Cat 3208-powered FCs - which tranny was stock?

[Jim March]

Tom Warner wrote:

-snip-

> But then have you thought of a used Greyhound bus or a transit to
> start with?
>
> tom


OH yeah, looked there too.

Amazingly, the best deals to be had are in older ones...literally 1948 -
1962 era 35' highway GMCs based on the sideways-mounted straight six
Detroit (671) with the Spicer 4sp - 3751, 4101, 4102, 4103, 4104. These
are all-aluminum, don't rust out, dead simple. Because they were
originally positive ground, all the conversions have been re-wired stem
to stern. Engines are incredibly accessible for service. As long as
they're still manual shift, 10mpg or even better is common. Parts
situation is good.

Some models had "dropped center aisles" giving 6'8" headroom down the
middle, 6'2" to either side of that.

The ones based on the 6cyl often had an "emergency hatch" on the
driver's side just ahead of the engine. About half the conversions have
retained this. Wouldn't be too hard to widen it from 2ft to 4ft with a
custom door, hollow out the usual "back bedroom" into a garage, pull the
usual sofa and turn it into bunk beds with the bottom one doubling as a
"day couch" with pillows, etc. The area ahead of the rear "garage"
would still be pretty livable (not as good a layout as that "Blue
Critter"!) and would have more underfloor storage and potentially bigger
tanks.

This is probably what I'd fall back on if "Blue Critter" doesn't pan out.

That said: in addition to a better layout, once finished "Blue Critter"
will have a shorter wheelbase, tighter turning radius for better urban
driving (watch that back end though), equal or better long-term
reliability, taller inside without the center aisle (which is a
"tripping hazard") and would probably be cheaper to maintain, although
not by much.

And there would be one other difference: the "old greyhound" would have
a "garage entrance" at least another foot higher off the ground than a
Bluebird frame conversion, meaning a longer ramp (at least 10ft, 5ft
when folded) and a hairier entrance by bike. And the entry would be
from the side, not practical in all parking situations. The Bluebird
entry would be to the rear, and about 3ft up.

Jim