids who had good grades and couldn't wait to get home to show their parents, and the kids who didn't have good grades and did not want to go home lol

I rode to elementary school on a GMC bus just like this one. It must have been a "Superior" because I remember the console full of toggle switches to the left of the driver. Our bus driver was a local farmer named Clyde. He was a really nice guy who greeted us everyday using our names, and on holidays, he always had a box full of Hershey Chocolate Bars on the floor next to him and would hand each kid one as they got on the bus! What a great guy he was!

I can remember in grade school, the bus route had a turn around. The driver backed up a little too far and the bus got stuck in the snow. The driver had all us kids get out and push the bus out. Think that would happen today?! We got covered in snow being flung from the duals thought it was great! Lol Ahh...good memories

Around 79 I worked at an automotive parts warehouse as a mechanic, I worked on Hi-lo's and 2 gmc switch tractors with 401 V-6s. We had an idiot yard driver always tried to do burnouts and would break motor mounts drive shafts and axles. The 401 has monster torque.

Drove a stick like Ronnie Sox !!!! S'cool Bus indeed !!

That tragic bus fire was in Carrollton, KY, not Ohio. The church group on it was local to me and I knew several of those on it.

I didn't realize there was such a large CC range in these v6s. And the spark plugs in a different location that's all new to me thank you.

If one of our school bus in high school was broken down there were two of those GMC V6 school busses they kept around to take us to school. I have ridden one just like that one too.

When I was a kid my dad bought an old GMC school bus like that to store stuff in. It was an old prisoner transportation bus so it had the metal grates welded over the windows. We had many good times pretending to drive that bus in the summer.

My memory of the GMC v6 truck engine was how bad the drivability was. Especially when cold. They would cough and backfire/spit back through the carburetor a whole lot. Seemed like every time you stepped on the throttle, they would cough, spit and sputter. And it was a problem that was never resolved. My dad carried a fire extinguisher in his truck. And he had to use it more than once. It seemed like every GMC v6 I saw and heard had that trait. not just my dads truck. That motor had a lot of torque, but no rpm. You were all done by 3500 to 3800 rpm. Seldom if ever saw 4,000 app on the tach. I think my dad had a 4/10 rear end with posi traction. More than once I saw him roasting both rear grip tires pulling a boat and trailer up a boat ramp. 70 plus mph was really starting to push it. Pulling or hauling a load was never a problem. Going fast was.

From 1972 to 1978, I rode the church bus to a local Southern Baptist church in Asheville, NC. Their fleet had many 1962 through 1964 GMC buses with V6's using Carpenter, Thomas, Ward, Superior, Blue Bird, and Wayne bodies. They also had some 1963 and 1967 Internationals, 1964 and 1965 Chevrolets, and 1963 and 1964 Fords. When I would get bored, I would look out the window and study the buses and their configurations. Also, Kosciusko is pronounced Coz-ee-es-ko.

Yep, I am 58 too Steve. Lot of similar memories.

Texas School in the 90s, we had International Blue Birds that were limited to 55mph. But we had this one old school substitute driver, and when he filled in, he always went to the back of the bus yard and pulled out the "76/77 Chevy, v8 power standard shift. That old thing would fly!!

Things evolve and the school bus I've been driving for the past 10 years has a rear mounted Cummins 6cyl. The torque needed to pull a 90 passenger bus is amazing. School buses are the safest form of transportation in the country.

I've worked on GMC V6 engines. You have to blow away all the crud that accumilates around the spark plugs before removing them, or it ends up in the cylinder.

Well kid, I'm 75 and all I remember about the buses we rode in, high school, is that they were yellow. I never rode a bus to school until high school. They made us walk. Junior high was a lot of miles walk too but we were in good shape! I never heard of those big V-6 engines.

Lil' correction Steve: the Magnum engines have different, better flowing heads, intakes and exhaust manifolds. The only V6 with a 1 barrel was the 305A, an early version that was quickly phased out. The rest all had 2 barrel carbs. They are slow but have lots of low end torque. The V6 crankshaft makes a SBC crankshaft look tiny. Main bearings are over 3 inch diameter. I have a 65 GMC with the 305 V6, building up a 478 V6 to go into it.

We had a single axle grain truck with a 305 v6 and a tandem grain truck with a 478 v6...were very reliable and powerful

I was on a school bus in 1984 in Cedar Springs, Alabama that flipped over on its side because a truck came around the curve in our lane, and the lady bus driver overcorrected and on our side, we went. A senior kicked out what was left of the front windshield and we older little kids opened the back emergency. We were not going fast, so nobody really got hurt thanks to the dark green padded seats.

Love seeing old busses and junkyards are one of the only places they still exist! Always full of bees though 😅

In the 70’s-80’s, our school district in GA used mostly Bluebirds (made in GA) but a few Wayne and Carpenter busses on Ford, IH, Chevy or GMC chassis. All sticks.

Steve, I grew up in Lima, Ohio and when moved there in 1962, Superior Coach workers, would drive around on the east side of town; in new front engine School Bus Chassis only, dressed in grey coveralls, sitting on old wooden crates, smoking cigars... My School Shawnee; always had Superior rear engine "pusher" School Buses, with AM Radios and 5 encased speakers of industrial steel, mounted down the ceilings bend, above the seat windows... Starting in the 1960s the rear engine buses were GMC V6 Gas; while older pushers versions had different engines and 3 then 4 and 5 speed manuals transmission... In pushers buses; there was always 1 passenger seat; with larger spacing between seats, creating a row, for the exit by a side emergency door... The Superior Bus "pushers" 1950's to 1970's; had at least three seats with window frames; that were decal marked emergency exit and the entire window frame would swing out... The thing I remember most, about the GMC V6 gas engines: is that leaving School, with a mass of busses lined up; the "EXTREME" lean smell of fumes... !! A benefit of GMC V6 engine was: placing the spark plugs and wire set next to the intake manifold valleys; prevented engine water flood out failure... *The GMC V6 engine was so strong and durable being a Comercial engine: that GMC successfully converted it to a Diesel Version; with not any issues... !! Maybe GM should have utilized GMC V6; instead of the Oldsmobile V8 Diesel disaster... !!

I recall as a kid in about 1968, my school bus lost its brakes. I remember the driver frantically trying to downshift.

Here in NC students drove the school buses up until the mid 80's. There were no adult drivers. You had to have your drivers license for six months before you could get your bus license.

As a kid in the 70’s often high schoolers drove the school bus. Hard to believe today, but that’s how it was in my rural NC upbringing. Our old 4 spd Ford school bus would do about 30 mph up the mountain highway to my home with good ole’ high school senior Ronnie Scott constantly shifting between 2nd and 3rd to coax that beast up the mountain. He would often give it a rev when we got off the bus, key the ignition off then back on so it would give a hellacious backfire just as we walked to the back of the bus after getting off. Pissed us off then, but hilarious to think back on. I couldn’t believe it when I later moved to Florida in the early 80’sband rode on an air conditioned bus with an am/fm stereo and automatic transmission driven by a middle aged driver. Such luxury!

Learn something new on a lot of your videos Steve TY I grew up in Lenox Ma. ( The Berkshires) so I love watching junkyard crawl I now live in Tampa FL. Again thanks Steve, i

I remember being driven home on a school bus from 1stvgrade on a bus.during 69 -70 school year. If you misbehaved on the bus not only would the bus driver yell at you, when you got off she would say "tell your parents what you did." I think the most kids were so terrified of her that they actually told their parents.

Those GMC V6's were very popular in commercial applications. My uncle that owned a commercial painting company in the 1960's had a fleet of GMC pickups all powered with the V6. They were more reliable and heavy duty than a Chevy straight 6 in hard usage applications.

I drove School Buses for 16 years. Loved it best job I ever had.

