“This is the original partridge family [sic] bus. From the show.” That’s apparently all we need to know about this 1957 Chevrolet school bus (identified as a 1970 in the ad), along with a meager two photos. I don’t think I’m buying the story, though, and given that the current bid is $5.50 (yes, five-and-a-half whole dollars), it looks like I’m not the only one. If you’re the more credulous type, by all means, head on over to eBay to place your bid on this Cohoes, New York-based bus. Big thanks to reader Adam W. for this intriguing find! Meanwhile, let’s see what we can find out about the known and unknown history of the actual Partridge Family bus.
A little research suggests that the ’57 Chevrolet bus used during the filming of the original Partridge Family TV series from 1970-74 may still exist—sort of—but almost certainly not in the greater Albany metro area. Several sources cite an anecdote from an unnamed but “highly reliable” source, which can be traced back to this Partridge Family fan site, that at some point after the show wrapped the bus, painted white, ended up parked for many years behind a taco stand near the University of Southern California. When the taco shop repaved its parking lot in 1987, the badly deteriorated bus was sent to a scrapyard.
A few other sites add to the story. This post (also the source of the historical images seen here) adds that Shirley Jones did much of the on-camera driving herself, as seen above. More intriguingly, a comment on this post (scroll down to the comment posted by “SanPueblo” on August 13, 2010) adds some context attributed to producers and others who actually worked on the show. Following the end of The Partridge Family, the bus, which had been purchased for about $500 from an Orange County school district, was painted white and used on a new show filmed on the same lot, Apple’s Way, which seems only to have lasted for the 1974-75 season. After this, it was parked behind the taco stand; when it was scrapped in 1987, it is said to have gone to a yard in the San Fernando Valley dealing primarily in TV/movie vehicles, where the body of the bus (sans engine and front end) was still said to stand as of 2010.
None of this gives any credence to the idea that the bus currently for sale is in fact the original Partridge Family bus. So what evidence is there? Well, based on the scanty text and the two pictures, I have to assume that we’re meant to take the vintage California license plate seen here as proof. The problem with that is that, on the show at least, the bus wore black plates with a completely different, easily Google-able number; these seven-digit blue plates would date to 1980-85. Still, there are traces of a Piet Mondrian-inspired paint job—green and yellow on the central grille bar, yellow above the passenger-side headlight, and red on the bumper—that do correspond to the color scheme of the TV bus. My money’s on a one-time tribute gone to seed; if your money says otherwise, well, it’s only six bucks!
I hate to be the first comment again and dearly love this site but still having a hard time getting any thing posted on cars other than early access. Folks had a 58 Chevy bus they converted into a camper. Loaded the Honda Mini Trails through the back door and “rode” them,holding the brakes, while dad drove.Lots of good times at the lake oh so many years ago.
They’re was a Partridge-y bus parked in Schenectady, about 20 miles west of Cohoes, through the ’80s, and a lot of people seemed to think it was the original, but the taco stand story sounds a lot more credible.
I used to go to that taxi stand. Its called Lucy’s. And I always thought it was a replica. Pretty cool.
It’s not. Look at the curvature of the windshield.
That’s the door, not the windshield.
Well, I guess it COULD be the original Partridge family bus and I guess that unless and until someone can produce a more credible example or absolute proof that it is NOT the Partridge family bus then, by default, I guess that it is.
IBWK 830, Hmmm, maybe an acronym for the Actors/bad musician Union.
People that bad mouth unions are not in unions.
I had a friend who got into a fight with his former union boss as he felt the union had sold out and cost them their jobs.
The union boss waited outsidethe bar and jumped my friend unsportingly leaving him on the ground with two black eyes.
I was in a union, they are necessary to get a living wage.
The first digit is the number “one” 1 not the letter I.
If I was selling something purported to be something as significant as a “One and Only” item, I think I’d have a few more pictures and offer some sort of documentation to backup my claims.
By-the-way, I believe the real bus they used on the show was a 1955 Chevrolet – 6800 chassis with an eight window Superior body.
you are absolutely correct it was a 55 6800 superior 28ft bus.
The link to the body of the bus shows a multi-coloured vehicle,I thought it was painted white?
The Partridge Family bus may be a “one and only” and significant in my childhood because I watched the show. But – it ain’t Steve McQueen’s Bullitt is it?
Looking at the photo of Shirley Jones driving the real bus, it looks like a 2+2 Jag and maybe a Porsche fueling up. Maybe two Jags?
You are right good spotting. Only in America.
I think it is the Partridge bus. And, if you look at the photo of Mrs. P driving, you will see John Travolta in his first acting job “man waiting for bus on bench”.
