I have a longstanding hot take, and it’s that the modern motorhome scene isn’t terribly exciting. Recently, the most fun thing I’ve found in a motorhome that costs over a million bucks is a sport mode. Otherwise, so many motorhomes feel like single-family homes on wheels or rolling casinos. If you’re looking for a motorhome, but want it a bit weird, I found what seems to be a fun option. This 1982 Crown Supercoach started life carrying kids in California. Now, it’s been converted into a simple motorhome for the kind of person who likes their diesel engines in the middle and to row their own gears in a large vehicle.
The school bus is one of the greatest platforms for a custom motorhome. School buses are designed to be durable, sturdy, and safe so they can carry their precious cargo for years. They have all-metal bodies that resist the weather better than a stick build can ever dream of. They’re often easier to work on than a coach bus or a transit bus. There are countless “skoolie” builds out there that are based on modern buses. These buses often have reliable diesel engines with decent parts availability, some modern amenities, and can be wrenched on by many mechanics. A lot of skoolies also have fun interiors that you can’t really get in a motorhome built in a factory.
But I have a soft spot for a skoolie build that saves or preserves an old bus. Those new buses might be easier to live with and have better performance, but these old buses have a sort of beauty that I think no modern school bus can match. A prime example is this 1982 Crown Supercoach RV conversion. I could stare at this rig all day, and would love to find out what it’s like to drive a mid-engine diesel bus with a manual transmission.
The Crown Coach Corporation
This bus was built by the long-defunct Crown Coach Corporation, which was once a dominant force in school buses in the American West. Crown was founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1904 as the Crown Carriage Company. Here’s what I wrote in a previous skoolie article:
Crown was founded by Don Murrillo Brockway and in those days, the company was a coachbuilder known for mail coaches and depot hacks. Brockway previously hunted buffalo for a railroad before moving to Los Angeles and working for Ernst and Rucker, the city’s first hardware store. His real passion was in wagons and carriages and that was the motivation for founding Crown.
As the Crown Coach Historical Society writes, in 1910, the horse-drawn carriage began losing ground to motor trucks. Apparently, Brockway believed that the horse could never be replaced, but reluctantly started building truck bodies, anyway. Brockway’s focus on horse-drawn vehicles continued into 1916, when Crown began constructing open-air buses on Federal truck chassis. Winds of change came in 1921 when Don’s son, Murillo M. Brockway joined the family business. The son could see what his father couldn’t. The horse was losing to the gasoline engine and the company’s fortunes were not in horse-drawn wagons. As the Crown Coach Historical Society writes, gasoline-powered buses were becoming common in the region. Eventually, the elder Brockway was convinced and Murillo was put in charge of the company’s school bus operation. Reportedly, the workers couldn’t remember Murillo’s name and eventually, they just started calling him “Brock.”
The move to buses turned out to be the correct one and, in 1923, Crown moved to a larger facility to meet the high demand. Horse-drawn wagons were phased out entirely as the company went all-in on buses and truck bodies. From there, the company would evolve its buses and even get into airplane manufacturing. In 1927, Crown changed its name to Crown Motor Carriage Company and introduced what is said to be the first school bus with dual rear wheels for greater passenger capacity. In 1930, Crown’s 43-passenger school bus rode on a Mack chassis and for the first time, the company’s buses featured metal bodies.
In 1932, Don’s son, Murillo M. Brockway, took over the reins of Crown while Don remained on as president of the company. Murillo was quick to begin implementing his big ideas for the future of Crown. That year, Crown introduced what’s said to be the first school bus with an all-steel body and a frame integrated into the body through welding. This was done in the name of safety.
Another safety innovation introduced by Crown in 1932 included safety glass with wire mesh embedded in it to better resist shattering. These windows slid open, a massive upgrade over the old-school roll-up curtains that were used in early buses. To increase outward visibility, Crown also started building cab-forward designs where the driver sat at the very front next to the Waukesha gasoline engine. Crown also compensated for potential service brake failures by introducing a redundant hand-operated brake.
In 1935, Crown revised the 1932 cab-forward bus design, creating the Super Coach, which carried up to 76 students. Aside from upgrading the coach’s passenger capacity, the Super Coach also introduced an air-based service brake system. The Super Coach would also serve as the basis of an intercity bus with sleeping accommodations for the All American Bus Lines of New York. To facilitate increased passenger loads on these buses, Crown would move the coach’s engine from up front to under the floor in the middle of the bus, utilizing Hall-Scott gasoline engines.
By 1937, the mid-engine design was implemented on the school bus version of the Super Coach, which upped student-carrying capacity by three to 79 kids. Only three years later, Crown changed the configuration again, shoving the engine in the rear of the bus. The Super Coach was also upgraded to comply with the then-newly established Minimum Standards for School Buses, which set 44 standards for body length, ceiling height, emergency exits, aisle widths, and more.
