Get Shorty! 1938 Ford Superior School Bus
Marty Robbins started his 1960 #1 western ballad hit with the words, “Out in the West Texas town of El Paso.” Well, here’s another potential hit that was found at a West Texas Ranch in El Paso where it had been sitting for more than 50 years. The seller thinks this 18.5’ long “shorty” has hot rod and rat rod potential and is offering this 1938 Ford Superior school bus for sale here on eBay for a BIN price of $9,200 or best offer.
The bus has a Superior Body Company of Lima, Ohio plate on it. This coachbuilder specialized in professional vehicles, primarily hearses and ambulances, as well as school buses which they sold throughout the U.S. and Canada and even exported abroad. The coachbuilder was the first to introduce an “All-Steel” school bus body and had a 70-year-run until closing its doors in 1980 after a downturn in business. The seller shares that “the bus isn’t currently running but rolled well enough to load onto a trailer, has rust, and the condition of the drivetrain is unknown.” Yes, it’s rough and will need a lot of work, but there have been much rougher buses offered for sale since so many that didn’t meet Mr. Crusher were parked and left outside. The photos show rust, dents, scratches, cracked and missing windows, a missing rear bumper and mirrors, and it’s unknown how well the passenger doors shut. I’m guessing that’s probably the original yellow and black paint.
The inside is described as “incomplete,” and the photos show missing passenger seats and front passenger rails (which are usually removed anyway during hot rod/rat rod restorations). The driver’s seat is in tatters and the steering wheel, dash, and gauges are in rough shape as well, probably due to what appears to be a missing windshield. It’s hard to tell the condition of the floor boards.
The bus’s back door opens because there are several photos taken of the passenger area through the back door. There are rear tires and other stuff stored back there so you can’t see the entire floor, and it will need work like the rest of the bus, but overall the “All-Steel” body looks okay for its age and for sitting outside 50 years.
Although not running, the seller claims the bus has its original Ford Flathead V8 engine but nothing is shared about the condition of its floor-mounted manual transmission and the bus’s drivetrain. Let’s face it, there just aren’t many 74-year-old school buses that have survived the ravages of time and Mother Nature. Yes, this would be a project requiring lots of time, effort, and money, but there’s just something cool about the look and shape of this old Ford Shorty school bus that makes me hope it can be somehow saved. Marty Robbins, Chili Palmer and I have our fingers crossed.
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Comments
First of all, unless someone changed the frontend sheetmetal this is a ’39. I learned the difference between a ’38 and a ’39 before I began First Grade. Whatever the case, the ’38 has been my favorite pickup since I first got interested in old trucks. I used to go to the field with a farmer who used to adopt me for a few days each summer. He had a ’38 pickup and a John Deere D tractor. I have the tractor and sure wish I had the pickup.
First full year of the 24 Stud engine and the first year of the 2-brush generator with a 3-unit regulator. Consequently, the generator itself is quite rare in that it has a one-year-only generator with the fan on the shaft. The ones before that were 3rd brush with a cut-out relay. Of course, you can still adapt a 3rd brush generator to a voltage regulator; just set the 3rd brush for maximum output and hook it up.
What to do with this? Well, fix it up of course. I wouldn’t bother to fix it up as a bus but it would be great for hauling stuff to the swap meet. A good chase truck for a motorcycle run to Sturgis? Could even sleep in it. It’s small enough that it isn’t all that imposing. Once again I sure hope that this goes to a good home and gets fixed up and appreciated…
You know too much, but I commend you with your knowledge. You like myself are KOOKs, Knowledge Of Obscure Knowledge. Its nice to see someone else like this, Thank you.
Correction:
“Keeper Of Obscure Knowledge”
I have to admit that I was hard to beat in Trivial Pursuit. And trivia can be a curse…
I have been called a KOOK a few times in my life. Hearing this always hurt and offended me. And yes, I have alot of knowledge of obscure knowledge. We, the keepers of this knowledge should instead be proud of what we know.
geomechs is correct and Al is tipping his hat. This 1939 Superior school bus would be a nice project. But the $9,200. price is nuts. More like a $3,200. bus. Prices have gone up far too much.
BTW — usually school buses are dated wrong going the other way. They put last year’s chassis under a new school bus body and call it this year’s model.
ie: More common to see a 1938 chassis under a 1939 body, instead of the other way around. How’s that for Kooky knowledge! :-)
I’d find a wrecked F-250 / F-350 Super Duty and Start there with the running gear.
If your pockets are deep enough, this would make a cool personal camper!!
EKSTENSIVE METAL WORKS would come up with a few ideas. I believe John Force has one of these restored , may be a little newer than this one.
I believe John Force’s is a ’56, and was the subject of an ‘OVERHAULIN’ episode…
Yes, I am one of those Kooks also. Knowledge of a lot of now Useless Info.
KOLNUI? (sounds Hawaiian) Superior (Bus) died from competition and the ever changing new School Bus Regulations.
Cool bus!
Sam Shive has the correct idea with the chassis. Then do minimal body work and it is the perfect Rat Rod/Burning Man vehicle.
Looks like the same bus we used when I was in high school in El Paso. The District left it at the school for the Athletic Department to use to get us to football games. We had to get out and push to get it up all the hills. Wore us out just getting there, but eventually we built some strong muscles!
One of the school bus contractors/dealers in Albuquerque has one of these restored, about the same year, really sharp, with all the original running gear.
Like to see it. I’ve always been partial to the Barrel-Nose…
I’d even go back a decade or so to a plywood model (like 95 y/o Dad rode to school). The heck w/maintenance. A heavy K2 coverage every 5 yrs or so? Garage /barn kept? Pimped up w/chrome cross bars’n such (steda paint)?