My Dad owned the Partridge Family bus for years, It was parked at Lucy’s Drive In, 1300 W. Washington Blvd. At the corner of Hoover St. We used it as storage for the business. I have taken many naps in that bus. We removed motor, transmission, the motor was installed in our ’55 stakebed, it still runs to this day. The Health Dept. made us get rid of it, I put an ad in The Recycler and gave it away. The new owners said they had a place in Carson, Ca. to park it, they were going to convert it into a Motorhome.
Facts:
Yes,it was near USC
No, we did not scrap it.
Was it a ‘57 Chevy?
According to the photos from the show, it was a 55, smooth hood, and 55 only hood ornament. Can be confusing, 55-57 pickups got a new grille every year, bigger trucks had the same grille during those three years.
Do you have any pictures of the Partridge Family bus. That would be cool to have seen it in its retirement years.
Not one for rumors, but I have seen the papers myself. Also- owners aren’t exactly smart enough to know how to alter a picture. They got lucky many years ago and there it’s sat for 30 some odd years. Believe what you want, but if you go searching for the truth this ones credible.
A supposed witness of the “Lucy’s” bus claims that it had been a “Carpenter” – bodied bus, rather than a “Superior”, as was actually used on the show. He/she also claims that your bus had too many windows to be “the” bus. (I learned all of this from one of the above hyperlinks.)
Is it possible that your bus was a well – done tribute vehicle, or even an off – screen promotional piece, rather than the actual one seen on TV?
Fred, I’d like to make contact with you re: history of Lucy’s Drive In and the bus your Dad owned. I have a couple of photos and details about the bus that would be of interest to your family. My email is: popularculture@hotmail.com
They serve ‘greasies’ cannot wait to go there…. interstate then viral.
Hello. Was curious to find out if this was in fact one of the partridge family buses. Would also be interested in sharing any pics or information on the bell records bus your dad used as storage for his business I have a photo of David standing with a fan behind a bus it shows no indication of the careful nervous mother driving that’s how I figured out there were two buses peace brother Doug
“Fred” that is amazing. You have information that is important to trivia history.
It seems to me that the bus should have been put in the Smithsonian just like “Archie Bunker’s” chair reportedly was, and I think “Dorothy’s” Ruby Slippers also were, also some stage prop from Parliament-Funkadelic.
Maybe you ought to contact the people in charge of certain websites such as “www.sitcomsonline.com” which are meant to discuss and reminisce about old TV shows, especially sitcoms. Or maybe contact certain websites that are dedicated to keeping the memory of The Partridge Family TV show alive such as “www.c’mongethappy.com” (although it seems that that particular site is floating around the internet with very old information on it (it does not acknowledge that Dave Madden, Suzanne Crough and David Cassidy died yet) but no one is really moderating it and no one can really post comments or questions or discussions on it). Or maybe you can contact the official website of David Cassidy, http://www.davidcassidy.com. That site seems to be active but since David Cassidy’s death there hasn’t been much new information posted on it.
Your memory of that bus, assuming that it was the real Partridge Family bus, may be the most significant thing there is to finding out what eventually became of that bus.
“L”, I share your enthusiasm. Fred’s story would be amazing, if it were correct. Unfortunately, it is not. The old school bus parked at the side of Lucy’s Drive-in for many years was never the real PF bus. It was a look-alike. Never used in the TV show. Different year and school bus body make.
It is well documented the real PF bus was repainted several times after the PF TV show was cancelled in spring, 1974. The bus was later used in “Apple’s Way”, eventually being sold after its final on-screen use in the 1976 MOW “Helter Skelter”. The PF bus was likely scrapped some time after that. So it would not have had the PF paint scheme you see at Lucy’s.
The last time the PF bus was seen was over 44 years ago. Keep in mind the bus was already a 15 year old used school bus when the TV show bought it for $500. It was then used for 5 years. During filming it was known to smoke and not work well. As a result it was mostly parked and not driven much for the last two seasons of PF. By the time is was finally sold for scrap it would have been over 21 years old.
Good news is, according to Johnny Ray Miller’s book “C’Mon Get Happy”, an identical PF tribute bus is currently being restored. Maybe some day that bus will be on display in the Smithsonian.
join the partridge familys 50th anniversary road trip group its open to many answers to the questiions,, only question where is she now
I recall happening upon it at your family’s place of business in the early 80’s I only wish that I would have taken pix of it on that lot. I was quite surprised to find it there. How did your family come to acquire it?
It would’ve been nice to have read that recycler ad in the “Freebies” section and grabbed it. Why in the world would the Health department have you remove such an iconic piece of early 70’s TV Americana?
