1961 Crown Supercoach

This 1961 Crown Supercoach A779-11 was manufactured as a 79-passenger school bus that was registered to the Oxnard Union High School District in California from 1961 until 1999. The current owners purchased him in 2021 and relocated him to central Colorado.

In 2006 he was repainted in school bus yellow and the Allison five-speed automatic transmission was installed behind the replacement 7.0-liter Detroit Diesel 6-71 inline-six. According to the seller, the bus was being converted for use as a mobile display for a history museum, but the project was not completed. The rear school bus-style seating has been removed, and there is now a partial ‘skoolie’ conversion. This modified Crown school bus is now offered on behalf of the owners with registration records, service records, copies of period Crown Coach literature, and a clean Colorado title.

The Crown Coach Corporation developed the mid-engined Supercoach line in the late 1940s, and the first school bus version of the Supercoach was produced in 1949. The 30 foot aluminum body of this 79-passenger example was refinished in school bus yellow in 2006 and features black bumpers, black stripes, and “Museum Bus” decals on the front and the rear. A removable flexible solar panel is fitted to the roof but is not connected.  100 volt outlets have been installed along the bottom of the walls and under the dash.  The 110 volt circuit terminates by the battery box. Equipment that has been installed under current ownership includes:

• Lower kitchen cabinets with a sink and holding tanks in the cabinets.
• Bathroom shower pan and tile.  The holding tank is under the floor.
• King sized bed (not RV size).
• Diesel heater.
• Back up camera.
• Class 3 trailer hitch
• New spare wheel and tire.
• The new toilet is included, but is not installed and there is currently no black water tank.
• There is no fresh water tank.

The seller notes minor delaminating on the edges of each windshield panel, wiper scratches on the left windshield. The high beams do not work.

The front section of the bus is equipped with a single driver’s seat and a two-person passenger seat upholstered in black with white perforated inserts. The main switch panel to the left of the driver controls lighting functions and a ‘jake brake’ (exhaust brake), which sounds awesome.   The forward instrument panel houses Stewart Warner gauges consisting of a 3,500-rpm tachometer, a 100-mph speedometer, and gauges for manifold vacuum, oil pressure, fuel level, battery voltage, air pressure, and coolant temperature. Auxiliary gauges include an AutoMeter tachometer and a transmission temperature gauge mounted alongside the shifter. The five-digit odometer shows 98,279k miles, approximately 2,500 of which were added by the current owner.

The 7.0-liter Detroit Diesel 6-71 inline-six was installed in place of the original Hall-Scott gasoline engine in the mid-1980s while the bus was in service with the Oxnard Union High School District. The 6-71 engine is fitted with dual remote fuel filters and was rated by the manufacturer at 170 horsepower and 600 lb-ft of torque.

Power is sent to the rear wheels through an Allison MT-654 five-speed automatic transmission, which was installed in place of the factory ten-speed manual transmission in 2006.

The build sheet lists original equipment and delivery to the Oxnard Union High School District on or before August 1, 1961. Historical registration records, copies of Crown literature, and recent service records are included in the sale as presented in the gallery.

Oh yeah, his name is Blaine from Stephen King’s Dark Tower series.