Originally Posted By: CR94
Originally Posted By: spasm3
... Drove all the makes of school buses we had then. The Fords, the occasional Chevy and my favorite was the Internationals.
When I went on trips with my high school band, they used mostly Ford and International chassis. I noticed the Internationals rode better.
I was amazed to see high school students driving busses in North Carolina as recently as the 1980s, when I lived there. My uncle did while he was in high school in Kentucky, but much, much earlier, soon after school busses were invented.
We had a good group, they were careful with selection and training. we had no problems. I got out of class to drive field trips for the elementary/middle schoolers. The interesting thing, was in addition to training. One of the criteria for being a bus driver was, having a place to park the bus on your own property. At that time you kept your bus at home, cleaned it your self and it was checked weekly for cleanliness. They felt there was less chance of vandalism if all the buses were not in the same place lined up.
I liked the international buses. I drove the fords a few times, they were ok, but i needed a football field to turn one around!! They had a really wide turning radius.