The bus behind Lucy’s Taco’s was not the original PF bus from the show, it was a different make and model with a different paint job and a simple comparison of photographs will show you. Sadly the people at CmonGetHappy have refused to acknowledge their error and subsequently misinformed a lot of people. That bus had been owned by Bell Records and used for promotion at records stores. If the paperwork doesn’t tell you that, the paperwork is fraudulent.
The ad has it misspelled as “Partrage” on both places in the ad. I think they are trying to “put a bird on it” to quote Portlandia.
Why not one million for
70s show vw van or this BS ask without authentication
https://m.ebay.com/itm/1967-Volkswagen-Bus-Vanagon-21-Window/332518566390?hash=item4d6ba6a9f6:g:NSIAAOSwCMtaWQdf
Two pictures, a 10 word description, and a seller with no feedback on E-Bay.
Seems legit…
Well regardless I’d if I wanted a tv vehicle (which I don’t) I’d rather have Columbo’ beat old French junker than the partridge family bus. This is a joke.
One site says that there were 2 buses. http://telstarlogistics.typepad.com/telstarlogistics/2008/01/on-the-road-in.html
Why is it that whenever I see an iconic vehicle from a TV series, the theme song floods into my head and I can’t shake it for the life of me. I watched that series, more to dream about Susan Dey than what the program was all about. Then I got a real GF and that was that…..
started with susan dey. Than marie osmond. all up hill from there!
Susan dey. A beautiful well known actress
dunno looks about right to me… if it was painted white as it looks like the one for sale has been, then all the colors coming through now are in the right places.
more pics here http://www.chevyhardcore.com/news/famous-chevy-vehicles-in-tv-the-partridge-family-bus/
Interesting…. Of the 5 pictures here, the original bus had two different license plates, one black, one grey with red letters/numbers.
The picture here matches the window. Matches the very first episode pictures too.
If you look at the front signal lights on the front fenders and you see in some pics posted the signal lights are below the windshield on both sides front corners of the bus body 🧐.
Hey! I’ve just run across a Mercedes that Bonzo Bonham once owned! See earlier post.
2 buses might be a possibility,in most scenes with the bus it’s wearing cali black plates NLX 590,but in some scenes it’s got white tags with red lettering.
My money is on this not being the original bus, which, I’d bet, is with Jim Morrison’s Blue Lady in the great celebrity vehicle heaven in the sky.
The story that our fine detectives from Barn Finds dug up sounds pretty credible to me. Further, why would they replace the black plates with blue plates? That doesn’t make any sense, unless the bus left CA for a time and then returned between 1979-85. I don’t think that’s likely.
Also, the Partridge Family was a pretty big deal on syndication by 1980. If this was indeed the original bus, I find it hard to believe that the owner wouldn’t have tried to capitalize on that somehow, or at a minimum maintained it better.
So, somebody hauled a trashed out 30 year old bus 3000 miles only to let it sit and rot for another 30 years? And after all this time claim it’s from that TV show? Alrighty then!!! Lol
Some people will pay for the TV vehicles, I think that some are indeed collectible and fun. But some sellers won’t go along with what the market thinks the true value is either. Witness the “Ralph Malph” Happy Days car.
https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0118-313114/1929-ford-hi-boy-roadster-pickup/
Bid to roughly half of the pre-sale estimate, and not sold.
That is so funny. Back in 1987, while at my job in San Jose, Ca I was listening to a radio station. I’m going to take a stab at this, but it was either KFOG 104.5 FM, or KSJO 92.3. Anyway I caught the tail end of the disc jockey talking about the Partridge family bus parked behind a taco stand in Los Angeles. I missed 90% of the conversation the DJ had with the caller. Since i was going to be in Los Angeles starting July 31, 1987 for a week, I wanted to find out where the bus was located so I could see it for myself. Being the Partridge Family fan that I was, I thought cool side trip. This was enough for me to actually call the radio station so I could find out the location. The disc jockey told me that he couldn’t remember the name of the Taco stand or the exact location. So here today, I’m reading this story and boom, 1987. Los Angeles, behind a taco stand. Same story that I heard on the radio in 1987. Ironically, years later as I am going over the Grapevine towards Los Angeles in a small town called Gorman, Ca. There was an off white bus that looked exactly like the Partridge Family bus. I stopped and took many pictures of it, but can’t find those pictures. I’m sure that was not the bus from the show, but still. Also, alot of the vehicles used in tv and movies which are damaged or destroyed end up at Ecology Auto Parts on The Imperial Hwy in Santa Fe Springs in Orange County, Ca. Found a few there myself including studio documentation.
Say it is the bus where does one park it? What does one do with it ?
Maybe a bar does pub crawls buys it?