You know talking about weird engines! Believe it or not! When I bought my 2001 Jeep Liberty limited with the 3.7 v6 also had the spark plugs on top of the plenum next to the fuel injectors! For me that was even better! Because it made a lot easier to change the spark plugs. Now like you as a kid growing up in the 70s in Puerto Rico, I remember riding on them school buses, and where I lived in the island was nothing but hills and mountains and the roads where very restricted and dangerous! I remember the driver doing a lot of shifting and barely having the bus moving up the mountain hills! Maybe doing 25-30mph! Because for one being fully loaded and having them smaller engines, and being heavy, made the bus just huff and puff on them hills. I actually dreaded the thought of riding in such buses! I remember a real bad accident in Aguas buenas, it happened in February 16, 1978. It plunged 500ft down a ravine, killing 11 and injuring 30 others, I believe the bus was overloaded at the time of the accident! But anyway! That was one of the worst school bus accident that happened in the island at that time. After that I really never wanted to take the school bus anymore! It freaks me out! Boy I gotta tell you them bus drivers where ruff and though! And if you didn’t listen back then! They made you walk the rest of the way home!!😂 great story and video Steve!👌😎👍

Ahh yes. The old GMC I rode in , in Elementary school was a Carpenter body.I unfortunately don't know what engine was in it, but we could hear Mrs. Harrison coming down the hill in either first or second gear ⚙️ 🤔 and the RPM's were definitely maxed, lol 😆 eventually, by 8th grade the engine quit one cold morning. A sound like no other : an engine turning in it's maxed RPM range and an instantaneous explosion, to dead silence as it echoes off the other mountains ⛰️ 💥😱😱😳😳🤣🤣🤣🤣

Another great video! In the early 70's I rode a, then old mid 60's GMC Bluebird school bus with a V-6. They made a great sound like no other engine. Back in the 90's I had a 1961 GMC dually flatbed with the 305, powerful but slow, but still very cool. Steve they used cowl & chassis to make school busses. Just a front clip firewall and dash.

You’re maybe not a professional comedian but I enjoyed your impression and joke. More please 👍

As soon as I saw blast o lene thought of the Jay Leno special. I'm 60 and rode to school in international busses with the 2 speed rear end . I learned about double clutching from the driver Mr Allen

I'm 62 and my school had the same GMC V6 Supeior body school buses with some Chevys as well. Later on they had some Internationals and Fords

Steve, thanks for the piece on the long lost, often forgotten GMC V6's.

I like the 4 in 1 gauge to the right of the steering wheel. That would be handy for a hotrod dash with no space

I remember as a kid. I rode on those buses to and from grammar school. The school district had a mix of Gillig, GMC, Chevrolet, International Harvester, Ford and Dodge. I remember Superior Coach, Wayne, Ward Body Works, Thomas, Gillig Bros. who provided the bodies for the Chassis. Buses had 4-speed manual transmissions petrol engines, and drum brakes, later on the buses had to be equipped with escape hatches. Later on they started being equipped with diesel engines, automatic transmissions, and disc brakes. The diesel engines are more economical than gasoline engines, automatic transmissions save on downtime and the same with disc brakes. There are now three manufacturers being Blue Bird, Thomas built buses which is owned by Freightliner and Mercedes-Benz, and Integrated Chassis which is a subsidiary of Navistar Corporation which owns International trucks and bus.

Those GMC V6's were very good engines designed for heavy duty truck use.

In the early 2000s I worked in an engine shop and sometimes we did some work on school buses. Had one with a Cummins ISB giving us a problem, since we were a Cummins dealer I was able to plug in with the laptop and defeat the speed limiter. Got that sucker to 94mph on a test run. Blue bird brick just hammering that air with that flat front end. And I think I forgot to put the limiter back 😄

Gas tank straps and a move to diesel was also implemented around the time of the roof escape. You can probably credit the straps and diesel to me being here, my bus was t-boned in icy fog in the 80's. Car damn near slid under blowing a stop. Hit the tank and folded the fender into the tire. It was one of those buses.

That's awesome! I have a 1966 GMC 4000 dump bed truck with the 351 magnum V6. It is a torque monster!