Come 1946, Crown decided to begin development on a new generation of the Super Coach, which would be called the Supercoach. This bus was originally designed as a transit-style sightseeing coach first, and brought some evolutionary updates to the table. The floorpan was built out of high-tensile steel. On top of the floorpan sat a heat-treated, double-walled aluminum body with riveted panels. The body was mated to the coach’s steel nested channel frame rails and cross-members through bolts and welds.
Adding additional safety to this build were high-tensile steel rollbars and body posts placed throughout the length of the bus. Crown also seems to take the credit for building America’s first production diesel school buses in 1954. From there, the original Supercoach design underwent only a handful of incremental changes until Crown’s closure in 1991.
This Supercoach
That brings us to this bus, which was built right during the beginning of the end for Crown. This Supercoach might have been built in the 1980s, but it’s still based on the old-school 1950s design. The seller gives us some history on the coach:
This 1982 Crown school bus was originally in service in Lodi, California, as Bus #51. It is powered by a Detroit Diesel 6-71 turbo “pancake” engine paired with a 5-speed Fuller manual transmission. Most of the major mechanical components are the same as those found in 1980s Class 8 commercial trucks, so parts are readily available. The engine is mounted in the center of the bus, making it one of the best-balanced coaches available. Combined with Crown’s rigid roof structure, these buses are also known for their exceptional safety. Crown buses were often referred to as the “Cadillac of school buses.” The body panels are aluminum and are in good condition, though the exterior could benefit from a fresh paint job.
I purchased this 31 ft bus in 2003 from A1 Bus Sales in Sacramento. It has been a pleasure to own and drive. Because the transmission is non-synchronized, you must either double-clutch or match engine RPMs to shift gears. It’s very satisfying once you learn, but if you don’t know how to drive a manual transmission, this probably isn’t the bus for you.
I have kept up with the maintenance, including changing all fluids, replacing the belts, and installing a new battery. The odometer currently reads approximately 132,000 miles. However, when I purchased the bus, I was told the mileage might not be accurate, as these buses were built to last 500,000 miles or more and were often repowered with replacement engines during their service life. They were truly built to last.
That aforementioned Detroit Diesel 6-71T is a 7-liter straight-six two-cycle turbodiesel with 270 HP and at least 762 lb-ft of torque on deck. Like any two-cycle Detroit, of course it sounds glorious. Here’s a sound clip from a different Crown Supercoach with the same engine:
What I like about this coach is that the builder of the RV conversion has left the exterior mostly untouched. The stop lights have been deleted, but otherwise, it’s a classy yellow and white bus. It’s hard to tell from the images, but it doesn’t look very rusty, either.
Moving inside, the RV conversion was pretty minimalist, but still seemingly pretty cozy. From the seller:
The conversion began as a simple camping vehicle and has gradually been upgraded over the years. It features a maple floor, custom birch plywood cabinetry and built-in furniture, and a queen-size bed in the rear. There is an RV toilet with a portable black-water tank, and the kitchen sink also serves as the bathroom sink.
The fresh water tank is made from a converted hot water heater tank and uses pressurized water from filling the tank, so no electric water pump is required. The interior lights are wired to the house battery system. My plan was to install rooftop solar panels after repainting the exterior, but I never got around to it. The house batteries can currently be charged with portable solar panels or a portable generator (neither is included).
Since I live in Colorado and only used the bus during the summer, I never installed air conditioning or a permanent heating system. I simply used a portable propane heater when needed. The refrigerator is currently a 120-volt model.
Based on that description, this bus isn’t going to work exactly like a factory-built RV. There’s no air conditioner and only a radiator for a heater. The electrical system depends on solar panels or a generator. The only running water onboard seems to come from the sink, leaving you with a cassette toilet. As for a shower, well, you’ll have to figure that out on your own.
The good news is that most of the missing bits can DIY’d. A portable air conditioner and a diesel heater would be affordable fixes to the lack of HVAC, and an outdoor shower can clean you up. If you know how to build things, there’s room next to the toilet to build a shower if you really want one.
The price for all of this is $30,000, and the bus is located in Carbondale, Colorado. Part of that, of course, is just paying for the vintage school bus itself. Crown was such a famous brand that there are some folks out there who still collect these buses. A quick search does suggest that there’s a market of Crown Supercoach conversions between $20,000 and $40,000.
The seller for this one does say the price is negotiable, so who knows what you could drive it away for.
A Piece Of History
Despite all of that, I love quite a lot of it. I adore all of the natural light from the intact windows, the wood touches, and what appear to be spacious places to sleep. I could totally listen to that engine all day, too.
The ideal buyer for this bus would probably be someone who isn’t afraid to spin a wrench or fix a problem on their own. You’ll also want to inquire about gearing, because if this bus does not have highway gearing, you’ll be going everywhere at around 60 mph. Of course, this bus is also 44 years old. It’s going to have some quirks, almost certainly some problems, and will probably develop a problem at some point in the future. If you just want a cheap motorhome, you can get one of those for under $10,000 on Facebook.
