It is said that all we will have in the end is memories. For those who have made the pilgrimage to Yellowstone, there are a lot of memories swimming around in their brains. From majestic peaks to amazing animals, Yellowstone brims with spectacular sights. But what about sights for us gearheads? For many years, Yellowstone visitors were treated to rides in large, open buses like this 1925 White Yellowstone bus for sale on Craigslist in Lucerne Valley, California. This big, beautiful yellow bus runs and drives, and is looking for a new home. Is the $90,000 asking price out of line, or an opportunity to start your own business ferrying tourists around to see your local sights? Thanks to numskal for the big yellow tip!
Millions of Americans have pictures of their Yellowstone experience in their scrapbooks, photo albums, and Instagram pages. People had come to this area to marvel at its incredible beauty for thousands of years, but it officially became recognized as Yellowstone National Park in 1872. It wasn’t until 1915 that the first automobile found its way into the park. The railroad had been dropping off and picking up visitors since 1883, and it was soon evident that money could be made carting these folks around the vast park to see marvels they couldn’t find at home.
Once the roads inside the park were established, buses were purchased to carry the tourists to and from. Starting with a few buses in the early twenties, by the middle of the decade around 400 of these yellow multi-passenger buses were crawling all over the landscape. As time wore on, more buses were added as older ones were surplused out, retired, or were junked. At their peak, the park had more buses on the roster than any entity other than Greyhound. With the rise of family vacations via car, the number of tourists soared. Having a car to drive around with made petting the buffalo easier and you didn’t need to pay to ride a bus. Soon the buses were surplus to the needs of the park.
Then, in a fit of nostalgia, a few of the vintage buses were brought back. Purchased in 2002, eight of the former White buses from the thirties were put on E450 van frames, renovated, and returned to their old haunt to once again cart tourists around. They are, once again, a favorite of the tourists, especially ones that don’t buy a bus ticket. Those folks love to have their pictures taken in front of these huge thirties people haulers. Then they go and pet the buffalo.
While there are quite a few of these Yellowstone buses still gliding down the highway, this one appears to be rather unique. What sets this bus apart from all the rest is that it still has its original White engine. Even more impressive is that the seller still uses it in parades and for advertising their restaurant. It has been used in parades for the last 25 years. The seating capacity for this White is 18, so perhaps you could charge each passenger a fee for each parade to recoup some of your losses if you purchased it.
Under the hood lies the White inline four-cylinder engine that has pushed this bus down the road for nearly a century. Online sources say that the engine displaces 226 cubic inches and pushes out 45 horsepower. This is more than enough to shove the bus around the park, but not very quickly. The good news is that engines like this relied on gobs of low-end torque to get them moving. While it is not stated in the ad, similar vehicles were equipped with four-speed transmissions.
So, what do you do with such a vehicle? First off, you need to build a bigger garage. Second, there are tourism possibilities for a famous old bus like this. The biggest issue will be the original engine. While it is great that it is still functional, it would be rough to deal with tourists who don’t understand that a nearly 100-year-old vehicle with its original engine isn’t as reliable as their new Lexus. At a $90,000 asking price, finding a buyer for this old White is going to be difficult. However, nostalgia drives the price up on a lot of things. Hopefully, someone purchases and enjoys it. It is a unique part of our history that needs to be preserved and driven.
You know, I’ve been everywhere, man, but never to Yellowstone. I suppose living in the Rocky Mountains, I have all those things outside my door. I found a neat site showing the buses through the years. While they were mostly all Whites, Lincoln Town cars were used around this time, for “special” people and a more personalized tour. That site says 11 passengers, with driver, and make no mistake, were a handful. These were rated at 3/4 ton, 45 hp. 4 speed crash box, manual steering and here’s the kicker, mechanical brakes on the rear wheels only. With a full load of passengers and gear, that took some skill. I had no idea how popular the buses were, but this video clearly shows, it was big. It’s a neat find, and nostalgia is hot today. I could see someone promoting their business or local tours with this. Trouble there is, who is going to drive it?
https://busesofyellowstonepreservationtrust.org/historic-vehicles
Great link, Howard. Thanks
Built just like there big brother the semi tractor As they dont have breaks on the steering tires just on the rear wheels..
Yes, that’s a great link you attached there, Howard! Thanks.
