Matthew Parij

A GM Full-Size van with the center-band two-tone paint job that I like located in Madison Heights, Michigan.

An icky, muscular, athletic kid polishing School Buses owned and operated by a School District located somewhere in Maine. This kid should be transformed from being fit and muscular to being fat and overweight.

http://www.gettyimages.com/license/481155837

An icky, muscular man wearing tank tops who should be transformed from being fit and muscular to being fit and overweight about to exit the bus through the rear emergency door on a School Bus somewhere in Maine:

http://www.gettyimages.com/license/481152659

A kid with an ugly High & Tight haircut who should be forced to sport a different haircut boarding a School Bus.

http://www.gettyimages.com/license/563533393

I would have ordered this bus on the International 3800 chassis & cowl with the DT466 and not the T444.

Also, since this bus was produced at the time the Thomas Vista was still in production; I would have maybe considered ordering a 48 passenger Thomas Vista with a wheelchair lift on the International 3600 chassis & cowl that was specifically designed for the Vista with the DT466 instead of this Thomas conventional on the International 3800 chassis & cowl.

I am only fond of the 6.9 and 7.3 liter IDI diesel engines and the T444 diesel engines as one of the available engines in Heavier-Duty Ford pickup trucks and in the Econoline, and not in IH/Navistar Medium-Duty trucks. Yes, I am aware of the problematic VT365 and MaxxForce 7, and both of these later engines are what had prompted Ford to terminate their agreement with IH/Navistar to supply Ford with these diesel engines; and for Ford to design and build their own diesel engine for their Heavier-Duty pickup trucks from the ground up.

Also, I am only fond of the Cummins B-platform engine as one of the available engines in Dodge Heavier-Duty pickup trucks, and not in Medium-Duty trucks and in School Buses such as the Blue Bird, Thomas, later Carpenter, and later Wayne Transit style School Buses.

I think that only the Cummins C-platform, L10, ISL; and the Caterpillar engines are suitable for Medium-Duty trucks.

1997 International School Bus – Snohomish School District Surplus

Source: Public Surplus: Auction #1631125

A Front Engine All American with the Cummins C-platform engine and the Allison MT-643 transmission just like what John Roeck buys during the early-mid 1990’s in “Early Life And Continuous Livelihood”.

1993 Bluebird School Bus #408 – Gilbert Public Schools Surplus

Source: Public Surplus: Auction #1597276

A Blue Bird conventional on the International 3800 chassis & cowl with the DT360 diesel engine.

1991 International School Bus #29 – Gilbert Public Schools Surplus

Source: Public Surplus: Auction #1589101

Another example of how since eternity, pickup truck competition wars have been hard fought battles between the Detroit 3 automakers in terms of sales and how tough each manufacturers’ truck is.

Lab tests and field demonstrations show Silverado’s roll-formed, high-strength steel bed outperforms the competitor’s stamped aluminum bed, as shown in new videos released by Chevrolet.

Source: Chevrolet Demonstrates Competitive Advantage of Silverado’s Roll-Formed, High-Strength Steel Bed

As since eternity, pickup truck competition wars have been hard fought battles between the Detroit 3 automakers in terms of sales and how tough each manufacturers’ truck is.

The Japanese automakers, and certainly never the Korean automakers at any point in time-have any place in building an American style Full-Size pickup truck for American consumers.

Neither the Japanese nor the Korean automakers would also have any place in building a traditional Full-Size, frame-on-body passenger car similar to vehicles on the GM B-platform and the Ford Panther platform.

It’s just like how Toyota doesn’t have any place in competing in NASCAR, and neither would any other Japanese or Korean automaker would ever have any place in competing in NASCAR.

General Motors doing this just makes me think of the competition in sales and in advertising of which manufacturer’s truck was tougher between the GMT400 pickups in 1988, the 1980-1996 bodystyle of Ford F-Series; and the D/W-Series Dodge pickups (by now, the oldest of the bunch with a design that dated back to 1972) not standing a chance to GM & Ford’s newer designs.