I mean who cares if you ride in the bus . If it’s California do you do a stars tour but they don’t want to ride in a beat up shaker bus either ☹️
Will someone say hey I sat in the the late Keith or Danny’s seat? Now my life has changed?
This bus is not the infamous Bullet mustang as it’s a heap of metal .
Sell it for scrap and let a new Kia be made with it!
Looks too far gone to restore
I doubt it’s the real thing. Anybody with an old school bus, and 5 cans of spare paint, probably made their own Partridge bus. While traveling through the Catskills a few years back, an antique store had their own rendition of a “Partridge ” bus, but was too new. According to this site, the bus behind Lucy’s Taco Stand in L.A., was not the original, and most say the bus was destroyed after the show, not uncommon for Hollywood. http://www.chevyhardcore.com/news/famous-chevy-vehicles-in-tv-the-partridge-family-bus/
This was the one in NY.
https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=93142&d=1351088469
This one in the pic is a newer chassis–70’s maybe??
Technically it’s a bus and that’s about it. Not even close to the Partridge Family bus. If that’s the case I’ll paint my 2001 Chrysler Town and Country different colors and call that the Partridge family bus.
Zero ebay feedback–few pics- Mispelled partridge in description-this has scam written all over it..beware-
I’m lost ..primarily because I had better things to do at the time than watch this tv show. That aside, the bus for sale is around a ’57, no? And the Partridge bus was not, no?
So why are we having this discussion other than the ’57 has a cool front.?
I don’t know. Maybe some of us feel a connection to the bus from a beloved tv show for us at the time ten year olds. I like all vehicles and it doesn’t always have to be a Tri Five Chevy or a some pony car. They are all great. Just something that is different and remembered. If not for anything else but some tv show that you had better things to do with your time than watch. The Partridge Family bus is one of many iconic vehicles that have a following as a result of being seen on tv or movie. Most people dismissed 1957 Plymouth Belvederes or (Fury) until Christine came out in 1983. Therefore, I appreciate variety, plus the ad provokes an interesting discussion for those us with an interest in such topics, or maybe too much time on our hands. Who knows?
I found this article excerpt on Chevy Hardcore. It seams accurate enough to me. NLX-590 California Black Plate…. 1955 Chevy Superior Bus
It’s All In The Details
A reader of the Internet Movie Database, user name Streamliner, makes the best description of the original bus and the one behind Lucy’s Tacos. “For the record, the Partridge Family show bus was a 1955 Chevrolet 6800 with Superior Coach body. Specifically, an eight-window with 220-inch wheelbase.” Streamliner explained that the 6700 chassis was shorter with a 194-inch wheelbase and only seven-side windows. “It was also not a 1957 Chevrolet, nor did it have a IHC chassis or Carpenter or other make coach body. The Chevrolet badging and Superior name is easily seen countless times.” he added.
“The Chevrolet hood emblem and badging as seen on the Partridge Family bus was only briefly used by Chevrolet for five-months in 1955- a mid season design change. This makes it easy to identify. The 1955 Chevrolet Series II Task Force school bus chassis was only built from March 25, 1955 until summer, 1955 when Chevrolet retooled for the 1956 model. The fender badging for 1956 is unique to 1956. In 1957, the Chevrolet bus chassis again had unique badging as well as new hood “spears” added – two raised stamped semi circle bumps on top of hood to add rigidity and reduce vibration. You will note there are no such hood spears on the Partridge Family show bus,” Streamliner said as he qualified his previous statements.
As for the bus at Lucy’s Taco Shop, Streamliner said, “The bus that was once stored behind Lucy’s Tacos into the late 1980s was definitely NOT the former Partridge Family bus. That bus was a 1957 Chevrolet with Carpenter school bus body – a lookalike Partridge Family ‘tribute bus’. It is a different year, coach body, make and length. Aside from countless other differences I could list, that bus parked behind Lucy’s for years had nine-side windows – one window longer than the Partridge Family show bus.
Streamliner also points out a different bus in the series pilot. “The bus used in the Partridge Family show pilot episode at ‘Al’s Used Cars’, which was still in school bus yellow, was also not the same bus later painted and used for the duration of the show. It was a different bus. That bus was a 1957 Chevrolet Carpenter, but was never seen in the show again. Note that bus only has 7 side windows, one shorter than the actual 1955 Chevrolet Superior Partridge Family show bus.
What Did Happen To The Bus
Streamliner says it best, “It remains a mystery what happened to the actual Partridge Family bus. It is reasonable to assume the Partridge Family show bus was scrapped sometime after 1975. If it had survived, it would have long ago been identified as THE bus, spotted somewhere, collected, restored, shown and/or placed somewhere on display. It has not.”
A front view of the original Bus from the Partridge Family Show…
Later white/red plate on show 4A689
A front view of the original Bus from the Partridge Family Show… Scrolling back and forth this bus in up-state NY looks close but is most likely a tribute. Still the real bus has never been accounted for.. A lot of TV people live in the state. It’s possible, Maybe, just maybe….. But someone would have to prove they either drove or trailered this beast from the west coast to upstate NY. Without anyone noticing, in NY, are you kidding me ? FORGETABOUTIT !
This whole mystery surrounding the “real” bus really intrigues me.
And there are a surprising number of people claiming to have had it in their possession, either previously or presently, though with little hard evidence to back this up (this article has piqued my interest enough for me to be doing research on multiple sites/forums in the last couple of days).
And then there are all the people who claim to have seen the bus (or tribute copies of it) in Upstate NY of all places at various times over the course of the last 35+ years, sometimes parked on the outskirts of a city, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere up in the Adirondacks. Most likely, the one for sale above is what is left of one of these supposed tribute vehicles?
In one of the forums hyperlinked above, someone commented in a years-old thread that his/her father had purchased the repainted, original bus, repainted it yet again, and then took it on trips across the country. When he had kids, he supposedly parked it in the backyard, where it began to deteriorate, resulting in the TV paint job starting to show through (where, as of the writing of the comment, the writer claimed it remained). The person claimed to have seen documentation proving this at some point, but provided no proof.
Apparently, no one can agree on the number of original buses used on the show! There are so many layers to this story.
Anyway since I am relatively local, I tried to contact the seller yesterday to schedule an appointment to see the bus in person. I wanted to verify (more likely nullify) the brand of the bus – body and count the windows to try and settle at least this piece of the puzzle. No response from the seller yet.
This is starting to get a little old now. If there was credibility to this claim, why are there not more pics? And why in the hell were the couple pics taken while it’s covered with snow? My god people, get a clue already, so much speculation about nothing. The Partridge Family bus is gone with the wind. Or maybe burned up in a wild fire, or buried in a mud slide, or swallowed by an earthquake, who knows, anything can happen in California.
I know that there is no credibility to the claim, there is way too much fishy about it, like you said. All I wanted to do was prove once and for all that the Ebay bus is/was a hoax.
Regardless, I still find it interesting that no one knows for sure what happened to the actual bus. I just find these kinds of automotive mysteries interesting. Just like how F.D.R.’s personal Plymouth PA Phaeton (modified with hand controls, so he could drive it) has seemingly been lost to history. I’d love to know whatever happened to that car. Or whatever happened to Studebaker’s “Turtle” walk-behind cart prototypes after they were tested, then passed on, by the U.S. military? All fascinating pieces of automotive history.
I bid on it on ebay for laughs, incase it was the real bus, I reached out to the seller to see it and got no response. I am curious to bid on it regardless. If it’s spam you just report it and walk away or it could be the real bus. There were definitely several of them. The pilot episode shows an interior with a blue dash and painted ceiling. Then it suddenly has a salmon color interior and the ceiling is white, completely different. Who knows…
If you do manage to get a response, and/or win the auction, please let us know what you find out!
It’s up to $7,777.00 I am past my threshold lol.
This reminded me that the show was originally supposed to feature the Cowsills, a real family that really recorded music, such as Indian Lake. The problem was that the producers wanted to boot the real Cowsill mom and replace her with Shirley Jones. When the Cowsills said no, the producers promptly proceeded to come up with a make-believe rock family called the Partridge Family. Sort of like the Pre-Fab Four Monkees being made from whole cloth.
I believe this website is about collectable nostalgia. Here is a positive memory of the cowsills. The inspiration to the creation of a hit t.v series sitcom. Enclosed is a photo shoot of a eBay motors vehicle purchased from nevada . Pictures is a 1959 plymouth sport fury. All original from a dry climate Arizona bound . Meeting the cowsill family was an honor. It was also more of an honor they were kind to appear in a photo shoot. So learn to be kind to others ,when you have a kind persona any dream is possible. It really was a even a greater honor two years later to present the cowsills with a retro pop album cover design, the gratitude was met with love and happiness which seems to be a lack of in todays society. So with deepest regard moderato. #### so not remove this thread.
