Finding our 1985 MCI Coach Bus

Bus it on Home's Origin Story - It's Now or Never

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Restaurants were just starting to close, it was the beginning of the pandemic. New terms like "essential workers" were fast becoming part of our everyday lives. Those of us who were lucky were transitioning into working from home on a “temporary basis”. The news was all Covid, all the time. We had that feeling of we know life is about to change, but we weren't exactly sure what that meant yet. We were settling into the unknown For us that was a little bit of an uneasy feeling coupled with the disbelief what’s happening.

One Sunday afternoon we set out for a drive to clear our minds. There was a beautiful Alabama spring afternoon being offered outside and we were going to take advantage of it! Earlier that morning Chris had been scrolling through real estate apps. So, with no particular place to go, we loosely plotted a course to drive by a few of the houses.

As we were leaving the city, still on the main thoroughfare heading toward the route that will lead us to the country roads, we drove past a huge bus sitting in the parking lot of a small local church / private school. Perched slightly on a hill was a greyhound bus for sale with $7000 written as the asking price. I was intrigued but keep the thought to myself for the moment. I eventually looked over to Chris and told him the price I had seen on the bus. He said he had noticed it too but thought for sure it said $67000. Which also seemed reasonable from what we know of buses the larger one seemed more in line with what one would think a charter bus would cost. Yet, I was certain it said 7K. Immediately, we our conversation moved to, do you know how much could fit into that bus.

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The bus sitting in front the school, attracting passersby.

Since we were out for a drive to nowhere, we circled back around to check that price up close. The price indeed, was listed at $7000. We walked around the bus and were still impressed at the listed price.

Even so, we continued our journey and enjoyed the afternoon looking at homes we had no intention of buying. However, the conversation kept returning to the bus we'd just seen; wondering what engine it had, miles, what transmission, year. Chris decided he'd call. He could request the details and see if there was a chance, we could get a peek inside. What harm could it cause? Lo and behold, if we slow our pace, someone can meet us. It's like it's meant to be, we'd be passing by any way.

I thought this was crazy and would never come to fruition, so I played along. Besides, all we're doing is wasting time and so far, it's been an amazing daydream. Chris, of course, has made friends with the gentlemen and talked him into taking us for a ride on the bus. Before I knew it, we were going down the road in a whole entire coach bus that seats 44.

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Chris inside of the bus.

We learned the bus is a 1985 MCI (Motor Coach Industries) 96A3. It had a little over 388,000 miles, Detroit diesel and Allison transmission. With every word Chris heard he showed more and more excitement. The school has owned the bus for about the last 15 years; they used it for their sports teams and the occasional field trip. They also have the service records since 1997. We seem to be hearing one good thing after another. We part ways after spending about an hour with the bus.

As you can imagine, a google frenzy ensued as soon as we were home. I started looking for other MCI busses that had been converted. Chris is checking prices and using his mechanical background to determine if this is a good deal. I thought we were continuing the daydream albeit on a large scale; it was a welcomed break from the "new normal" we'd been settling into. But it turns out, we were really looking at this bus and making real decisions. At this point, we have concluded converting a bus into a roaming home is something we'd very much like to do. We are certain of this much; we've found a great deal on a charter bus and it would be a solid purchase. Again, at every turn things kept falling into to place. Ah, but where do you park it? This is the proverbial wrench in the plan, isn't it? The bus is 40 feet long, 11 feet 2 inches tall, about 8 feet wide. We don't have anywhere to park such a beast at home.

I will admit, I am anxious about making any decision, let alone deciding to buy a whole bus out of the blue. I thought great the parking will keep us from having to decide and one day we will talk about you remember that time we almost bought a bus. Ha ha, not so fast, I had an epiphany and thought I might have a solution. There is a concrete pad sitting at my mom’s for a pontoon boat that is not being used. I am sure a charter bus won't fit there, right? I mentioned it to Chris; his eyes lit up, he asked questions like, how big was the boat and how thick the concrete pad might be. It’s obviously, a real possibility.

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The concrete pad we planned to use for Bus Parking.

The day after we saw the bus, Chris is back at the bus to measure. Then off we go to my mom's house to measure. He's checking clearance of power lines, turn radiuses, widths, everything is being measured. He has determined he can make it to the pad. But, it's sloped, the flat part of the pad is not 40 feet. We measured again; Chris is walking around scratching his head thinking. He said we are not out yet as he remembers the bus's wheels are not 40 feet apart. We needed to go back to the bus to measurement from the back of the bus the front wheel. We've got about 36 feet to work with. As you may have guessed, like everything else with this bus so far, it was almost an exact fit and we had the room we needed. Not by a lot but it should work.

This was it, the last piece of the puzzle was solved. The bus was a good deal, it had been well taken care of and seemed to be in good working order. We believed, in theory, we had a place to park the bus. All we needed was the money. We didn't have $7000. We decided if we could talk them down on the price a bit, this would be our final sign, the bus might just be meant to be ours. So many of the other issues had already worked themselves out, we left it to the universe to decide. We had a good portion of the funds, so we'd offer it as a down payment to hold the bus. Then we'd ask to pay the rest over about a month and half. For better or worse Chris made the call and set up a meeting. He worked a deal for $5500 and they agreed to hold it until the balance was paid. We managed to set aside the rest of the money within a month's time. Next thing you know, we were planning to pick the bus up and bring her home. But, that's a story for the next post.

Stay tuned...