What was the first school bus and what brand

fixerupper

Well-known Member
Didn't want to steal heyseed's thread. The pic of the bus got me to thinking about my first school bus ride and the bus I rode in. It was january of 57 and the bus was a 54 Ford. Rode that thing till the late 60's. Marilyn said the first bus she rode in had the seats along the wall with the passengers facing each other. The heater was the exhaust pipe running inside the cabin from front to back. What was your first bus?
 
My first bus and all the rest were fords since the
bus contract was and still is held by the owners of
the Ford garage in town.
 
Late 70's International. I think a 5 speed, maybe only a 4, but I
know it had a two speed rear end, as I had never seen one
before and was very curious as to why the driver was pulling a
knob on the gear shifter. I can still hear the distinct whine of
the drive train that bus had. Oh, it was bus number 7 too.
 
It was a 1960 Chevy 30 passenger bus. It had a different hood on it. Looked like the one in the attached picture. Until then I rode to school with my Aunt that was the cook at school.
a166857.jpg
 
glad you asked ...story time,...56 chevy 48 passenger gravel road rattletrap ,, lol,,,johnny loew was driver,,we transferred to cecil conrads 53 ford 48 passenger,, in the afternoon trips, one of his chikens occassionaly sneaked a ride to school ,,.feathers on the floor seat , one of the hi school girls was the designated chiken petter/comforter /holder , lol, bus was parked in his granary , and as a 1st grader it always reminded me of home, lol ... cecil had a flat head 8 that would roar and pull hills real good , and cecil did not like to let it set idling because he said it tended to run hot , but I think he just wanted to save gas..LOL. AND he didn't always have a good battery ,, lol...the school was way up on hill in Lanesville In,, many a time , hot afternoon the bus was loaded , all were ready to go home , , cecil stomps his foot on the FORD starter peg,,flathead ,, goes whir whirl, rumpfump,fum , crunk no go ,, we were the last to leave ,,the big boys would hop off ,, and get behind the bus and push til cecil dumped the clutch and the flathead roared to life,, after that happened , cecil asked Kenny to let him go 1st , and he would oblige, ever so often ,,the bus would not start, cecil would wave Kenny to the back of the dead battery FORD ,, Kenny had a new 64 international with a great big shiny front grill,,he could haul 60 kids, With the big boys guiding him thru the back of the Ford ,he eased that new IHC behind the Ford and nudged it no more than a car length and cecil would dump the clutch and had that Ford running like a champ ,.. imagine all the turmoil in
TODAYs headlines if just one of these events occur to our pampered kids ...I thought it was an adventure ...
 
Some mid 60s flat nose, #6, it was parked locally for a long time, might still be there. I remember the name superior and all the metal seats, well the seats were vinyl covered and padded, but the back side was steel and maybe aluminum backed with a funny texture, said Superior across it, and the seat in the back went all the way across, I don't think it had a back door, maybe one on either side at the end. It was about the last one of those in service, the rest were I believe IH loadstar 1600 chassis, all were standard shift, I never saw a school bus with manual transmission and 2 speed rear, as per the below.

The local county road, all farms then, had a small bridge over a creek, and had a nice bump to it, we'd pile into the back before the bump and just about bottom the suspension out and it would spring back hard !

I remember one of the buses had a collision with a log truck and one of my best friends got hit in the face, was out a long time, came back with a zig zag scar down his neck, he was really lucky, nasty accident, with those metal seats.
 
Had to be the late 40's, don't have any idea what it was. All I remember is it had slats of wood going down the inside of the roof. Wish I knew. I must have been in the 2nd or 3rd grade. Stan
 
I don't know the year for sure, late 40's, early 50's Reo. Kind of cold in the winter, but better than walking which I did for my first 4 years.
 
Was a 1957 C-60 Chevy and a farmer, Mr. Ferguson up the road a piece drove it, and come the last day of school every year before Christmas break, he gave each of us one of them huge candy canes that was about a foot long and an inch in diameter as we got off at home. My guess is that if ol' Fergie tried that today, he'd be fired. The next oldest bus there ever was, was an old Ford, about a 1959 or so that Mr. Sheets drove. I figure that Fergie was about 60 back then, and Mr. Sheets was even older. Looking back on it, bless their souls for having put up with us.

