Crown Coach School Bus 40 foot Rear Engine Classic Old Rounded Body Style (1989)
Sale price: US $19,800.00 Make an Offer
| Used |
| “Perfect RV/Skoolie Conversion Platform! The most beautiful classic school bus ever built, HUGE 700 cubic foot underfloor enclosed storage, Powerful Cummins 8.3 Engine, Allison MT643 Automatic Transmission, fully reconditioned immaculate classic bus, ready to drive anywhere! Immaculate, fully serviced, all flaws corrected, including some big ones, Solid, Much nicer than most old Crowns. You must see this one to believe it. It's so fresh and almost new condition.” |
| Fuel Type: | Diesel | Type: | School Bus |
| Make: | crown | Cummins 8.1 Non-Computerized Motor: | Allison MT643 Automatic Transmission |
| Model Year: | 1989 |
San Bernardino, California, United States
Vehicle description
WHAT"S SO SPECIAL ABOUT CROWN COACH BUSES Over the last few years, vintage Crown Coach school buses have earned their way up to being the most desirable platform for a motorhome conversion platform. First off, they"re absolutely beautiful! Retired Bluebird and Thomas buses are just plain boxes, and it"s difficult to make one look attractive. The Crown is so beautiful that people come running up at truck stops and parking lots, just to take pictures. They are true classics. Equally important, Crown Coach buses are known for being some of the most durable motor vehicles in history. Crown went out of business after over 70 years, in 1991, simply because their buses never wore out, so the districts stopped buying new ones. Crown Coach Corporation shut down for good over thirty years ago. Yet, remarkably, literally thousands of Crown school buses, stayed in daily school service, even though the company that built them was just a distant memory! Every school day, they continued reliably and safely hauling students, until, literally 26 years after Crown went out of business. Crown buses never wore out, but they finally met their demise when they got legislated off the road because of emissions in 2017. To make certain the old buses were permanently taken out of service, the states paid the school districts huge amounts to have them all crushed and scrapped. A few hundred Crowns somehow survived the slaughter. This particular bus was one of the few survivors. It got sold to a private party in 2012, well before the slaughter, and got reg istered as a non-commercial "car" in 2012, so it went "off the radar". As a collector and restorer of Crown Buses, I personally have one 43 year old Crown which has over a million miles on it, and which I just took on a thousand mile trip to a vintage bus event, last weekend. Of course, it drove perfectly! With proper maintenance, a Crown has almost no expiration date. As beautiful and durable as Crown Coaches are, there"s an additional and important reason why so many people choose them for their highway homes. They are just about the ultimate driving experience! Tremendously powerful, they corner like sports cars, perform masterfully over hills and highways, and driving a Crown is considered by many to be "the most fun you can have sitting down". There"s a reason for that. Crowns are built out of mostly lightweight industrial aluminum and have full "unit body" construction. They"re not a body bolted onto a frame. They"re a completely welded and rivited together unit body and frame assemply, and are so rigid, that they don"t flex over any surface, like normal trucks and buses do. They weigh far less than other buses, and yet are much stronger than most any large vehicle. Interestingly, Crowns are so safe that the state of California never required them to have seat belts installed! With a low center of gravity, they corner flat and hardly lean at all, even at high speeds! Crown buses often get compared to Porsche cars, since each brand is an icon of high speed and handling, in its class.
And, like other high value collectibles, Crown Buses increase in value, every year. With high demand, great value and limited availability, the continued value increases aree likely. Look at the VW Microbus as an example. A tiny little Microbus will often bring double what this Crown is selling for, and more.
WHY THIS PARTICULAR CROWN IS THE ULTIMATE RV CONVERSION PLATFORM Almost all Crown buses had the engine mounted amidships, under the floor. That limits under floor storage for generators, water tanks, luggage, plumbing, heaters, air conditioners, and such, to be mounted under the bus floor, since the engine is there. That certainly complicates the conversion process, however, it hasn"t stopped the several hundred people who have converted these beauties into motorhomes and even permanent residences. But, this bus is different. . WAY different. It"s one of only a few old body style (rounded) Crowns built with the engine mounted in the rear, and it has over 700 cubic feet of enclosed underfloor storage! Look at the pics. It"s HUGE under there! Besides the rear engine, it"s also one of a very few full 40 foot long Crowns, that didn"t have the tandem dual rear axles. So there"s something like 25 feet storage between front and rear axles, waiting for you to try to fill it up with stuff!. Look at the pics. It"s like a 40" high apartment building under there! Also, this Crown is equipped with a "modern" rear mounted Cummins 8.3 Liter Diesel engine. It"s an early one, with no computers. .all "mechanical", so it has the old-time reliability. But parts and repairs are available at any Cummins qualified shop. The Cummins 8.3 is considered one of the finest and most reliable/durable diesel motors in history, and this one is VERY powerful and quiet. And, it"s not smoky or smelly like most Crowns with the older style vintage diesel engines. So, you get a vintage classic Crown Bus with a modern rear-engine Cummins with no computers and no DEF required. With 40 feet of length, HUGE underfloor storage, a modern powertrain, rust free alumunum body, a lovely creamy yellow paint job, hardly a dent, and gorgeous Crown styling, and the seats are already removed for you, what more dould you ask for?