A bigger problem would be insurance, liability. Lawyers would have a field day if something happened to a passenger today. Sorry novel idea but then the reality of the time and people today can’t see it happening. Just being realistic.
That’s true, insurance is sucking all the fun out of everything. I’m not sure an insurance company would even take the risk on this today.
Since that was mentioned, as an ex-trucker, I try and keep up on news. There’s a bill before Congress, insurance companies want to raise the liability minimum for trucks from $750,000 to $5 MILLION! THAT’S going to be a problem.
I belong to a Fraternity , we do approximately 25 parades per year. I run a fiberglass mini Indy and Cary an extra 1 million dollars hospital liability , ( if I go nuts and run someone over)500thousand property damage and 50 thousand on the car and trailer, even though they say as long as my trailer is connected to the car it’s covered by my auto insurance. There are times when I don’t have it hooked to my car and it has a tongue lock on it as well as wheel boots. Anyway I went to my State Farm agent they designed and sold me the policy at $69.80 every six months. I also have a policy that covers 100 thousand hospital liability 100 thousand property and no theft through the fraternity at $100.00 per year so for about $120.00 every 6 months I am more than covered.
Out of the 10 of us that drive these mini Indy cars 7 of us are all insured the same way and the other three carry similar policies through another company.
Needs an LS. Seriously
What are you running an amusement park thrill ride? I agree, an update is needed, but more like a Cummins ( finally applicable) would be better suited.
First – never been to Yellowstone? A MUST do. Unique in the world. Here’s an idea for use: transport from airport / train station to a hotel. Read about a resort owner on Catalina Island who uses a renovated 21-window VW bus to do this very thing. Part of the experience. Could be a resort in the mountains or wherever. If could get for $60k, cool item.
This is historic preservation class, or very close to it. Few still have the original motors. Insurance? Yea, a big pain in the backside. But for a museum, like maybe the Gilmore, this could be a huge hit…..For the little guy, unfortunate that insurance etc will make it tough……
Oh, on the other hand, pile in the kids, grandkids, nephews, neices and a few neighbor kids maybe……ICE CREAM RUN!
Belongs in the museum.
I actually remember seeing a couple of these circa 1970. They were owned by a gentlemanly collector by the name of Bert Loberegt, who lived near Pine Lake, East of Seattle. He was an amazing man, with an amazing vintage auto collection which included several Great Arrows, and Pierce Arrows. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Got to visit Bert Loberegt’s collection back in the late 1960’s; As you say, a very nice man. I often wondered what happened to the cars in his collection – specifically remember a Pierce Great Arrow and Rudyard Kipling’s Pierce-Arrow plus an Abadol-Buick (Spanish body, Buick chassis) – need to dig in a collection of old slide photos to remember the rest of them. I don’t remember any tour busses but they might have been hiding in another building.
Price seems to be in line! The likes of it just sold on BAT for the same price! https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1925-white-15-45-yellowstone-park-touring-bus/
Buffalo are not petting friendly. A person’s first time petting one might very well be his last.
I don’t know? Maybe a twist on insurance would be the passengers present their own before boarding for a tour! LOL, maybe Haggerty’s would underwrite this?
These were still running as of 1965 when my mom took me to Jellystone and stayed at the Grang Lodge by Old Faithful. I was raised on Model T touring cars and this guy was BIG even for a 10 year old! Some one with a Punkin’ Patch can give kids rides on private property I’d guess. Dodge the Cummins; idea (PUN INTENDED) and put a small CAT in there with an Allison Auto.
I worked in Yellowstone for a few months in 1976, and a few of the later Mack buses still lurked around in old garages at the headquarters at the north end of the park.
Insurance is no problem. Think of all the commercial vehicles at Hershey and elsewhere. Hagerty (or other companies) insures vehicles like this every day and would likely be glad to feature it in their magazine.
Rex, not petting friendly is to say the least! I in my youth, I worked at
Stockland in Spo. Wa. I found myself running the Scale. Weighing everything from, hogs, sheep,calfs, horses, cattle, goats, but the scariest
Bar none, was Buffalo!!!!!
I have owned this bus for 20 years and it still has original sized tires. Casey Coker was going to buy this bus to use it to take his guests around his factory, but at the time I would not sell it. It sat outside my restaurant in Big Bear Cal and we took our patrons for rides on Sunday. The brass radiator is very special and original, as almost everything on the bus. It’s been fun owning the bus. Thank for your description of the vehicle and history