Mark
 
'57 Ford 66 passenger bus. Straight pipe exhaust really cackled on the hills around Makanda, Illinois.

My neighbor was the bus driver, and he parked it by the peach packing shed. I was the first and last rider every day, and I worked in his peach orchard, so he designated me to start and warm up the bus each morning in the winter. I was 8 years old, and thought I was 30. The bridge over Drury Creek at Boskeydell, Illinois was weak, and Loren would stop the bus at the bridge and let everyone off. We'd walk across the bridge, rain or shine, and he'd drive the empty bus across and pick us up. Truly the good old days!!!
 
The first one I rode was a '46 or '47 Ford - this was about 1952. I also remember there wasn't much heat ! Last one was a late 50's Chevy - heaters hadn't improved any by then ! The Chevy was a larger bus and rode much better.
 
I started school in 53 and first bus was a late model 40's GMC. Three years latter we got a new bus driver and he bought a new 56 Ford and the school corp. put a new Oneida 66 pas.body( the sharpiest looking bus the school had) on it and we rode that bus till I got out of High School.
 
My first was a mid fifties Chevy 66 passenger, driven by Paul Draeg. He was an Orrville policeman. He would park his cruiser at the bus garage (privately owned buses) and drive bus in his dress blues with his 38 still holstered. The bus owner hired many of the village policemen to drive. The kids NEVER gave him any trouble, although he was a really nice man. He passed out a bag of candy to every rider the last day of school before Christmas break.
 
Don't remember exactly; the year was 1946 so I assume it was a pre-war model of some kind, probably GM. I do remember that it had the long bench seats on either side, with two in the middle back-to-back. The one I do remember was a 1949 Chevy, also with bench seats.
 
Was a freshman in high school in 58 when got to ride a school bus. Chevolet, 36 passenger, and a 53 with 4 speed and no 2 speed. Them ole county roads on a muddy day didn't seen like the driver ever got it out of second. That poor old engine just moaned a groaned the whole route.
 
Don't know- I rode a bus to school in kindergarten and 1st grade and was to young to know. Don't even
know if it was a district bus or contract. We moved just before I started 2nd grade and our house was on
a block adjacent to the school. In grade school the only folks that rode school buses were from the Fort
and they all rode Green Army buses, with yellow school bus signs on them that were hinged in the
middle so they could fold them over and use them for army stuff. I remember one of those buses was a 46
Dodge but their newer buses were flat nosed buses so it was hard to tell who made them or what powered
them. Still walked to school through Junior High but we moved to a farm just before I started High School
and our bus was a 1967 International Harvester but I don't remember who built the coach.

As a freshman in High School both my Mom & Dad were substitute school bus drivers. Dad eventually got an
over the road job and Mom a regular route. My Mom's route had a deficient bridge on it, if she ran the
route wrong any one on the bus had to get off and walk across the bridge, she'd drive the bus over then
they could get back on. Eventually some drunk hit the bridge with his pick up so her route got really
long until a new bridge was put up. The school district's oldest bus was a 1962 GMC with the V6 in it.
Our district had a lot of bus problems, one year the state inspector redlined 10 of the 13 buses they
had, but they went ahead and used them anyway. The next year the state got serious and redlined most of
their buses and made them borrow or rent replacements until they fixed theirs. We got a new bus mechanic
after that. The old bus mechanic fixed buses, did custodial work and drove our route, the new guy did
buses only but a least the buses passed state inspection after that.

I remember most of the buses were IH with the one GMC and a Chevy or two. They bought 3 Fords when I was
a sophomore which was surprising because the old bus mechanic didn't like any Fords newer that a model A.
For the most part I think they had 5 speed manual transmissions a creeper and 4 regular gears. We took
one of the Ford buses on an FFA field trip topped out it ran about 48 miles an hour. I remember one field
trip my mom drove in her IH, it was all high school students and the bus was full, she was never able to
get going fast enough to shift out of 4th gear and we did have about 5 miles on a highway.
 
I am probably the only guy on YT that has my entire life never put one foot in a school bus . :lol:
 
I stated to school in 1945 and have no idea what make the bus was. For years the buses had the long seats down each side for larger kids and lower back to back seats lengthwise down the middle for smaller kids. Until sometime in the late 1980s North Carolina used student bus drivers. I got my driver's license in January 1955, and took bus driver training about April. We had about twice as many licensed drivers as we did buses, so if you scored a driver position, you were looked up to. This was something we took very seriously also. Of course, back then, children were taught responsibility. I drove a 1952 Ford bus with the then "new" OHV 6 engine during my junior and senior years for the grand sum of $22.50 per month. My sister who is five years younger drove a bus her junior and senior years.
 
