Matthew Parij

School Bus Photos From The 1940’s, 1950’s, And 1960’s

School Bus photos from the 1940’s, 1950’s, and 1960’s.

Bodies are built by Blue Bird, Thomas, Carpenter, Wayne, Superior; and the Hackney Brothers.

Chassis are built by GM, Ford, Chrysler (Dodge), International Harvester/Navistar International; and Diamond REO.

Vintage photo of North Carolina School Buses. 1961 Blue Bird Chevrolet, 1964 Thomas Ford. Statesville, NC

1957 Chevrolet and other various NC School Buses from print circa 1960 in Statesville, NC. #vintageschoolbus #iredellcountync #chevrolet #dodge #omahaorange #thomasbuiltbus #schoolbus #nc #1957

THOMAS BUILT BUS, 1958 & 1959 GMC Transit-style, front-engine, NC School Bus. Digitized from print.

School Buses, NC. First two buses are 1959 Hackney Bus Bodies on Ford Chassis; the third bus is a 1958 (Wayne Bus Body?) on Chevrolet Viking chassis. #1958 #1959 #schoolbus #hackney #thomasbuiltbus #chevroletviking #ford #nc #statesvillenc #iredellcounty

1957, 1958, 1963 Thomas Built Buses on Chevrolet Chassis in Statesville, NC. #vintagetrucks #vintageschoolbus #chevroletviking #chevrolet #thomasbuiltbus #1957 #1963 #1959 #omahaorange

#1962 #manteohighschool #thomasbuiltbus #transitbus #schoolbus #nc Circa 1962 Thomas Built EF Transit Bus, North Carolina. Manteo HS Activity Bus. Digitized from print.

THOMAS BUILT BUS, from High Point, NC and CARPENTER BUS from Mitchell, Indiana. Brand new 1963 Chevrolet NC School Buses in then standard Omaha Orange. Digitized from prints.

THOMAS BUILT BUS, 1960 GMC NC School Bus, Omaha Orange. Digitized from print.

BLUE BIRD SCHOOL BUS, 1960 Dodge, NC. Omaha Orange. Digitized from print.

THOMAS BUILT BUS, 1958 GMC Transit-Style NC School Bus, Omaha Orange. Digitized from print.

THOMAS BUILT BUS, 1963 Chevrolet. Brand new (orange) NC school bus before county name & bus number was added. Digitized photo of print.

1963 Thomas Built Buses (outside) and Carpenter Body Buses (inside) on Chevrolet Chassis

1963 Thomas Built Buses in Chevrolet chassis in Statesville, NC. Digitized from print. #1963 #schoolbus #thomasbuiltbus #chevrolet #iredellcountync #vintageschoolbus #vintagetrucks

1964 Thomas Built Bus on Ford chassis, with open Dayton rims. #1964 #ford #thomasbuiltbus #nc #schoolbus

Rare 1958 Thomas Built Bus. This former bus is a transit -style, front-engine gasoline-burner being used as a storage shed in NC.

https://flic.kr/p/ors525

THOMAS BUILT BUS, 1960 Chevrolet Viking, NC (Activity Bus). Digitized photo of print.

THOMAS BUILT BUS. 1964 Ford, NC School Bus. Digitized from print.

THOMAS BUILT BUS, 1962 Chevrolet NC School Bus. Digitized from print.

https://flic.kr/p/ospDWA

THOMAS BUILT BUS, 1957 NC School Bus. Notice: one brake light, two turn signals, one center-mount passenger stop light.

https://flic.kr/p/ok7Tjo

THOMAS BUILT BUS, 1964 Ford, NC School Bus. Omaha Orange. Digitized from Print.

https://flic.kr/p/oi8jn5

THOMAS BUILT BUS, 1959, 1962, 1963 Chevrolet, NC School Bus. Digitized from print.

1960 NC School Bus. BLUE BIRD bus body on Dodge chassis. Digitized from print.

Thomas Built Buses, High Point, NC. Foreground: 1962 model. Background: 1960 model. #1962 #1960 #schoolbus #vintageschoolbus #vintage

School Bus (around 1957)

https://flic.kr/p/o4dByq

https://flic.kr/p/oiFb1S

https://flic.kr/p/oc112Q

1950 Blue Bird Chevrolet

https://flic.kr/p/oc15ED

Fuel tanker trucks owned by the Iredell County School District in North Carolina. These Medium-Duty trucks are what the GM and Ford chassis & cowls of the time were based off of. Even at this time, Ford had called their School Bus chassis & cowl a ‘B-Series’.

1961 Chevrolet and 1959 Ford Fuel Trucks for School Bus Garage in NC

truck451

3 responses to “School Bus Photos From The 1940’s, 1950’s, And 1960’s”

  1. acptulsa Avatar
    acptulsa

    Interesting collection! But I can’t find the Diamond Reos. Are you thinking those Internationals in the second pic are Diamond T chassis?

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    1. truck451 Avatar
      truck451

      No, I have not arrived at that conclusion. International Harvester (later Navistar) at this time, had a three-diamond logo; while Diamond Reo’s logo had consisted of just one diamond.
      When Diamond Reo had nearly gone under in the 1970’s, several former Diamond Reo employees would go on to incept Spartan Chassis-a company that is still in business to this day manufacting chassis for Diesel Pusher Motorhomes and Fire Trucks. In fact, Spartan’s diamond logo is partially derived from that of Diamond Reo’s logo.

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  2. Rob Hart Avatar
    Rob Hart

    Where are all the Diamond Reo busses ??

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