AUDIO RECORDING OF MIAMI DADE 1979 WARD GMC C60 SCHOOL BUS #144060. GM 366 V8.

[MrWill1985]

The only time I ever rode a Ward of this model I dont know what year they were built but the only times I rode them were on school fieldtrips at my first Elementary school and a couple of times as spares at my second Elementary school in the event our 1993 Thomas was out of service for maintenance and a few days from when it was involved in an accident and during that time we got stuck with a 1984 Wayne/Chevy.

[jmkpns]

Couldn't you get a 460 in some of those 70's Ford Buses?

[MAR1NAB5180]

@jmkpns No never got a chance to record one of those,.

[david123321ism]

The part between 3:30-3:45 is my favorite.

[Pimp2O11]

I helped a friend of mine move some things this past weekend. She rented a GMC Uhaul which I think was about 10 years old or so. She got her uncle to drive the truck. When I rode in that truck, the sound of that transmission shifting took me back to the days as a young buck riding the school bus. I think it was a 1977 International Loadstar 1800. I think it had an Allison transmission like this one does on the video.

[riverice7]

I remember this type of bus in 1980 going to the Miam Sequarium on a school trip, they really sounded strong and seemed to go really fast, down the Rickenbacker Causeway,

nice memories!

[MAR1NAB5180]

@riverice7 At the time of this recording the bus driver told me the 1979 GMC's Ward's and the 1975 International Blue Birds were the fastes buses in the fleet we would pass the newer 1987 diesel school buses on the palmetto expressway like they were standing there and those were going anywere between 55 to 60 mph.

[blackwrangler]

much better bus than the new thomas fs65

[gcorp19512]

One more comment. Does anyone remember the gear shifter? Our buses had them next to the driver's left knee. Two of my years of riding these buses, our route had a turn-around. I remember the "conk-conk"sound as the driver would shift from drive to reverse, and the "cllunk" sound shifting back to drive. As a side note, these buses didn't have park on them. Just had reverse, neutral, drive, 3,2,1.

[JBW929]

@gcorp19512 I remember the GMC buses having them on the left. The GMC buses we had in high school were always breaking down.

[gajda1984]

@gcorp19512 The clunking sound is the transmission gears activating.

[65bigjoe]

@gajda1984 i loved these buses .when they took off.they sounded like the was realy going some where you know.i drove one for about 5 years of my 21 years of driveing a school bus

[gcorp19512]

I should have mentioned that the BBs were Chevy c-50s and c- 60s. The Wayne was a GMC, but I don't remember the model. Those buses started to be retired in 1983, the last two going in 1987.

[gcorp19512]

I also remember the jumping between gears. Our school district had ten buses with these trannies, and all of them jumped at one time or another. Nine were Blue Birds of 1972 vintage and one 1974 Wayne. Oh the memories........

[asulca593]

is there any particular reason the Aliison automatics sound like that?

[Fast355]

@asulca593 The way the gears are cut



[asulca593]

@Fast355 interesting....

[asulca593]

@Fast355 interesting...the shifts are very hard, though i understand this is better...modern vehicles today have such a soft shift, a trade-off between comfort and reliability, i guess

[ford9572]

It sure is man!!!

[ford9572]

Man!!! This brings back some EXTREMELY FOND mwmories for me!!! When I was in 5th grade up to my Sophomore year in high school which were 1984 to 1989, I rode on 1982 to 1983 Chevy C-60 Carpenter buses as well as 1983 GMC 600 Superior buses that had 366 and 427 4 barrel V8s and Allison AT 540 and 545 transmissions, I LOVED the HEALTHY ROAR of those engines and the sound of the Allisons going up and down through the gears!! this is a REALLY NOSTALGIC trip down Memory Lane for me!!

[mattmatt115]

@ford9572 Thats really cool =)

Im 24 and i already have memories like that from being a kid. Life is a wonderful thing isnt it?

[spydog50]

i love 366 and 427s good moters back then nice sounding

[8v71buses]

Man this sounds awesome. I prefer the loder school buses over the ones that are made now

[jgp2756]

That is an awesome video. I used to drive in SC and had a GMC for 2 years. Most favorite bus! Love the sound of the transmission and engine roaring. Would love to drive one now even if it was for just 15 min! Thanks.

[65bigjoe]

@jgp2756 what part of sc did you drive in.i drove in the low county of sc from 84 to 2003

[shnorth888]

This brings back memories of a 1979 Superior/GMC school bus i rode on as a teen. The bus had the 366 v8 and Alison auto trans. Love that sond when the tranny kicks in. The other superior and Blue birds, and Thomas buses on GMC chasies had a manual trans instead of the auto

[gajda1984]

count me as a subscriber.

[kaiyoshi2243]

Cool! Someone else is bringing back the old Bus sounds. Love that Allison whine. Thanks!

[johnwilliam0825]

just the sound of the engine and the allison tranny bring back memories..

[rts9100]

You actually recorded a school bus?!?!?! WOW!!! But it sounds strong!

[MAR1NAB5180]

Yes i got 6 of them in total this one plus 2 1979 Ford Thomas school buses with 370 V8 gas engines 1 1982 Blue Bird IHC with 345 V8 gas engine 1 1986 Blue Bird IHC with Navistar 7.3L diesel engine and last 1 1987 Blue Bird IHC with Navistar 9.0L diesel engine all with automatic transmissions.

[rts9100]

Did you post them? i wanna see!!!

[MAR1NAB5180]

As of now just this one i need to check the other recordings to see if they sound good those tapes are 21 and 22 years old .If they sound decent enough ill upload them here.

[gajda1984]

i hope you they are able to be posted! I rode buses like this through elementary school and was to young to think of recording.