We are now the proud owners of the 1997 Amtran / International 66 pax school bus. T444E engine - 190 HP w/ turbo, 112k miles. Air breaks. Rear Engine. 85% tread on the tires, Heated mirrors, No rust at all, semi new alternator (they wrote replacement date on it with magic marker - end of 2007)
The bus is 35' long, with 6'6" of headroom. It is in great shape - a little dirty on the inside from leaving the door / windows open on a dirt storage facility in the middle of nowhere. I brought my father in law with to check out the bus prior to purchase, he owns a large mechanic shop and is my mechanical guru. The bus has been sitting idle since 2007, and it cranked on the first try. The air breaks were still charged with air, all of the lights work.
It even has a camera and VCR, and alarm that goes off when you enter the without doing something? It just says the authorities are being called...it doesn't actually call them though, kind of an odd feature. It has a CB radio of sorts, but not sure if it works or if it is an actual CB.
It was a locally operated bus - owned by First Student, but once their contract was up with the school district, Durham got the contract and they parked about 25 buses. I talked at length with the mechanic who really liked to T444E engines, he stay stay away from the 6.0 at all costs. He told me about the maintenance program at First Student - mandatory 4000 mile full inspections. Any leaks must be repaired, the engine has to be scanned, oil changed, suspension checked, breaks checked (replaced at 50%) - etc.
I paid $2,000 bucks and it has a 3/4 tank of gas.
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