But if you’re okay with all of the above and want something a little more special than a typical motorhome, this bus seems like a neat choice. This rig would look so cool rolling into the vintage RV days at my local campground. Dare I say? If Crown built a Supercoach motorhome, I could imagine it looking something like this inside.
Top graphic images: Facebook listing
A Crown would be one of the ONLY school buses I would want to use for an RV conversion, but you hit on a major issue with them – they are typically geared for the usual stop and go of a school bus route. Another candidate would be a properly equipped rear engine Blue Bird All-American – my hometown has some of those with coach seats and air suspension they use for school roadtrips. The center-engine ones are also a PITA to work on compared to a rear-engine coach, and they still usually have horrible ride quality. If you find one that was meant for long routes that can actually go modern highway speeds, great, but those are relatively rare. Non-Crowns are just a body slapped on a medium-duty truck chassis – and they drive like medium-duty trucks. Nope – I’d want a proper over-the-road coach with air suspension (or an Eagle with thier weird rubber torsion spring suspension) that is meant for doing highway speeds all-day every-day if I was doing this sort of thing. Leaf-sprung school bus conversions just shake the house systems to pieces.
I used to drive coaches as a part-time job. While I am all about “save the manuals” in cars, a non-synchro ‘box in a bus is a major PITA. Because not only are you dealing with a non-syncro box, you are dealing with a non-syncro box with a convoluted shift linkage, a convoluted clutch linkage, and a convoluted throttle linkage (and if karma hates you, an air throttle). And in rear engine buses you can barely hear what the thing is doing if your passengers aren’t asleep. Fun. Give me an automatic. But I do absolutely love Detroits. My choice for a conversion, assuming I couldn’t afford a Prevost, would be a GM PD106 or PD4108. With an automatic, preferably a modern five or six speed Allison upgrade and not the original three speed.
Even for the 1980s that bus is a rolling anachronism, they sure bled that design for every ounce of use they could. Might contest with Checker for the longest lifespan of an original design? Seeing the two together, knowing they were both built in the 1980s is weird for sure.
They were built through ‘91! Ad I mentioned below my high school district ran these through the early ‘00s
It almost feels creepy to see something with that design language in use in the aughts.
Is a liminal bus a thing?
Ford C-Series
How would the body be rusty if is made of aluminium?
The panels may be aluminum, but the structure they attach to is NOT. The chassis and body structure is steel. Basically the same way a Land Rover was built. GM buses ARE nearly entirely aluminum until the RTS. This is something to be very wary of with MCI and especially Eagle coaches too. The body panels are stainless, but the actual structure of them is steel and rusts like crazy. So the bus can look lovely but be rotten as an old pear underneath.
But most Crowns were used on the West Coast and thus saw very little if any salt.
The integrated chassis and floorpan of the bus are steel. There are only a couple of underfloor shots, but it doesn’t look bad.
That last picture, a golden hour shot of the nose peeking out of the tall prairie grass with mountains silhouetted in the background, reminds me of a NatGeo photo of bison in Yellowstone. Since both the bus and bison are relics of bygone eras, only surviving through careful human intervention, it seems fitting.
Hopefully the bus doesnt chase a tourist and flip him 10ft in the air due to anger issues.
They were just playing tag. You’re it!
I rode in lots of Crowns as a kid. My high school district was using them through the early ‘00s. I can still feel the grain of the seats upholstered in super thick green vinyl in my head.
We used to have a Detroit Diesel 6V-53 in the engine test lab, V6, 53 cubic inches per cylinder. 2 cycle, supercharged AND turbocharged. Essentially a 318 it had loads of power in a small package. That thing used to scream!
Great conversion with a super cool drivetrain. My only question/concern is the same issue Mercedes raised: can it maintain normal highway speeds?
A stick-shift, Screamin’ Jimmy school bus RV sounds like it’d make travel tons of fun, and save on hotels while you’re at it! Engine that sounds like it’s going twice the speed it is, and rowing your own gears while you roll from campsite to campsite to kitschy Route 66 tourist destination.
You can rent a lot of cars and hotel rooms for $30,000. You won’t even have to shit in a Home Depot bucket, unless you want to.
I did say it’s not for everyone! Haha. Personally, I’d rather sleep in an RV during every AirVenture than in a hotel. It’s great putting some dogs on the grill while watching some jet tear across the sky.
When I was younger, I used to wonder why so many relatively new movies and TV shows set in California all chose to use vintage school busses, before eventually learning that these were built into the 1990s and were probably mostly brand new at the time
I logged a LOT of seat time in one of those Crowns back in the day. I seriously think George, the driver I had for most of middle school was the inspiration for The Simpson’s Otto character.