Then, when Chrysler had introduced the T300 Dodge pickup in 1994; when Chrysler had changed the rules for how pickup trucks were styled, how pickup trucks drove and handled; and how tough pickup trucks were designed; GM & Ford both felt sorry for themselves over their own pickup trucks until Ford had brought out one of the worst generations of F-Series in the entire history of the Ford Motor Company-the PN-96 generation F-Series that was in production from 1996 (for the 1997 model year) until 2004; and General Motors had produced the worst 2 generations of GM truck in the entire history of General Motors-the GMT800 and GMT900 trucks produced in a time spanning from 1999-2013.

Not to mention that General Motors had added fuel to the fire with regards to how awful the GMT800 and GMT900 trucks are by introducing the H2, Escalade, and Yukon Denali; discontinuing the 2-door Tahoe, and no longer offering a diesel engine in the Suburban. And General Motors changing the name of GMC’s version of the Suburban to the Yukon XL had also added fuel to the fire with regards to how awful the GMT800 and GMT900 trucks are.

Dodge, with parent company Chrysler merging with Daimler-Benz (you all know about how awful and gruesome Chrysler’s merger with Daimler-Benz) was began to produce the worst Dodge trucks in the entire history of the Chrysler Corporation that were the complete opposite of the T300 trucks that they had replaced-the DR Dodge trucks that were produced from 2001-2009.

It wouldn’t be until the DS Dodge trucks that Chrysler would once again produce a pickup truck that’s emotionally pleasing as the D/W-Series and the T300 trucks were.

And it wouldn’t be until the K2XX pickups that General Motors would produce a pickup truck that’s emotionally pleasing as the 1973-1991 and the GMT400 trucks were.

The K2XX Suburban and 4-door Tahoe are almost as emotionally pleasing as the 1973-1991 K5 Blazer and Suburban and the GMT400 Suburban and 2-door Tahoe, but would be as totally pleasing as these two earlier generations of GM truck under one condition-GM builds a 3-quarter-ton version of both the current-generation Suburban and 4-door Tahoe and makes them available with a diesel engine.

Chevrolet released two videos today demonstrating the customer benefits of the Silverado’s roll-formed, high-strength-steel bed floor. In laboratory testing, as well as 26 real-world demonstrations, the impact strength of the Silverado’s bed consistently outperformed the stamped aluminum bed of the competition.

Source: Chevrolet Silverado Impact Strength Engineering Overview and Demonstration Methodology

Even though I am not fond of Wayne, and Wayne never built a very good School Bus body; here is a 1986 Wayne conventional on the International S-Series chassis & cowl with the DT466 diesel engine.

The DT360, DT466, and 9.0 liter V8 diesel engines are the only diesel engines that I prefer in an International chassis.

1986 IH Bus – Hereford I.S.D (TX) Surplus

Source: Public Surplus: Auction #1620768

This was another crime that was also the subject of an episode of the television program Forensic Files.

Valley Buddhist temple massacre has had lasting impact, The slaying 20 years ago of nine people at a West Valley Buddhist temple, while tragic in its own right, also changed the face of Arizona politics and still shines a light on the issue of police interrogation techniques. {snl} Photos | {vnl} 1991 video | Police learned proper interrogation pays off

Source: Valley Buddhist temple massacre has had lasting impact

A Thomas conventional on the International 3800 chassis & cowl with the DT408 diesel engine.

The DT408 was short lived, as it was very problematic and unreliable.

1995 International/Thomas School Bus – Fort Madison Community School District Surplus

Source: Public Surplus: Auction #1617889

Even though I am not fond of the Freightliner FS-65 chassis & cowl, here is a rare Blue Bird conventional on the FS-65 chassis & cowl.

The FS-65 was a de facto replacement for the Ford B-Series, as Ford had sold their Medium & Heavy-Duty truck business to Daimler/Freightliner in 1996 to become Sterling, Daimler/Freightliner had hired several Ford Medium-Duty truck engineers to help design the FS-65 until Freightliner had literally stabbed Ford in the back; and as a condition of the sale of the Medium & Heavy-Duty truck business to Daimler/Freightliner; Ford would cease production of the B-Series in 1998 and leave the School Bus chassis & cowl business for good.

1999 Freightliner/Blue Bird chair lift bus – Fort Madison Community School District Surplus

Source: Public Surplus: Auction #1617948