Endangered species: Busschola crownii
Early-to-mid-1980s 1979 Crown A-855-11 Supercoach school bus with an underfloor amidships Cummins diesel engine and Fuller Roadranger ten-speed manual transmission.
(Awestruck from seeing this rare beast still on the road, I forgot to verify the model year and check the model number.)
These large school buses (referred to as transit-style or Type-D, or an overgrown Twinkie snack cake on wheels) were once a common sight on West Coast (USA) roads, especially in southern California, home to the Crown Coach Corporation until the company went out of business in 1991. While not inexpensive to purchase, these buses were designed and built to be the safest and most durable of its kind, meaning lower costs over its 30+ year lifetime. (I'm sure the school district got quite its money's worth from this beast).
Sadly, this particular bus is not long for the world and is about to meet the same depressing fate as has thousands of Supercoaches before it. Due to strict diesel emission regulations and the inability to retrofit these buses' underfloor horizontal straight-six diesel engines, school districts up and down the state have been mandated to replace these with low-emission buses under the condition the old buses be sent to scrap. As the replacement deadline looms near, most larger school districts have already scrapped their Crowns in favor of cleaner-running buses; private contractors will have to sell off or scrap their fleets of Crowns before too long.
Endangered species: Busschola crownii
Early-to-mid-1980s 1979 Crown A-855-11 Supercoach school bus with an underfloor amidships Cummins diesel engine and Fuller Roadranger ten-speed manual transmission.
(Awestruck from seeing this rare beast still on the road, I forgot to verify the model year and check the model number.)
These large school buses (referred to as transit-style or Type-D, or an overgrown Twinkie snack cake on wheels) were once a common sight on West Coast (USA) roads, especially in southern California, home to the Crown Coach Corporation until the company went out of business in 1991. While not inexpensive to purchase, these buses were designed and built to be the safest and most durable of its kind, meaning lower costs over its 30+ year lifetime. (I'm sure the school district got quite its money's worth from this beast).
Sadly, this particular bus is not long for the world and is about to meet the same depressing fate as has thousands of Supercoaches before it. Due to strict diesel emission regulations and the inability to retrofit these buses' underfloor horizontal straight-six diesel engines, school districts up and down the state have been mandated to replace these with low-emission buses under the condition the old buses be sent to scrap. As the replacement deadline looms near, most larger school districts have already scrapped their Crowns in favor of cleaner-running buses; private contractors will have to sell off or scrap their fleets of Crowns before too long.