Introducing the Topsy-Turvy School Bus. This, um... unique vehicle is the work of Tom Kennedy and Haideen Anderson, who managed to weld together two school buses with the purpose of delivering a political message. One has to be batshit-crazy to want to weld two school buses together, right? Not necessarily. This project was commissioned by Ben Cohen, who is better known for being one half of the Ben & Jerry ice-cream-empire duo. Ben wanted to demonstrate how topsy-turvy the U.S. budget is, by...wait for it...creating a....topsy-turvy bus! More »
We've all daydreamed about it at least a little. Thumbing our noses at the man, tossing out all our worldly possessions and hitting the open road for good, throwing caution to the wind. Then by accident you pick up an Auto Trader and flip to see page after page of dirt cheap Blue Bird school buses just waiting to enable that fantasy. Well Jake Von Slatt didn't quite go that far, but he has provided a very helpful step by step on how to convert your own bus into a rolling abode. With some ingenuity and help from a couple of friend, John transformed a decommissioned diesel pusher and built his own home away from home for about $5,200.
In what is clearly a great moral victory for America in a time when victories are rare, akin perhaps to Kurt Russell's defeat of the soviet hockey team in that movie, Scotland has decided to invest in a technology that the U.S. of A. has been a leader in for decades: the big yellow school bus. Based on a study that showed 40% of primary school children and 30% of secondary students get to school by car, local officials see it as a move that could relieve congestion. Said a local MP "These iconic vehicles have been providing safe means of carrying children to and from school for generations in North America." America! America! America! Take that Europe, with your efficient public transportation system and higher densities that have limited the necessity for school bussing. [Scottsman.com]
Our two contestants yesterday were pretty evenly matched, with the Turbo 2002 beating the KA24DE 510 by a nose. Today, it's time to really explore true project lunacy, with a couple of vehicles that would be sure to make your neighbors recoil in horror if they were to see either one being dragged into your driveway (trailing a shower of sparks and rusty parts). Vehicles that, in spite of their ungodly awfulness, have potential to be incredibly fun customized hoonwagons.
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Cadillac Catera shock absorber -- sensa-trac shock-absorber, front, sold individually, position sensitive dampening for drivers who want greater more »
Who doesn't secretly wish he or she owned a wheelstanding school bus? It's a goddamn wheelstanding school bus, after all. You hear? A school bus that does wheelstands! Think of the fun to be had! The mirth to be made! The wheels to be stood upon! Admit it. You totally want one. – Davey G. JohnsonMore »
In a move tantamount to selling the Brooklyn Bridge, the New Orleans public school system decided to sell off one of the 250+ school buses damaged from Hurricane Katrina. These are the same school buses which could have been available post-Katrina for evacuation of residents, but instead were parked in lots below sea level. Did we mention they were rendered unusable due to flooding? Yeah, they were. Like any enterprising scool district faced with leaving a great number of children behind, they put it up on eBay, figuring someone would decide the bus was their "it." Well, good move, cause the rusting wreck received bids approaching $6,700! Talk about money for nothin', right? Well, not so fast. In a Chertoff-like display of bureaucratic ignorance, the school system's lawyer nixed the sale temporarily due to an administrative oversight. Jeez...can't New Orleanians get a break just once?
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The EPA says 24 million children in the US ride the school bus every day. That's a lot of emissions (even not counting the erasers emitted from kid's hands into the atmosphere of drivers' heads). Commercial hybrid-drive developer Enova Systems and IC, the largest school bus manufacturer in North America have worked up a prototype hybrid school bus with a diesel-electric powertrain they say could yield a 40 percent increase in fuel economy, with a commensurate reduction in emissions. The bus in question, powered by Enova's post-transmission 80 kW mild hybrid system, is undergoing testing at IC's Fort Wayne, Indiana plant and will be delivered to a customer later this year. Still, the system doesn't address the amount of time school buses are spent at idle, which may be the most serious emissions threat from big yellow, but it's a start.
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Latest by Downshift: A schoolbus is an obvious candidate for regenerative braking. They also ought to have spring-motion generators in the seats. As more »
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Our two contestants yesterday were pretty evenly matched, with the Turbo 2002 beating the KA24DE 510 by a nose. Today, it's time to really explore true project lunacy, with a couple of vehicles that would be sure to make your neighbors recoil in horror if they were to see either one being dragged into your driveway (trailing a shower of sparks and rusty parts). Vehicles that, in spite of their ungodly awfulness, have potential to be incredibly fun customized hoonwagons.
More »
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