I think the cowsills don’t get nearly enough credit for the true inspiration for the partridge family but I have seen the cowsills and met them in person and no matter if they have seen you once or never at all they always treat you like your an old friend , they don’t let their success go to their heads, they are real people so in my opinion the partridge family could not have had a better family as a role model
I’m bidding to take a chance. Who knows. Cool bus anyway
I talked to the Ebayer who posted the bus for sale on Ebay early on in the week when it was listed ….he was going to send me more photos all week and never did….that’s compelling enough for me not to bid….if it WAS the Partridge bus he would have bent over backward to authenticate it….the people that bid in this auction got bamboozled
If anyone out there has had any contact from ebay “Partrage” bus seller, please post here. A lot of us on BF would like to see more photos of this bus. Especially photos of sides, rear and inside. Odds of this being the real Partridge Family TV show bus are obviously very slim. There are those who could identify if this is or not the bus in about 60 secs by looking at it. Auction ended selling for $7,877. Add to that cost of transport. If this is not the bus, a 63-year old 1950s school bus in poor condition is worth closer to $500. – $1,200. Not to mention misrepresenting such a vehicle in an online auction where money is received by deception constitutes wire fraud, which is a Class A felony. Sure hope seller isn’t an ex-con. 3 strikes and you’re out. Life in prison. If this truly was the real bus, why not show all sides of the bus and support documentation. Begs a lot of questions — such as, what were bidders thinking?
Those two sellers on ebay that sold the so called “Partrage” bus have gone underground….they will not answer any calls….they will not answer any emails
No real surprise…
If anyone sent real money, they may as well have tossed it into a hole.
Zero feedback seller, new to eBay just a couple of weeks ago.
This bus was found outside during a walk in the woods. Unlikely that the “Seller” had any real ownership of it.
Scam written all over this!
The partridges have gone to ground!
Nostalgia
The last known sighting of the bus was in the 1976 movie Helter Skelter. You can tell by the fabric on the seats.
In the wake of a new dawn
On the road. Traveling. Free and easy
Good times. Having a ball
Once apon. A revival
If I had just 10 mins. access to the ebay bus in question, I could provide a detailed reply whether this is or is not the former PF TV show bus. Seeing photos of interior and all sides of exterior I could make a determination. There are more than 100 markers to identify the real PF bus. Just a few, such as type of rear windows and door, number of side windows, etc. would be enough. There were many alterations made to PF TV show bus. But seller’s one photo of front of snow-covered bus does not provide conclusive evidence one way or another. ie: The bus in the ebay auction was/is a 1955 Chevrolet with Superior Coach school bus body. Correct type of windshield. Check. Correct top of windshield-mounted wipers. Check. Fenders show turn signals — but can’t tell if type is correct due to snow.
As for paint, yes, you can see some peeling paint layers on front end consistent with Mondrian style used on real PF bus. All that tells me is that this was possibly / formerly a PF tribute bus. As I wrote, there are well over 100 unique details I could list. Just can’t say what this bus is without looking at it. I’d rather not give the (fraudster) seller too much credit, but I gotta say — providing just the one photo he did makes this one a big question mark at the moment. If anyone can help identify where this bus is or post more photos I’ll do what I can to help solve this BF mystery.
Did anyone. Ever discover. If the person whom bought this. If in fact that they. Did uncover the partridge family bus. In 1990 the Smithsonian was offering a quarter of a million dollars regardless of its current condition rumor has it that someone had purchased three buses. To conform. A replica. Noticed on ebay motors after this auction ended there was a bus in Arizona that went up for the same price as the bus in up state new York peace and love
Doug, all good questions. I’ve wondered the same things. It’s now been over 10 months since this mysterious posting. There does not seem to be any follow-up online. What happened? The 2 buses in AZ you mention that appeared for sale on BF and ebay in summer, 2018 were a 1956 and 1957. One had a Dodge chassis and the other had a Chevy chassis. Neither was a 1955 Chev. Different lengths. Also, the Superior bodies were both different. If the real PF bus had been found, we’d all know it by now. This was obviously a hoax. Just can’t explain Why?
I also heard that story that the bus was parked behind Lucy’s taco stand. One day while watching an episode of CHIPS, there was a scene where they pull in to their favorite taco stand for lunch and when they go to leave you can clearly see the Partridge Family bus parked behind the taco stand. Someone should find that episode and get a screen capture of it. I’ve carried this image for years and I even tried to look at CHIPS episodes on you tube but I gave up.
wonder who bought that bus?…? they did leave positive feedback for the seller on Ebay!!!
