Similar to the majority of automakers founded in the first decades of the 1900s, Chevrolet quickly began manufacturing trucks. In 1918, the bowtie firm debuted the 490 one-ton transporter, just a year after Ford debuted the TT.
However, Chevrolet did not start to offer a more diverse selection until the early 1940s, when it started to offer school bus chassis, two-ton trucks, and cab-over designs. After the 1941–1947 AK Series, Chevrolet introduced the Advance Design lineage. The Advance Design, the company’s first significant overhaul following World War II, was larger, more streamlined, and more powerful than its forerunner.
The small 3100 trucks were still based on passenger cars, namely the Styleline and Fleetline. But the series expanded well beyond 1/2-ton haulers. Chevrolet also offered 3/4- and one-ton trucks (including forward control versions), as well as two-tone haulers (including cab-over versions). A pair of school bus chassis rounded off a truck lineup consisting of no fewer than 15 different iterations.
Come 2023, the Advance Design is still a somewhat common sight despite being some 70 years old. However, this applies mainly to smaller 1/2- and 3/4-ton trucks. The bigger haulers are pretty scarce due to lower production numbers and the fact that most of them were left to rot away once they retired from the road. The same goes for the school buses, which are even more difficult to find in one piece.
This school bus, which was discovered on what looks to be an abandoned property, is as mysterious as they come.
It was said to have been parked for fifty years and had been kept mostly inside a wooden barn. The bus was repainted light blue, indicating that it has been used for anything other than transporting children to school (the engine compartment still bears remnants of the classic school bus yellow paint job). Furthermore, it appears that it was later transformed into dwelling space. This clarifies why it was concealed in the barn behind wooden planks.
But even though it sat for a half-century, the bus is in good condition overall. It’s a bit rusty, the engine is probably stuck, and the original interior is all gone, but this truck took five decades of storage like a champ. It’s a fantastic survivor that’s totally worth restoring. Assuming someone wants a 1950 school bus in his collection, that is.
This Chevy is probably a 6700, even though our host refers to it as a 6500. That was, at least, the designation given at the time to Chevrolet’s largest school bus chassis. The 6500 two-ton truck’s wheelbase measured 179 inches (4,547 mm), whilst the bus’s wheelbase measured 199 inches (5,055 mm). Additionally, Chevrolet produced the 4500, a shorter school bus chassis with a 161-inch (4,089-mm) wheelbase. The Advance Design truck series’ longest iteration was the 6700 bus.
The lineup was powered by inline-six engines exclusively. The series debuted with a 216-cubic-inch (3.5-liter) mill, which was discontinued after the 1953 model year. Starting in 1954, the Advance Series was available with 235- and 261-cubic-inch (3.9- and 4.3-liter) straight-six powerplants. This bus left the factory with a 216 unit rated at 92 horsepower.
There’s no info on whether the new owner is planning on restoring this hauler or not, but I’d very much like to see it back on the road.