Interesting. I'd never thought about what kind of buses I rode, even though I'm a "car guy" and could tell you the make and model of every car on the road during those years.

I do remember the strawberry bus, though- this would have been in about 1957 or 8, and the berry bus was a '37 Reo. What a clap-trap. I already knew how to drive, and I remember being worried that the guy would miss a shift on those hills, and we'd end up in a ravine.
 
I never rode a bus to school - because there weren't any buses in our area. I walked 1 mile to a 1-room country school through the first 8 grades. I drove 10 miles one-way to go to high school in all kinds of weather; I made it to school in blizzards that shut down schools today- and didn't think anything of it.
 
Fall of 46, Chev. Not sure of model, but a post-war model.
Middle of second grade we moved to a different town. There we rode an IHC, replaced it with a 50 Dodge. School Supt came on board the first trip. Said it cost almost $3,000, so don't go tearing, cutting,or scratching the seats. As ours was the newest, it was used for all the out of town ball games. Then we had to double up, #5 took the north half, #2 took the south. #2 driver would alternate, take our half route first one trip, next time take his regular route first. Then we wouldn't always get stuck with the longer ride.
School owned 2 busses, ours & #2, Dodge about 46-48. 3, 4, & 5 were owned by the drivers, a Chev & 2 Dodges.
Willie
 
It would have been 1960, and it was a Brockway. Most municipal/governmental trucks here were Brockway- made in Cortland- "Huskietown", about 35 miles away.
The most memorable part to me was the vacuum wipers that didn't work all the way up this road!
 
It was a 1958 FORD,after that every bus was Internationals right up till high school.,Those IH loadstars were tough,the ladys driving reved them before they shifted,,you would swear a piston was going to shoot to the moon
 

It looks like I rode the oldest. It was a 1941 Ford and was owned by Wibur Schurman who had operated a Ford Dealership in town. He must not have managed his money well because his wife drove it and she was extremely nervous and had problems getting the right gear. The year was 1954, and of course that bus was old at the time. It was also small compared to the other two or three buses in town. I can remember that my feet got cold in the winter.
 
First bus was a 50's IH. Don't remember a lot about it. Like Shadetree, students drove buses here too. One month after my 16th birthday I got my "bus" license. Kept one for 5 years. It was serious business. Kids listened to the driver then too. THey knew you'd take them to the principal if they didn't. OR put them off to walk.
 
It's been too long ago to remember what one was on the route in front of the house here,but my Dad drove a different route at the time. The one he drove was the only cab over that the school system ever had. It was the only one with an automatic transmission too. A GMC. Unique to the school system that's for sure.
 
1948 Dodge, driven by an old bachelor neighbor. It was new the year I started school, rode it until my junior year when it was replaced with a 1960 International. Old Fred, the driver, smoked but couldn't when kids were on the bus. Our farm was his first stop so he'd put out his half-smoked cigarette and put it on the window frame to smoke after the kids got off at school. He was frugal, Marvels were $0.12 a pack then.
 
The 54 Ford I rode had a 2 speed, come to think of it. Harold Phillips was the driver and he knew how to shift the two speed without grinding. If we had a sub driver the two speed would griiiiiiiinnnnnnnnddddddd CLUNK every time he went into the high side.

We lost the left rear duals one time when we were slowing down to drop off a student. I was sitting in back right behind the wheel well on the left side. My side of the bus went down and I hit the back of the seat in front of me. When we left the school that afternoon I thought the back of the bus felt a little squirrelly. When the lug nuts are loose it's bound to feel squirrelly! We all got off while Harold picked up the duals and wheeled them to the side of the bus. I don't remember how I got home from there.
 
1948 Dodge with a super low creeper gear, soon
replaced with a '56 Ford 4-speed transmission and a
limited-slip rear end, ordered special for our
'mountain' route. Several times I installed the
dual tire chains on one set while the driver put
them on the other side so we could continue the
trip. I think it was in use until 1966.
 
