| Author |
Message |
Ron in SD (24.220.60.23)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 8:05 pm: | |
I was looking at ebay and came across a GM Futureliner. It looks really bad but I figured someone may have a love that they can't get over.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1815412873
I have nothing to do with this bus. Just posting for the really bad bus nuts |
CoryDane (4.17.253.212)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 8:43 pm: | |
I don't recognise this one from the ones that have been found. Could it be that one of the missing 3 has been found? AS I understand it, 7 are being/has been restored, 2 are being used as parts since repair is too costly, so that adds up to 9 of the 12 built originally. It gets to be a bit more of an interesting story when the FUTURLINERS are involved all the time. I think it would be really neet to see one of them someday, they have such a history behind them. |
Larry Goodhew (Lgoodhew) (148.78.247.10)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 1:26 pm: | |
I poked around a little bit on the Futureliner site and it looks to me like this is the futureliner that is shown as belonging to Mike Kadletz. Here is the link:
http://www.futurliner.com/kadletz.htm
Both have the rear lower outer panels removed or rusted off, both have the engine minus the valve cover and are missing the lower center panels. In the photos on the futureliner site, it looks like the paint has been stripped off of the rear of the bus and the photos on the EBay sale show that area as very evenly rusted. More so than the rest of the rig. It looks to me like this was an abandoned project and has been left outside to get rusty.
I could be wrong of course but that is my take on it. If so, then three futureliners are still unknown. If I had lots of time and money I would buy it. These futureliners are just too cool looking to let them die!
Larry Goodhew |
Adame (129.82.227.66)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 6:31 pm: | |
It's tempting to bid on it to use as a back yard tool shed or it could be used as the fascia of an espresso bar or as a guest house. It's art from the streamlined era. Too cool to let it rust into the ground. |
DaveD (206.47.98.151)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 9:44 pm: | |
Too cool to make into a piece of art either. |
dougthebonifiedbusnut (24.218.119.24)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2002 - 7:12 pm: | |
hey guys peter pan buslines in springfield mass has one that is done it was at the rally last spring they might have some info there were a couple of people from this board there |
Ray Olson (Ray) (216.43.213.111)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 28, 2002 - 8:50 pm: | |
i am from Gurnee, Illinois, which is north of Chicago and close to a town named Waukegan. About six or seven years ago, maybe more, three of these buses were parked in the lot of a Waukegan GMC dealer. I don't think the dealer owned them, I think they were stored there for someone else. I believe the one on Ebay is one of them, and one of them may be the one in Canada. I'm not sure about the third one. But what a site it was to see them all lined up next to each other. Very cool. |
DaveD (206.47.98.151)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 29, 2002 - 11:38 pm: | |
FIDO, a cell phone carrier in Canada has one. That's probably one of the three.
DaveD |
CoryDane (4.17.253.204)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 30, 2002 - 4:58 am: | |
There were TWO Futurliners at that sat at that Illinois body shop yard just off of HWY 41 by the Great Lakes Naval Base. They stood there for a couple years, then seemed like one was being worked on a bit then dissappeared. The second one never moved while the first was having things done to it. It was then moved to the yard of the GMC dealer in Waukegan, only the one, the first unit was gone and never heard from. The second unit sat for a year or so, had the windshield broken and if I remember right, still had the "GM" letters on the front and the "PARADE OF PROGRESS" on both sides. NOW one was still the original colors, red and white, the other was a light yellow color. I am thinking the yellow one may have sat at the GMC dealer. After about a year, this one also was gone. Now we are talking at least 7 to 10 years ago. The one on EBay is too torn up to tell if it is one of these that sat here. In some ways it looks like it could be and others it does not. - 2cents - cd |
Ray Olson (Ray) (216.43.213.111)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 30, 2002 - 8:32 pm: | |
After I posted that, I began to think that maybe there were not three at the GMC, but I thought that there were at least two. I seem to suffer more and more every day from CRS, so I'm sure you're right. None the less, it was a helluva sight. |
CoryDane (4.17.253.135)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 30, 2002 - 10:24 pm: | |
Ray
I did not post to say you were wrong, I posted to tell what I remember about them. I thought they were awsome as I drove to Chicago every day and always took a moment to glance over to see if anything was happening to them. When they were both gone I had no clue where they went until I took the short cut to Washington St from Rt41, driving by the GMC Dealer and by luck saw the one sitting in the back lot of that abandoned building (owned by the dealer). I did drive by the FuturLiner a few times to look but never had the nerve to see if the doors would open, but back then, I did'nt know it had so many doors or which would get me to the drivers seat. And, as time went on, it too was no longer there. No idea where it went. So I may be right, but I could be wrong. Yes, IT WAS a helluva site! - Thanks for the comments - it was fun remembering them again - cd |
Don KS/TX (205.187.92.77)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 31, 2002 - 6:09 am: | |
I hear stories that the one on EBay belonged (belongs) to Mike Kadletz, Bus Conversions Magazine guy. Postings on the MAK board about that seem to become deleted. Anybody know about what happened to his Futurliner? |
slc (198.29.191.147)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 01, 2002 - 6:29 pm: | |
I asked about it probably a month or two ago and Mike said he was waiting for parts. Perhaps the cost of restoring such a rare item has become too much and selling is worth more than restoring.
But the pic on ebay is of a FuturLiner OUTSIDE in the weather. Mike K's FuturLiner was inside a building, protected. It seemed also to be coated with primer, the one in the pic has no primer and is rusty. From the pics, I don't think it looks like Mike K's unit too much. will have to look and compare again.
I really hope it might be one of the missing 3. another one being restored would be so awsome. slc |
Jeff (172.139.245.38)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 03, 2002 - 8:14 pm: | |
Hey, haven't y'all noticed a major reorganization in the MAK corporate lineup?? Just the magazine left. A couple of quick moves, then no bus business. Remember the "fire sale" a while back? I don't know anything about Mike's situation, but sure looks like financial trouble and creditor action. The seller's of the Ebay bus do not seem to know too much about it. Mike hasn't mentioned it in the magazine, and in the past he'd often feature pictures of his busses for sale in the articles of the magazine.
Jeff |