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Some are snapped up to keep right on doing what they're designed to do. Others transform into the wheels of the party.
By ALICIA CALDWELL, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 23, 2002
They called themselves the "Bad Bus Boys," a group of Tampa gearheads who spent countless hours on one very special project.
Their work of art? A NASCAR party bus that started its life as a 1971 International school bus. They installed bunk beds for the guys to crash on, a table emblazoned with race car driver autographs, and a roll cage and safety net over the driver's seat -- just in case.
"We had a lot of fun with the old thing," said Jessie Jackson, a technician at Billy Nelson Automotive, home to the party bus.
The Bad Bus Boys aren't the only ones to discover the possibilities in an old school bus, that dowdy icon of reliable conveyance. State motor vehicle records show hundreds of privately owned school buses in the five-county area of Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas.
Along with many predictable uses -- ferrying churchgoers and farm workers to their destinations -- interviews reveal some offbeat second careers for school buses. A Citrus County family made one into a camper, complete with kitchen and shower. At least two businesses in the area have retrofitted several as mobile gymnasiums. And a Tampa man uses one to cart plants for his xeriscaping business.
Old school buses are popular for many reasons, but the leading one seems to be price. They're dirt cheap. Once a school district is through with them, usually when they've got 10 years and 200,000 miles on them, you can pick one up for $3,000 or $4,000.
In August, Tampa Machinery Auction, which sells many of the local school districts' surplus buses, auctioned 26 of them. Final bids ranged from $1,350 to $8,100 for a 1990 model with air conditioning, said David Nelson, president of the auction house.
Some old buses are bought by area businesses.
A Clearwater electrical contractor bought one in 1998. He had 175 people working on Islands of Adventure, a massive theme park at Universal Orlando, and needed to move the workers within the complex. Many other contractors did the same, said John Kavula, president of APG Electric.
And at least two Tampa Bay area businesses, Tumblebus and Gymnastics Fun, removed the seats, padded the floors and installed equipment to make old school buses into mobile gymnasiums.
Charlene Lawson, owner of Gymnastics Fun, based in Largo, said she goes to 30 preschools a week so that children, 10 to 14 at a time, can tumble and ride zip lines for half-hour sessions.
As well as practical business uses, old school buses have a retro cachet to them, like bell-bottoms. In the 1970s, "housetrucking" was popular among the tie-dye set.
Jane Lidz wrote a book, Rolling Homes, published in 1979 that documented the phenomenon in Oregon. It is an out-of-print classic that can fetch upwards of $100 for a used copy. In an interview, she said the Florida RVs and party buses sounded as though they had some of the same whimsical aspects that distinguished the trend she documented.
"It sounds like the same spirit in different form," said Lidz, a San Francisco photographer and artist.
It's a statement that seems to apply to the Ross family from Dunnellon. They bought a 1987 International bus last year for $1,200, drove it to their home on 10 acres in Citrus County and went to work.
It took shape quickly. Dennis Ross, 43, took out almost all the seats and installed wall-to-wall carpeting, air conditioning, a microwave and a refrigerator. It has two bedrooms, including a master bedroom with matching curtains and a comforter. Clouds, a sun and flowers are painted on the ceiling and walls.
Recently, Ross, his wife and daughter drove it to a campground in Live Oak on the Suwannee River. They towed a horse trailer behind them and spent the weekend riding and camping.
"I call it my redneck motor home," Ross said.
He estimated he has spent $5,000 on the project, cheap considering the price for a traditional RV. One that is 10 years old and 40 feet long sells for at least $50,000, said Gary Gage, manager of Easy Days RV Sales in Tampa. He acknowledged that old school buses can be converted for much less, but there's a difference, he said.
"I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but it's going to be an old school bus no matter what," Gage said.
To be sure, an old school bus turned camper can be a bearskins and knives experience. Art Avery, a Lakeland broker who buys and sells about 100 used school buses a year, said most of his go to South American interests for public transportation.
But he has frequently seen them at Bike Week in Daytona Beach or in the infield at racetracks. They are used both as grandstands and rudimentary shelter, equipped with coolers and sleeping bags, Avery said.
"It's not what you would call a luxury motor home, but it gets you out of the rain and protects you from the sun," Avery said.
To make it anything more requires a fair amount of skill in metal and woodwork, said Nelson of Tampa Machinery Auction.
"I've heard stories about guys who've started out to do that, and it sits in the driveway for three years until the wife says, 'Get the darned thing out of the driveway or I'm leaving,' " he said.
Indeed, the bus retrofitted by the guys at Billy Nelson Automotive is up for sale, but the circumstances are different. Three years ago, Billy Nelson, who was seriously ill, committed suicide. Terry Nelson, his widow, said she couldn't bear to take the bus to races without him. At one point, she was asking $10,000.
"It needs to be with someone, a group of people, who will use it and have fun with it," she said.
That's exactly what the Dunseths of Brooksville do with their "NASBUS," a play on the word NASCAR as well as an acronym in its own right. It stands for "Not A School Bus."
John and Jeanne Dunseth bought the 1980 Ford school bus from the Citrus County school district six years ago for $2,300. They are huge auto racing fans and had rented RVs a few times to go to races.
"We got tired of renting them for $800 for a weekend, so we decided to make one," Jeanne Dunseth said.
The NASBUS is covered with racing memorabilia. There is, however, a hierarchy in the placement of driver numbers. After he died in a crash in Daytona 19 months ago, driver Dale Earnhardt's No. 3 was put in a place of respect over the bus door. Before?
"Earnhardt used to be on the waste tank," John Dunseth said. "I'm a Ford man. He drove a Chevy."
The Dunseths go to 10 races a year and a few bass fishing tournaments, and occasionally drive to Texas. The NASBUS is outfitted with a kitchen, a shower, bunks and a steel viewing platform on the roof.
"We've had six people living on this thing five days and never run out of anything," John Dunseth said. "We've had a lot of fun with it."