This bus was retired in 2012, and put in northern California storage in 2013, where it pretty much just sat tiill I bought it last winter. After 8 years sitting dead in a storage lot, many of the seals, gaskets and other parts had deteriorated from sitting too long, and it almost immediately sprung a huge hydraulic fluid leak from a failed hydraulic fan drive motor. We ended up having to trailer it several hundred miles to our Southern California shop, for restoration. There, we re-manufactured the hydraulic motor, repaired a dozen other oil, water and air leaks, re-wired several sections where rodents had chewed up the wiring, changed all the fluids and filters, serviced every item than can be serviced, replaced the batteries, repaired defective gauges, adjusted steering free play, replaced the tachometer, replaced light bulbs, hand polished the sun-faded paint, detailed the entire bus, and power-tuned the 8.3 engine. There were more repairs, but I honestly don"t remember them all. Suffice to say, this is a "turn key" bus in every way we can think of. Although one doesn"t get a warranty on a 32 year old vehicle, we"ve done everything in our power to repar and service every aspect of the bus, so the new buyer can enjoy it, not have to rebuild it! It drives flawlessly, has practically zero rattles (very unusual!), and is very powerful, smooth, and easy to drive.
When you pick it up, I will personally give you several hours of easy instruction on how to drive it and maintain it. You will leave with confidence as a Crown owner and driver. You will also receive a California title, all required documents, and a 21 day permit to drive home on. Crown buses are expensive, so, of course, this rare restored Crown is expensive. But, too many RV builders skimp on the bus to save money for the conversion. Then, they end up having to cheap-sell the finished product when the bus they built their conversion on, turns out to be no good. You read about RV breakdowns on the road, all the time. Having this Crown as your platform and with the thorough and complete job our shop has done in restoration, it"s a solid investment to build a conversion on. And the size, storage capacity, powerful Cummins and beautiful condition, make this a lifetime investment. My name is Al Jennings. I"m a Crown collector and restorer, and also do vintage bus shows and "ride & drive" events around California. I"ve been in the commercial vehicle fleet management business for over 50 years, so I"m reasonably well qualified to restore a bus. If you think you might be the right person for this Crown, call me at 310 500 6574 or email me at aljennings @ live.com, and let"s talk about it. I need to trim down my collection a bit, so I might have something else you like, as well. Any calls from bus lovers will be answered quickly and we will have fun chatting about my favorite subject. You might want to go on my YouTube channel AL JENNINGS CROWN AND GILLIG COLLECTOR, to see some of my other buses and some recent video of this bus. It"s labeled as "Ojai Valley Crown #2" on its videos. I have MANY more pictures and videos you can request by text or email.
VIN on this bus is 1C9WJ1GA8KC102220. Mileage is about 325,000, which is reasonably low for a 32 year old bus. (Just as an "aside", as I mentioned earlier, I personally own a 78 Crown that has over a million miles on it, and just drove it on a thousand mile trip, without glitchs of any kind. So, 325K miles on a Crown isn"t much!) Tires all have good tread. All glass is good. All safety equipment works. There are no signs of collisions or old damage on the bus, and there"s virtually no rust. Cruises happily at over 70 MPH all day long. Last California CHP inspection was about 4,000 miles back. And we just went over it, top to bottom.
Life is short. Travel is wonderful, and owning a Crown is a rare and special joy. If this is "your moment" to change your life, don"t turn back! This is a rare opportunity to own the best of the best, and for less than a used economy car! Make the call. Whether you get a bus or not, we"ll have fun chatting! Best wishes! !
And, like other high value collectibles, Crown Buses increase in value, every year. With high demand, great value and limited availability, the continued value increases aree likely. Look at the VW Microbus as an example. A tiny little Microbus will often bring double what this Crown is selling for, and more.