You would hardly think that little V6 would have enough power to drag around a big bus, ours was a Bedford, at times the driver did not make good gear changes, we would joke 'change them don,t rearrange them' 🤣

Man what a trip down memory lane. I remember the Superior I rode in in the mid 60's in Montreal. That switch panel took me back. Our driver would let us shift the big ol' shift lever as he was driving. Learned all about clutches and shift patters from that dude in 1966. So much for safety back then. I'd always sit at the back in the last seat. When he hit bumps, you'd go flying. There was a floor heater back there under the seats and the hose came loose and damned near scalded us with radiator coolant. Thank goodness we had rubber winter boots on. 😂

Use to have a piston from one that I used as an ashtray, the bore was around 5". Sure it's still around somewhere put that stuff out sight and mind when I quit smoking a decade ago I went to school in the 70-80's I don't recall an roof hatches, not sure my county hand any newer buses though. They still had the rounded buses in service into the mid 80's and they were from the at least the 50's.

Some of those early GMC V6's in the early sixties had tartan (Plaid) valvecovers. Kind of a rare bird, to see a GMC MV series/bus body. Another great video Steve!

This and a little earlier were peak years for GM. The most powerful company in the US. Cool stuff.

1976 our school bus smashed into a garbage truck in the fog,they never had any foam on the seat bolsters and hand rails,just chrome pipe and some kids lost some teeth,pretty scary moment.

The trolley museum in Kennebunkport, Maine has a B model Mack school bus, also a tandem axle school bus. Both are in the boneyard, hopefully awaiting restoration.

When I was a kid, the busses were all International Harvester. Mostly 5 speed manual some 4 speeds

The v6 in my 2011 Mustang dailydriver cranks out almost 310hp and is geared great. Faster than anything we ever had back in high school. 😏335k on the clock now. 62yo here. Miss those old Superior body buses.

Steve, I had never heard of this family of GM truck engines. BTW we are the same age. The full length (😉) Ford school bus we took in the 70s also had a proper manual transmission.

Many years ago, my grandparents were driving near the Wayne Corporation in Indiana, thousands of new school buses were parked in rows, ready to be delivered, and my grandma remarked to my grandpa, "That must be an *enormous* school!"

*STAY SITTIN BACK THERE!!*

I’m 56 and we had International and Fords that were built by Thomas and Wayne MFG. The Fords had 289 and 302’s. Those 289’s got the snot rung out of them on hills😂

In high school , those busses had no problem on the highways.

Great Video! Look forward everyday to a new junkyard crawl!

We went on a field trip to the hadam CT. Power plant two together they raced down rt.9 at 65 then the governor kicked in

In the winter, we would try to get the seats that had the heaters under them. 😊

I rode school busses off and on during the 1970s. There was one, “Bus 9” which we all recognized by the sound, that (as it turns out) was Detroit Diesel powered. Most at the time, were Internationals with whatever big, gas V-8 they used.

Hey I'm 57!!! Man I remember riding buses like that to and from school also. By the way, I have a Hot Wheels Redline S'Cool Bus in my collection and Love it!!! It would be cool to Hot Rod that bus, do a gasser style painted up like the Partidge Family bus!!! Lol.

Wow! I was aware of the GMC six but never researched them too much. A 60 degree V with as much as a 5.125 bore. That's a huge freaking bore. Plus they molded two 351's together for a 702 V12.

I love the GM V-6. Thanks for the content, be well.❤

Zoom in on those torque numbers Steve! These engines were cool, they had no timing chain, they had timing gears! I’m assuming they weren’t eco friendly and that s why the engine was discontinued

steves channel is kind of like one of those informative tv programs that are on really early in the morning

I also rode one of these about 50 years ago. I was a young gearhead, so even then I noticed details about our buses. Ours were Blue Bird diesels for the most part, but they were really slow and underpowered whether gas or diesel. Our buses were an eclectic mix of manufacturers (Ford, GMC, International, etc....). The flat front buses with the engine in the back were quite common in my school district as well. I don't know who made the rear engined buses, so that would be an interesting video if they had one in the yard.

My dad had a truck with the 305 v6 in the early 80s. I think it was a 68 or 69 ,dark green 4wd.

Good video. Glad those school days are over.

I live near the Thomas Built factory. I occasionally see a group of buses going by with French wording on the side. Undoubtedly a convoy of new buses destined for a school district in Quebec.