Mark, I noticed the same thing. Positive feedback posted on March 4,2018 after auction ended Jan. 18, 2018. Strange. Don’t have an answer. What I can say is buyer’s feedback is as mysterious (and unbelievable) as the auction was. No one pays $7,877. sight unseen for a bus with only 1 photo of bus covered in snow. Seller offered no documentation to support claims. Appears as tho the supposed buyer has 2300 feedback. That usually means the buyer has bought / sold well over 3000 items on ebay. That’s a lot. One hell of a mystery…
With a positive feedback. And the high bidders winning bid. I would say this is the real deal. The under lying question was this the bell records promotion bus. Or. Will it be dropping jaws when it returns from the depth of the woods. Someone does not just drop eight grand on a pile of rust with flat tires. I have a feeling someone went in person to New York and to there wondering eyes did appear. The original bus. Retired from the Hollywood Manson movie in 1976. They must have asked the seller not to answer anymore questions. And made a flat offer. A lot of admirers are hoping. It’s the icon. Peace out. Hopefully the real fans will get to the pow wow. When the restoration curtains. Fall.
Doug – Based on your observations you’re obviously knowledgeable re: PF bus history. FYI – tribute bus in upstate NY could not have been Bell Records promo bus as that bus was a 1956 Chev-Carpenter. The one parked at Lucy’s Drive In used for storage for many years. Wrong year and make. The bus used in PF show was a 1955 Chev 6800 Superior Coach. Also, bus seen in S1 pilot in “before” yellow (prior to “after” Mondrian paint scheme) at Al’s Used cars was yet again another bus — a 1957 Chev 6700 Carpenter. Wrong length, year and bus body make. Actual PF bus has 8 side windows with 1st window being 9″ longer than rest — a feature unique to Superior. Agreed, nothing about upstate NY bus adds up / makes sense. Seller opened and closed ebay acct after 1 item. No buyer spends $8K long distance on item sold by seller with (0) feedback covered in snow in Jan. with only 1 photo of front of bus and no info to back up claim this was actually PF TV show bus. Note ebay buyer feedback comment was generic auto-generated. Hard to believe any part of upstate NY story. ie: No one took a single smartphone pic and/or posted anything online. Even whereabouts of super rare GM Futurliners and Ken Kesey “Further” buses are known.
If someone really wanted to know if this was for real. It would cost some money for the motor vehicle registry to run a title search on the plate number of the bus in the woods. A common knowledge theory would bring up a vin number the vin number would lead to the original title. My belief is the bus hood emblem tells the story. I own a 1959 Plymouth sport fury tailored from Nevada it’s all original. I have knowledge of classic and antique vehicles. The hood emblem on this bus. Screams. Along with the clumps of pealing paint on the front bumper. My. Dad was a carpenter by trade. In the early seventies during the run of the first season of the partridge family. He converted his bus into a camper. It was a 1959 Ford bus. His bus sat in the woods of northern New Hampshire for many years. After numerous long hard winters the house paint which was layers began to show the original school bus paint along with the slogan robin hood’s day camp along the sides of the bus. Using the theory the bus in the woods is exposing way to many signs of a pop culture. If this were a clone. They did a dang great job in measuring the geometric pattern lines. In my head in seeing things the average Joe sought pick up on. Rumor has it a group.of hippies were living in this bus in the woods that it was parked due to an accident and engine troubles. My gut is telling me the archive has been found
sunny day in the fall of 1980 when I happened upon The Bus lol.
It was such an unexpectedly bizarre thing to see… kind of blew my mind.
I had recently moved to Southern California from the midwest and was out looking for work when I saw what was left of the PF bus parked along the side of South Vermont Avenue, about a block north of Pacific Coast Highway.
I pulled over and parked and got out to take a closer look. What you mentioned in the OP pretty much exactly matches what I saw- the bus was in terrible condition, the paint was very faded, body basically rusted out with big holes in it and tons more rust starting to come through what was left of the paint job.
THEN I noticed that there were some long-haired, apparently unwashed people living in the bus LOL and I hastily departed!
Unfortunately I had no camera with me or I would have snapped some pics.
What a day that was. I’ll never forget it!
The hood emblem indicates. Low production. This emblem. Was used for the 1955 Chevy 6800 superior coach. Very small.limited production. If it’s not the partridge family bus. It’s more then likely from the same line of production
I think it’s the real partridge family bus because of the bumper and grill still has red and yellow paint on them in the right area also the original bus had hazard lights on the top of the fenders there their on this bus under the snow besides the bus people say is the original that was behind a taco stand was different than the TV show in conclusion this bus is the original partridge family bus.
Could really be. The windshield wipers. Are correct. By meaning top over head driven wipers. The telescope directionals mounted on the fenders. And the massive paint peel on bottom of the bumper. The thing that bugs me the most the calif registration plate.
There’s been a lot written lately about whether this bus is, or is not, or could be the real PF bus. It is not.