WHY THIS PARTICULAR CROWN IS THE ULTIMATE RV CONVERSION PLATFORM Almost all Crown buses had the engine mounted amidships, under the floor. That limits under floor storage for generators, water tanks, luggage, plumbing, heaters, air conditioners, and such, to be mounted under the bus floor, since the engine is there. That certainly complicates the conversion process, however, it hasn"t stopped the several hundred people who have converted these beauties into motorhomes and even permanent residences. But, this bus is different. . WAY different. It"s one of only a few old body style (rounded) Crowns built with the engine mounted in the rear, and it has over 700 cubic feet of enclosed underfloor storage! Look at the pics. It"s HUGE under there! Besides the rear engine, it"s also one of a very few full 40 foot long Crowns, that didn"t have the tandem dual rear axles. So there"s something like 25 feet storage between front and rear axles, waiting for you to try to fill it up with stuff!. Look at the pics. It"s like a 40" high apartment building under there! Also, this Crown is equipped with a "modern" rear mounted Cummins 8.3 Liter Diesel engine. It"s an early one, with no computers. .all "mechanical", so it has the old-time reliability. But parts and repairs are available at any Cummins qualified shop. The Cummins 8.3 is considered one of the finest and most reliable/durable diesel motors in history, and this one is VERY powerful and quiet. And, it"s not smoky or smelly like most Crowns with the older style vintage diesel engines. So, you get a vintage classic Crown Bus with a modern rear-engine Cummins with no computers and no DEF required. With 40 feet of length, HUGE underfloor storage, a modern powertrain, rust free alumunum body, a lovely creamy yellow paint job, hardly a dent, and gorgeous Crown styling, and the seats are already removed for you, what more dould you ask for?
This bus was retired in 2012, and put in northern California storage in 2013, where it pretty much just sat tiill I bought it last winter. After 8 years sitting dead in a storage lot, many of the seals, gaskets and other parts had deteriorated from sitting too long, and it almost immediately sprung a huge hydraulic fluid leak from a failed hydraulic fan drive motor. We ended up having to trailer it several hundred miles to our Southern California shop, for restoration. There, we re-manufactured the hydraulic motor, repaired a dozen other oil, water and air leaks, re-wired several sections where rodents had chewed up the wiring, changed all the fluids and filters, serviced every item than can be serviced, replaced the batteries, repaired defective gauges, adjusted steering free play, replaced the tachometer, replaced light bulbs, hand polished the sun-faded paint, detailed the entire bus, and power-tuned the 8.3 engine. There were more repairs, but I honestly don"t remember them all. Suffice to say, this is a "turn key" bus in every way we can think of. Although one doesn"t get a warranty on a 32 year old vehicle, we"ve done everything in our power to repar and service every aspect of the bus, so the new buyer can enjoy it, not have to rebuild it! It drives flawlessly, has practically zero rattles (very unusual!), and is very powerful, smooth, and easy to drive.
When you pick it up, I will personally give you several hours of easy instruction on how to drive it and maintain it. You will leave with confidence as a Crown owner and driver. You will also receive a California title, all required documents, and a 21 day permit to drive home on. Crown buses are expensive, so, of course, this rare restored Crown is expensive. But, too many RV builders skimp on the bus to save money for the conversion. Then, they end up having to cheap-sell the finished product when the bus they built their conversion on, turns out to be no good. You read about RV breakdowns on the road, all the time. Having this Crown as your platform and with the thorough and complete job our shop has done in restoration, it"s a solid investment to build a conversion on. And the size, storage capacity, powerful Cummins and beautiful condition, make this a lifetime investment. My name is Al Jennings. I"m a Crown collector and restorer, and also do vintage bus shows and "ride & drive" events around California. I"ve been in the commercial vehicle fleet management business for over 50 years, so I"m reasonably well qualified to restore a bus. If you think you might be the right person for this Crown, call me at 310 500 6574 or email me at aljennings @ live.com, and let"s talk about it. I need to trim down my collection a bit, so I might have something else you like, as well. Any calls from bus lovers will be answered quickly and we will have fun chatting about my favorite subject. You might want to go on my YouTube channel AL JENNINGS CROWN AND GILLIG COLLECTOR, to see some of my other buses and some recent video of this bus. It"s labeled as "Ojai Valley Crown #2" on its videos. I have MANY more pictures and videos you can request by text or email.
VIN on this bus is 1C9WJ1GA8KC102220. Mileage is about 325,000, which is reasonably low for a 32 year old bus. (Just as an "aside", as I mentioned earlier, I personally own a 78 Crown that has over a million miles on it, and just drove it on a thousand mile trip, without glitchs of any kind. So, 325K miles on a Crown isn"t much!) Tires all have good tread. All glass is good. All safety equipment works. There are no signs of collisions or old damage on the bus, and there"s virtually no rust. Cruises happily at over 70 MPH all day long. Last California CHP inspection was about 4,000 miles back. And we just went over it, top to bottom.
Life is short. Travel is wonderful, and owning a Crown is a rare and special joy. If this is "your moment" to change your life, don"t turn back! This is a rare opportunity to own the best of the best, and for less than a used economy car! Make the call. Whether you get a bus or not, we"ll have fun chatting! Best wishes! !