"Good" buses can be expensive . . . and the bad ones will break the bank. :shock: But if you want a bus, want a daily driver, want to come out cheaper than buying the average decent used car, there is a formula that works . . . sort of. Bay window buses are plentiful, at least compaired to split windows. The 72 and later buses have type 4 engines that are going to be expensive up front, or expensive somewhere down the road. A little known fact is that bay window buses are still rolling off the assembly line in Brazil and up until about a year or so ago they were powered by a type 1 1600 dual port engine. My point is, you can't have your cake and eat it too, but you can have your bay window bus and not have to deal with the type 4 engine.
Find an old bus that is structually sound . . . ignore the rust in the outer rockers, the lower door skin and the dog legs, that stuff doesn't hurt anything but the looks. Get a new windshield seal (and you probably a windshield . . . if you don't to start with, you probably will before this is over). Take out the windshield, clean up all the rust, treat it, prime it, paint it, and put the windshield back in. Rebuild the front suspension. A good deal of work, but not really that much money unless your steering gear is bad. Clean and repack the CV joints and install new boots. Go through the brakes. Now all you need to do is find a good used type 1 (bug) engine and install it where the expensive type 4 engine used to live. OK, maybe that's a little oversimplified, but hey, even Justin was able to do it! When your done, it'll take you anywhere you want to go. Most of the time it'll get you home too!
After a while you get used to not having all that extra stuff . . . like enough horsepower to pull it out of it's own tracks and stuff. Zero to Sixty times are over-rated anyway. So is a good paint job. The main thing is that it will go (eventually) and stop (quickly). The rest if fluff. It's the fluff that is EXPENSIVE. :lol:
Homer the Super Bus . . . Living proof that driving a bus doesn't have to cost a fortune. So what if he's a little on the ugly side . . . so is his owner! lol