I remember very well the bus I took to elementary school in the late 60's/early 70's. Strange how it was the same bus for several years running. Maybe Mrs Skee, te same driver all those years, liked that particular bus. Anyway, it was an International Harvester Loadstar-based, Superior bodied unit. 11 rows of seats, usually 3 kids per seat. Can you say "Crowded"? Like your driver, Mrs. Skee was an expert at shifting that 4-speed. In fact, my Boy Scout troop rented a bus from the school district every summer for our annual week of camping in the Poconos, and the Scoutmaster ground the gears regularly... and HARD! The school district started to replace the buses from that era in late 1974, and all of the new ones, still Internationals but now with Blue Bird bodies, had automatic transmissions

As usual. very informative. Always learn something when I watch. I have seen the video of Jay Leno's Blast o lene, and that's what got my attention on this one. I'm glad you gave some background on it, because that lets me appreciate Jay Leno's ride my better.

Pleasure meeting you today at the car show Steve.. I have that 61 Impala. Your knowledge amazes me. Such a nice guy too.

Interesting. I rode on these and Fords and Chevrolets and probably Dodge and Internationals - I didn’t pay that much attention to the makes or what they had in them. I must remember that they were powered by something big and torquey. All of them had manual transmissions back then. When I was starting to become more aware of various transmissions, I assumed they were all granny gear four speeds. Bus drivers had to know how to drive a stick. Don’t remember any of them ever killing a motor by not giving it enough gas.

We had a 1969 GMC bus same v6. It had a np540 5 speed transmission. Used it as a hunting cabin. Never leaked.

I'm 62 and have fond memories of riding a school bus all through elementary school in Jacksonville, FL. I remember the bus I rode was an International Harvester with a Ward bus body. I'm guessing the first was a '65, then later we got a newer '68. Like the one you're showing it was a four speed manual. Years later (early 80's), I would occasionally drive a bus for our church. It was a '72 GMC with a Bluebird body. Interesting thing about it, the manual transmission had a hi-lo range with a button you would pull on the shifter. Essentially, it was an 8 speed. It could keep up with interstate traffic with little trouble.

The diesel version of this was known at the Toro-Flow.

The bus IS the classroom!

Very informative, as always! Thanks Steve.

When I started out on the road with my band...we had a 1967 Ford school bus that we traveled in. Kept our gear in the back half and left the seats in the front and made a bed on the last 2 seats at the back. It was really cool.

Remember riding in one of those in 1st grade. Back when trucks were trucks.

Awesome. Thanks

Very informative video! However I've gotta confess that I'm more than slighlty surprised and disappointed that your zombified Deer head didnt accompany you in this video! I was honestly expecting it during the interior tour. 😅

My dad had the V6 on his 67 GMC company Refrigerated trucks. Bluebird makes their own front end now on their buses because International builds their own in-house buses to compete with Freightliner who owns Thomas buses.

Great video as always. I enjoy these especially being from Massachusetts myself.

Great video with more great tid bits of info, Thanks!!!

I never knew there was ever a V-8 version of these.

If there are any buses there from the 40s-50s, those are ones I'd like to see.

Cool stuff Steve

Very interesting

Drove a GMC bus in a school bus figure 8 race about 30 years ago. It had a V-8, not sure of the size or the year of the bus. The figure 8 track was pretty small so I drove it in 1st gear only. The bus had tons of power and ran pretty quick for something that size. It started overheating pretty bad after about 10 minutes so I shut it down. Still ended up in 4th place out of 9 buses.

All of the buses in our school district when I was in school ('60s-'80s), were Blue Birds... regardless of GMC/IH/Chevy/Ford. The current district buses are still Blue Birds.

When I was in high school (1964-68) I worked in the local gas station and one of the water companies had a small fleet of GMC 3/4 ton pick ups with service bodies that were all powered with some version of this V-6 engine. All I remember about them was that were totally weird, and terribly doggy to drive.

Diesel style torque in a badass V6

Actually the gas V-12 was only used in cabovers. The long-nose 9500's used big diesels like the Detroit 8V-71's.

Really kool bus miss the stiks

Definitely learned something, I never knew they made V6's that large. And I always thought the biggest production V8 was the Cadillac 500 ci. Very cool!

You bypassed the 2 speed rear end switch!!!