Spring, '99
 Sexy Flxy
Winter, '02
- by Pete Snidal (C) 1999-2007

When it comes to busses, it's hard to find much more personality than that of the Flxible Clippers. Whether Original Clippers - first developed just before WWII, or the later '50's Visicoaches, (fewer, larger windows) or Starliners, (a "bump in the roofline to accomodate under-floor baggage compartments at the rear), they just oooooooze personality!

We - my wife Ljubi and I - spent a number of years full-timing in the 80's, travelling between our home in British Columbia and the Baja pensinula in the winters. Our home was a converted 72-passenger Thomas-bodied school bus, and it was very comfortable. Although we looked over many other motorhomes during this period, the only one that really "turned our cranks" were the few Flxible Clippers we saw on occasion. So, when one became available (it practically jumped into my yard,) I brought it home for one last hurrah at bus conversion.

Poor old Flxi was in pretty bad shape, although the body was completely sound. He was pretty well stripped out inside from his previous conversion, had the almost-traditional hippie wood stove with the hole cut in the roof for the stove pipe, the motor was shot, he needed at least a couple of tires, and at least one windshield half. But at this point, what we mostly saw was what we intended to have when finished, so home he came.

Following is the story of the rehabilitation. It is written to share with the reader the trials and tribulations of bus salvage/conversion. This story is neither one of the easiest nor of the most difficult cases - some restorers actually find themselves replacing skin and body parts; some merely buy a well-converted used rig and maybe repaint the outside. But my advice to the beginner would be: buy a fresh schoolbus with a certified chassis (engine, trans, brakes, tires, etc.), remove the seats, strip the metal out of the inside, and go from there. For the stronger of heart, here is the story of Going All The Way. This time, we did all this because we wanted a Flxi. No other. And here's why:

This is our bus, "Sxy Flxy," as it was when we had it towed home in the spring of the year 1999. Note low frontal area, and low frontal height, due to the baggage compartment being behind, rather than underneath, the passenger area
At this point, it needed a full restoration, inside and out. Exterior paint was flaked and peeling - covered over with a mopped-on heavy coat of exterior house latex. Interior was trem-clad and/or latex mopped on over surface rust. Lots of work to come! This shot shows Flxi in his new pasture, parked right beside the donor bus.

Also required was re-powering - the original DD 4-71 had a broken cylinder liner, and I wanted to replace the 5-speed Spicer Trans with an Allison Auto. Coincidentally, I just happened to have a 391 Ford Industrial engine, already coupled to an Allison 4-speed, and some internet consultation revealed that big block gas V-8's are quite satisfactory in these light clippers, so that was the first item on the agenda.

The interior was mostly stripped out - and had been an extremely inexpert job to begin with, consisting primarily of a poorly-adapted set of kitchen cabinets and counters. So the plan was to strip out the interior completely, strip and refinish all interior metal, and insulate, vapour barrier, and panel with lightweight doorskin mahogany. Then the reconversion could begin!

Not much to _that!_ The best part was, however, that there was virtually no rust anywhere. The unibody chassis was completely sound, and the body had only a couple of small pinholes - they used real steel in the '50's!

And Not Just A Pretty Face...

A look at the bus chassis itself tells you that they're certainly worth the trouble to restore. A Thing Of Beauty that should never be relegated to a junkyard!

Engineering

The DC-3 of Highway Busses

First introduced in the late '30's, as was the Douglas DC-3 - the first realy viable commercial airliner, were the Clippers - considered by many to be the first real Highway Passenger Bus. These were not just a hastily-cobbled body built around a truck or modified passenger car chassis, but were an integrally-designed monocoque unit - like an aircraft fuselage.

They were obviously designed by and for engineers. Very light in weight - about 14,000 pounds stripped. (Drive Train and Interior extra.) And yet very well-constructed and strong.

They show a tremendous versatility in choice of power train. Engine/tranny is rear-mounted, in a tunnel accessible by opening the rear engine door. A removable rear cross member comes out of the way to allow the power unit to be rolled out the back. Usually, the power unit is mounted on a "cradle" bolted to the frame, so that they can be removed and replaced as a unit. Consequently, they can be found powered with just about any kind of engine you can imagine. Over the years, they've been supplied with:

For Transmissions, they have been most often supplied with 5-speed manual overdrive gearboxes, but Allison Automatics are of course becoming very popular with owners. In the lighter-use cases, they've even mangaged to get along with some of the larger regular Automatics such as Turbo 400's, Hydra-Matics, and Ford C6's. In a word, they are VERSATILE! (You might even say "Flxible!")

For Brakes, they use Air exclusively. Nothing like air brakes! Although they theyre originally built without "Maxi-pot" spring-type parking brakes (they relied on a big driveshaft disk brake for this,) many current owners are opting for replacing their single-chamber rear brake pots with the newer spring brake setup. This gives a much better and stronger parking brake, and the added saftety feature of coverage in case of air pressure failure.

Comfort

The rear engine mounting makes them quiet inside, and they are generally sprung very comfortably as well. The later models even have torsion bar suspension on front! And of course they they're well insulated for road noise. Since most have been converted to RV use by now, they are really comfortable, with carpeted and insulated floors, etc. Add to that the regular amenities such as the usual mod cons - fridge, stove, air conditioning, TV and stereo, big fluffy beds and roomy seating and dining areas, and you might wonder why owners ever bother to go home to a regular house. Answer: Some Of Them Don't!

Sxy Flxy - History of a Re-Conversion

The Construction Year By Year

Here's how it went year by year: