My Bus!
I needed someplace to store stuff. Not just stockpiled junk, I mean a place to put motorcycles in the winter, the snowblower in the summer, stuff like that.My garage is pretty much always full and it's a pain to drag stuff in and out of the cellar, so I had two ramshackle storage buildings in the back yard, one made from an old pickup bed with camper shell, another with stud walls and ANOTHER camper shell. Not choice storage, for sure. They were overflowing with "maybe I'll use that someday" junk. I didn't want to erect a building because of the cost, likewise for a semi trailer. I wanted something cheap, readily available, disposable if need be, reasonably water tight...
An old school bus!
So I chainsawed an area in the woods behind the house, just the size of a bus, so it wouldn't show much from the road. I then went on a hunt.
It's amazing when you start looking for something the stories you'll hear. "I just sent three to the crusher." (heard that one twice) "So-and-so bought one last year at a school auction, a 1996 with 70,000 miles on it, runs like new, for $350." (heard THAT several times), and my favorite "We may junk that one and if we do, we'll pull the motor and GIVE the rest to you".
Yeah.
In other words, hurry up and wait.
Fortunately a local junkyard - garage - wrecker guy heard of my plight and decided to be mercenary about it. I think someone GAVE him this old bus and he used that opportunity to drop it off at my house, make a killing, and drive away.
*sigh*
Yeah, bring it here, I want it, sight unseen. When he got here, we agreed on a $300 price; it was clearly a seller's market that day, but I wanted a bus NOW, not late November, and he delivered and placed it out in the aforementioned wooded spot.
I was pleasantly surprised to see it was an International, as I already have a 1943 Farmall H and a 1942 International K-5 truck. It was originally used by the Washburn, ME school dept and then donated for a search & rescue bus. It's a model B-180, no idea of the year, but they made them from February 1959 to early 1962, and one of the taillights has 1961 on it, so it's likely a '61. Here it is being delivered, obviously still hooked to the wrecker.
And here's a couple pics of it in it's "spot".
It was last "on the road" in 1987, and it's last task apparently was to serve as a concession booth at that town's annual August Fest. The inside was rigged up with a stove, refrigerator, milkshake making thingie, etc. There were still posters and handbills inside, along with boxes of napkins, french fry trays, the little wooden forks we used to eat fries with..... all kinds of stuff. Here's some disturbing pics of what the inside looked like.
Here's something REALLY cool,and I may even plug it in and try it... an old milk dispenser thing with milkshake beaters/whippers... whatever you call them! (I've since researched it to be a Silver King milk dispenser with malt mixers... and give me enough time, I'll determine the date.)
Here's about 10 gallons of shortening... lovely! Smelled like linseed oil. I was ever SO cautious with this stuff, didn't want to spill any. The plastic of the jugs is deteriorated and brittle. I placed them in a 55 gallon plastic barrel, so there wouldn't be a mess. "The best laid plans o' mice and men gang aft agley...". My pickup was loaded with junk from the bus and a motorcycle carcass with related debris. It was backed down the hill to the bus, quite a steep slope too! The lawn was wet from the rain and my old pickup has NO traction, so I was SOOOO careful easing out the clutch to make it up the lawn without slipping. The plastic barrel sitting on the plastic bed liner had NO problem slipping off the truck at this point, shattering one of the jugs and spilling a gallon or two on the lawn. Hope the bears like it. And just so it's clear, 55 gallon barrels full of junk and ten, er... EIGHT gallons of shortening, nicely slathered and greasy, present quite a challenge to lift back onto the truck bed.
And here is what Miracle Whip looks like after 19 years.
I spent all afternoon hauling junk out of it, and it's cleaning up remarkably well.