I started school in 1947. The first bus was an old Indiana (? spelling). I don't know the year. Later that year was an early 40's Ford. Then a 1946 chevy, and we finally got a hand me down early 50's chevy.
 
Started in fall of 49 and always thought it was a 49 Chevy but dought that as don't think it was new, but it was the body style of the 48-49 models, not the prewar with headlights on top of fenders. Some of the others were the prewar body. All 49 passenger Superior coach bodies , built 15 mile away. Never any of the bench along the side like when Dad road a Garfield. And after the war all busses were board owned. And no students ever drove a bus. My first driver was local blacksmith-mechanic and owned the bus garage. Later were farmers.
 
Started school in 1955. Bus # 18. GMC with the V-6. If I remember correctly it had vacum operated two speed rear axle instead of the electrically operated unit on Pop's Dodge's? I believe the bus was a year or two old at the time.
 
All I can tell you Jim, is it was yellow, and Ted Dunkleburger was the driver. That was the fall of 1949 at the Arthur Ia. consolidated school system.
 
Started school in 1943 and rode the/a bus. No idea what it was other than yellow. The drivers owned the bus where I went to school. I can not remember snow days, although I am sure there was some, as when snow or ice was on the road the drivers put tire chains on the bus.
 
Well, I paid no attention to what kind. I started in 1948 and rode a bus all 12 years. About an hour each way. The early years, here in Mi. it was Red, White & Blue ! !
 
Our buses used mostly Wayne bodies with a few Blue Bird bodies mixed in. The Blue Birds were the fancier buses that even had a crash pad on the big metal bar on the back of the seats.

The small buses carried 60 or 72 people and were gas powered on Chevy chassis. The bigger buses carried 72 or 84 and were diesel powered rear pushers for the long sports road trips. The drivers for the bigger buses were all local truck drivers.
 
well I cant find the article I was looking for but the white bros. started making a bus in the late 1920's pretty flimsy looking compared to todays buses
 
Superior Coach, the IH's with the butterfly hoods bring back memories, they were prevalent around here, the old flat nose may have been a Superior as well.
Superior
 
First "bus" was a grey Ford station wagon, driven by Mrs. Nelson. They had a hog farm 4 miles from our house, the farm was next to the school, a 2 room grade school. She carried 7 kids at a time, 4 routes. The next bus was a Chevy Suburban, 1948 model, yellow and Mrs. Willie drove it, she ran the bus "company" from town. Next we rode a big bus to town for 7th grade, it was a 1956 1 ton Ford with a Superior body....James
 
Our district had only Blue Bird Fords. Lee Goering the bus
supt. wouldn't have it any other way. I'm younger than you all -
ours were mid 60's Fords with a manual stop sign. Those
signs never seemed to have enough grease to keep them from
squeaking. Lee ordered every bus optioned as a 66 passenger
with the 4x2 trans. All of the drivers were farm wives. I
remember that in 1974 the district needed 4 new buses but the
Ford plant was on strike. We got Loadstars. Man they stuck
out like a sore thumb! As a farm kid there were many times
that I had to walk back to get the tractor and a log chain in the
winter. I can't imagine folks today letting a 10 year old pull out
a stuck bus with kids on it. When I started driving bus I had a
1979 Ford with the 390 (unit 12). Took it in for an oil change
and they said "this bus can't ever leave this lot again". It had a
crack running all the way across the firewall. They were
surprised the whole front end didn't fall off. I know just which
dirt road killed old 12. It was washboards from stop sign to
stop sign. Poor old 12 just tore herself apart. Then I got a 1986
Ford (31) and ran her up to 131,000 miles. It had the 370. Kind
of a gutless wonder but awful fast. With her in high axle 75
was nothing to her. Course, that was empty on the country
blacktop, so I had room to build up speed on the way home.
Then I got an '87 Ford (9). She had the 429 but an Allison
Automatic. It seems district insurance got tired of putting left
knees and hips in all of the old ladies. As far as I am
concerned Fords are junk, but they do know how to make
heavy duty stuff. I wouldn't drive any other bus but a Ford.
 
I started school in '41, my oldest sister in '34. We both had the same bus until I started 7th grade driven by the same old maid, so it must have been about a '32. After that the local cab co got the contract so we rode in brand new Plymouth cars driven by HS seniors. There were 2 cars on my route so we used to race with everybody cheering. When I got into HS in 1949 we were in buses again.
 

