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I would be very cautious about purchasing any Carpenter body bus, particularly any bus that was built in the Mitchell, IN plant.
Recently, all of the Carpenter body buses have been the subject of a lot hand wringing due to an accident in Florida.
It seems, due to some really bad quality control, a lot of the buses left the factory with defective welds between the roof rails and the carlin rail (the rail above the windows). In some cases, the roof rails didn't even meet up with the carlin rail let alone be welded together.
In the accident in Florida, the bus rolled over and the roof caved in like an aluminum can.
While it is highly unlikely a converted bus is ever going to be in a rollover accident, many people do load up the roof with A/C units and storage units. The added weight and a few thousand miles of pounding down the asphalt could result in a much lower interior ceiling.
Due to the bad publicity and problems inherent with an orphan manufacturer with substantial problems, the price should reflect those kind of problems.
$3500 for a Blue Bird or a Thomas would be a bargain. $3500 for a Carpenter, particularly one on a Ford chassis, is way over priced.
Mark O. |
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