Blank Canvas: 1950 Chevrolet bus
It seems that the short bus used to be the butt of every school transportation joke, but as of late they seem to be the pick of the litter from retired bus fleets. This 1950 22’ Chevrolet example was sent in by an anonymous Barn Finds reader and can be found here on eBay in Eureka, Montana. The reserve has not been met after 29 bids have pushed the price to $3,103.
Now long defunct, but once a premier – and innovative – manufacturer, this bus was built by Wayne Works. I lack firsthand experience with Wayne Works products, but I’ll add “quality” to the list of describing adjectives as this 70-year-old bus appears to have, all things considered, held up remarkably well. It’s obvious from the pictures this bus at one time wore yellow paint, presumably indicating prior use as a school bus. The seller describes the exterior as being in “nice shape” and “rust free for the most part”. It’s noted that the only rust through is some areas of the floor and the passenger side inner cowl.
The interior is a blank canvas for the next owner. That’s probably for the best as I’d find it hard to believe anybody would be returning this bus to school bus duty. All you have to work around is what looks to be an original driver seat. The seller offers some conversion suggestions – RV, food truck, tow rig, or Harley hauler?
Powering this 22’ school bus is a 235 inline-six, which does run! Gears are shifted through a 4-speed manual transmission. The seller doesn’t know if either are original, but notes the bus runs “really nice”, doesn’t smoke, and idles smoothly and quietly. There are some mechanical issues to address, including the clutch pedal and brakes. I’m sure you’d want to dig deeper than that, especially considering the breadth of work required on the rest of the bus, but as far as “lot driving”, you may not be far from it.
I’m sure this style of bus evokes vivid memories for many, but every single time I see a 1950s school bus, I can’t help but picture the Electric Mayhem bus from the 1979 live action musical The Muppet Movie. So, naturally, if I were the high bidder on this 1950 Chevrolet 22’ bus, that’s the route I’d take with it in restoration. The possibilities are nearly endless, so hopefully somebody with a deeper vision than me is the high bidder.
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Comments
“C’mon, get happy”,,,
Depending if an adult can stand in the back this would make a cool party bus (think a limo but a bus for drunk 20yos going to a bachelorette party) obviously with modern frame and drivetrain swap.
Other options would be some sort of food truck, small camper, heck even a race support vehicle towing a trailer with your rally/drag/cross/climb car to an event.
Either or were talking big bucks but i think with a rolled over F350 as a donor of modern driveline, suspension, frame, brakes the value of this would rise.
Were talking 7000lbs payload and 20,000lbs towing? Or is the 20,000 rating for gooseneck trailers only?
Looks like a late ‘53+ engine with full pressure lubrication. It would’ve left the factory with a Babbitt-Pounder, either a 216 or the optional 235 (not this version). No matter what was under the hood you still had vacuum wipers that stood still when you needed them the most.
This bus is in pretty good shape compared to the buses I rode on when I was a kid. Those old gravel roads just hammered them to death. A lot of them went 300K miles and the frames gave out.
First bus I rode was on an International S150. That one often finished a run on four or less cylinders because the valve adjustment kept coming loose. The owner sent that one down the road in favor of a ‘58 GMC with a 270/4spd that probably was in worse shape than the Binder. The owner had a special forked stick that he propped between the shift lever and the dash to keep it from jumping out of high. That and an exhaust system that kept rattling apart, burning through the brake line or just leaking into the interior and making the kids sick. Maybe that’s why so many of us vote the way we do???
I don’t have a lot of good memories of those school bus days but I could write enough stories to fill a book.
I started taking the bus to school sometime in the early 70s in rural Virginia. 1958 GMCs and Chevy buses were the norm and us kids used to relish a ride in anything newer. I think by the time I graduated in 1980 there were still some old, early 1960 GMCs hauling kids. You could tell they were ragged because the yellow paint had faded and chaperones would be needed to keep young’uns from stepping behind the huge tailpipe blowing smoke. Ah, g g g g good memories, these!
Ya, I can picture that
I got in trouble for drawing a hot rod school bus, Ed Roth style. The teacher told me that there was no future in art.
Last year a sinkhole trapped a Port Authority bus in a wheelie position and was reminded of that.
“No future in art!” Too bad the art teacher didn’t hear that.
Just picture this bus with a ginormous blown Hemi up front, Rat Fink rowing the shifter, boiling the slicks.
I used to draw caricatures of cars and some people. I got into trouble especially when a caricature of the school superintendent and one real prissy teacher in a compromising pose showed up. They only suspected it was me but they had no proof. I told them I only caricatured cars, trucks, bikes and tractors….
Shocked………geomechs…shocked…………… I say!
Shocked, MtnW? I thought I was just being myself: a run-of-the mill redneck. Sides, I just drew caricatures. There was a guy in my Fifth Grade class made an obscene puppet. Pull on the guy’s head and feet and watch what happened. A bunch of girls found it and stole it. They were subsequently caught playing with it. Of course I was the first one on the carpet…
I rode one of these when I was in elementary school in the 50’s. It always smelled like vomit inside.
I rode in full length versions of this when I was a kid. Everything inside was that hospital green painted metal. The color was ubiquitous in America in the 50s and 60s and we turned out just fine, didn’t we? Didn’t we?
Hahaha!
Wayne Corp. was Divco-Wayne at some point as they made Divco step and drive
trucks usually for milk delivery also Ice, water softener salt, and what ever.
I restored a 67 Divco-Wayne milk truck, “Old MOOO”, changed the stump pulling rear end ratio and drove it for 6-7 yrs and sold it. Also in 1969 the Poice Dept I was on ran the ambulance service as a lot of cities did before EMS, and we had an ambulance that was a Divco-Wayne build, was on a Chevy Surbuban.
Our school district had 50’s chevies and Jimmys. One had holes in the floor by the rear wheels- the kids put their books over the holes to help keep the heat from escaping. I’m sure a full size bus of kids put that six thru its paces. Had good drivers that treated them with TLC. Stay safe!
Cheers
GPC