The first bus I rode was a late 60's type chevy, had 42 passenger listed on the roof for capacity, but on more than one occasion we were over that, now days I don't think the school buses are 1/3 full. I think I started school around 76, so the bus was probably 7 or 8 years old. I think it had a 366, four speed with 2 speed axle. The picture is of the school bus my mom rode in the late 50's. Later my Grandpa bought it and along with my uncles turned into a grain truck. Not sure what year it was, it had a 6 cylinder and a 4 speed with 2 speed axle. Was used up until the early 90's as a spare grain truck.
plainsman1101.jpg
 

The link by BillyNY has a picture very similar to the bus I rode as a kid. The sides on the one I rode was a bit taller, but it was that style chevy, thanks for the link!!!!!!!!!
sup3.jpg
 
No idea what model the first bus I rode was, but it was a 48 passenger bus and it was driven by our water hauler, Elmo Jones. He had our route all 12 years that I was in school. He later had a 60 passenger bus. When I was in grade school all of our buses were owned by their drivers, most had small dairies or drove a truck during the day.
 
Started school in 1956. 1953 Reo Safety School Bus. It rode like a tank too!
I was even one of those Safety Patrol guys on the bus. LOL
 
I don't hae a clue what make of buses we had, but I remember when my older siblings rode the bus in the forties the buses were painted like neopolitan ice cream. Red, white and blue. I don't know if this was universeral or just in Wisconsin.

Areo
 
It would have been an International, probably a
late '50's.

When it broke down we rode a GMC/Chevy?, much
older, smaller, if we were lucky it would brake
down on the way to school!

I remember the drivers too. Ilene Admire, sweet
little ol' lady. Then her husband took over
driving, Fred Admire. For some reason we bonded,
he became the grandpa I never had!

That was in the day your parents could let you go
off all day with a man they never met, and not
think anything weird about it. We'd go to the
school on Saturday and wash buses. I think he paid
me 25 cents a bus, but I got to keep anything I
found in the seats, that paid more than washing!
He even let me drive them around the lot, I
couldn't have been over 10 or 12 years old.

Sadly he died of a heart attack one summer, still
miss him sometimes.
 
Started school in 65, bus was #20 driver was Mr Clum. In 12th grade winter was too cold for my car to start so got on bus #40 driver was Mr Clum still. Found out after he passed he was a minister.
 
I remember a lot of those, seems there was a variety amongst schools, most had their own, none of the "big operators" were involved. I remember the hand crank door operator, standard transmission, the PA system, where the bus driver could yell at you, and the buses here had those pipes that dropped traction sand in front of the wheels. IH made an unbelievable number of bus chassis, seemed like it around here. and how about the darned windows, older buses they'd jam more.
 

When I started school, our school had nine buses, each owned by its owner. Some farmers, some carpenters, and a few small business owners who owned the buses, each one was a hard working man. I don't remember a PA system, but if someone was causing trouble you heard him loud and clear, LOL.
 
I know this post is dated but I had to tell this. My dad is in his mid 70's. When he was about 8 or 9 years old he road a "school boat". Yep. The boat was a small homemade wooden jon boat that would come up the river and pick up kids and finally drop them off at a point from which they walked about another 3/4 mile to school. No life jackets. No rails. Just a boat load of kids of all ages. High water. Low water. Rain, sleet, snow, or sunshine. It made no difference. Can't you see that happening today?
 
Bison:

You're not the only one. First & second grades
were at a Church school just 3 blocks from home.
Third through sixth grade were at a public
elementary school just six blocks from home.
Junior High (7,8,& 9th grades) were a mile & a
half from home. And High School was 5 miles away.
This is all in the City & there were no school
buses - YOU WALKED. Only had school buses for High
School field trips or for football athletes,
playing games at other schools.

Doc :>)
 
In 1979 & 80 I taught Auto Shop in the Arizona desert. Teachers helped drive the athletic teams. I drove a Bluebird, with 2 speed axle and a 5 spd.
No air conditioning in that heat.
 
The first bus had to have been a 1940 red, white and blue
International or older because I started school in 1940 at North
Adams, Michigan. Internationals and Fords were most popular
until about 1950, then a lot of Chevrolets got bought by the
local town schools. Most all buses then had Superior bodies.
 

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