Sure hope you read this post!
For eight years I drove these exact vans as part of a rural bus service here in Oregon. "Tupperware Buses" we'd call them. One of the largest fabricators of these is Champion. BEWARE! If this is a second or third hand vehicle... RUN!!!!
These vehicles are severly underengineered! Their breakdown rate is terrible. If you want details let me know and I'll provide some details of my personal experiences with these "Tupperware Buses"
Go with the 15 pass. vans, they ARE much more reliable!

 

Try www.atlantictrutletop.com They might have What your looking for. You can call and ask for a brochure. If you do call though tell them Sergey from New York City sent you.

 

Perhaps where YOU are. But more likely that is urban legend.

 

I was looking over one at a junkyard and I will voice the concern others had about side collisions. I do not know how well these would hold up in any collision. Are you going to replace the seat/lap belts with a three point belt? What about a side hit? Does the body have a metal barrier running down the side of the fiberglass/wood body?
Will it hold up the same as a sheet metal side?

That being said, I think it would be very cool to own one. Rubber floor mats with a large amount of kids is always a plus if you allow them to eat in the van. I think it will be much easier to get everyone in and seated then having to crawl through a side door.

 

I have documents prepared by lawyers who state that I'm right and you're wrong. In fact, I have a compendum that includes the specific bussing laws and regulations for each of the 50 states.

One big issue is the side impact and rollover intrusion protection. The big horizontal "bars" that run the length of a bus are not decorative, my friend. That's one very important and specific reason that a 15 passenger van doesn't meet code for school use.

You should do some research. :-)

 

Let's see the cites. Let's see some documentation.

 

How am I supposed to give you a url for documents on my shelf and in my files?

 

If you have the documents, you have the references. Many states (most, perhaps?) have their entire legal system; statutes, regulations, and codes, online in a searchable format. All you have to do is look up a few states, find the equivalent section online, and post the URL.

Pretty simple, really.

 

We bought a 95 E350 van conversion bus that was originally used for wheelchair transport. It had over 175,000 miles on it. Be sure to check the transmission carefully -- the E40D is usually having problems in the early years at just over 100,000 to 125,000. Ours just had a reman installed just before it was retired. We now have over 190,000 on the rig. It has the 460 and we have made several round trips from near Pittsburgh, PA to Roswell, New Mexico with 13 persons on board and towing a heavy 10 foot box trailer with gear. Average about 11.5 mpg and used less than 1/2 quart of oil for each round trip.

If you find a perimeter seating van you can change it to row seats, but must be careful that you are not bolting just through the plywood floor.

One other note to check is the inside width. Ours is a narrow body dually. There is also a wide body model -- it gives more room inside -- the duals are covered by the body instead of a fender flare.

Ours is a Champion. The body does have a steel tube framework under the skin. I know because we had to do some body repair because of rust in the wheelwells and body panels. The outside skin on our 95 is steel bonded to plywood installed over the steel tube framework. Around the floor level is a heavy steel channel that is 3 inches high.

Hope that helps.

Best of luck.

 

Sure hope you read this post!
For eight years I drove these exact vans as part of a rural bus service here in Oregon. "Tupperware Buses" we'd call them. One of the largest fabricators of these is Champion. BEWARE! If this is a second or third hand vehicle... RUN!!!!
These vehicles are severly underengineered! Their breakdown rate is terrible. If you want details let me know and I'll provide some details of my personal experiences with these "Tupperware Buses"
Go with the 15 pass. vans, they ARE much more reliable!
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