Many who have followed this mystery going back to Jan. 2018 have listed reasons why it makes no sense for the real PF bus to have been offered on ebay covered in snow in Jan. with wrong spelling, one photo and absolutely no documentation to support seller’s claim. Or the fact that seller had (0) feedback and opened and closed his ebay acct, just for this auction. There was only one descriptive line attached to the listing:
“This is the original partradge family [sic] bus. From the show”
All that common sense reasoning aside, this bus is not the original bus because it is not the same model. No argument, the bus pictured has a 1955 Chevrolet front clip. So did many thousands of 1955 Chev trucks and school buses.The one photo provided does not show the length.There were 5 different Chevy chassis lengths offered in 1955. Yes, the body is by Superior. And yes, some of the paint colors on front of bus appear in the right places as seen on the real PF TV show bus. (and some of it is not correct…)
The one detail that confirms this is NOT the real PF bus is the windshield. For 1955, Superior offered 2 types of windshields. One was the standard “flat” type as seen on the bus in the PF TV show. The other type was listed as “curved”. Viewed straight on, it is very similar, but is not the same. The bus in the one photo provided here shows the inset “curved” type. While both types were the same at the bottom, the top is slightly angled back and the metal surrounding the top of the windshield is inset. I agree it looks similar, but is different. I’ve attached a photo of a similar Superior bus Note the bus with red roof lights is mostly the same, except it has the “curved” inset angled windshield as seen on bus on ebay.
What this bus may have been is an old PF tribute bus from the 1970s. Possibly the same 1955 bus that was painted to look like the PF bus, parked at a dairy / ice cream stand near Schenectady, NY – which is all of 16 miles from Cohoes. Or this was bus converted into an RV. This listing was a hoax. The photo has been digitally manipulated. The ebay seller is a multiple convicted felon who is well known to Police here.
Common sense dictates that if this bus had been the real PF bus, we would have read about it by now. There are many old school buses converted into RVs painted up in different schemes currently rotting away all of the country. Not sure why this hoax gained so much attention.
Really love your bus. With all the time and efforts you should do a partridge replica. Turn the inside to a camper home in wheels. The metal work looks excellent. The chain damage on the back wheel flares could be straightened out. What an awesome find
Streamliner-
Your input is very wise. I had not noticed the two windshield variants previously.
Your theory that the specimen in question is actually the old Schenectady tribute bus is spot-on. It’s the right year, and the supposed Cohoes location would make total sense, being not far at all from the Electric City.
And you’re right about old buses commonly being found in woods and fields. Old farmers (and many others) liked to use them, even in non-running condition, as easily-moved storage sheds, camps, etc.
I do not doubt your claim that a convicted felon (and a really lazy one at that), was the one who attempted to pull off this stunt, but I am curious as to how you figured this out.
Do you happen to know the actual location of the bus in question? I live in Upstate New York and would like to get some photographs to prove the truth once and for all.
See above: re: John – Apr 26, 2019 at 5:50pm (sorry, no reply option avail)
“Not one for rumors, but I have seen the papers myself…” All due respect, what papers are you referring to? This would of course be a noteworthy BF story, but bus on ebay had a different style windshield curvature. Slanted and inset at top. PF TV show bus had flat style windshield. See photo. Also, why would a seller post one photo of only front of bus covered in snow? Just one image of all 4 sides would be all it would take for people to see for themselves. Also, if someone had bought the real PF bus, where is it now? More than 16 months later and not one photo or posting showing this bus has ever appeared. What explains all the secrecy with both seller and buyer?
“Also- owners aren’t exactly smart enough to know how to alter a picture. They got lucky many years ago and there it’s sat for 30 some odd years. Believe what you want, but if you go searching for the truth this ones credible.”
Respectfully, you are saying you know otherwise. Interested to learn what papers you saw? Have you ever seen this bus yourself? Did you take photo(s)?
Just an update to really make t v nostalgia happen. In a new publication available in line. The book is titled. When we were Sing in. By Johnny Ray Miller a great book about the life and times of the partridge family s music. Just for the corrections to people s records. There were three partridge family buses. One promotional bus created for bell records on the west coast. And another promotional bus created for bell records on the east coast. The partridge family bus was last used in a Charles Manson movie helter shelter in 1976. Which the bus was still in a scheme of white paint. So. More then likely. The bus that we are looking at in up state new York is one of the bell records promotions buses. What. I find is a state of confusion. Why does it have California tags. Leaves one’s mind still in wonder
Check it out on Amazon
What type of papers are you talking about. A bill of sale or an actual title. I’m telling you guys. This bus in the woods under the snow. Was no.hoax. It’s either a bell records promotions bus. Or its the real deal. Either way. You wouldn’t see a finished restoration within a years time. That’s a lot of restoration to make her road worthy again. Question any one been keeping up.with Barrett Jackson auction block
Come on get ☺happy. Be a possibility thinker. Some only see 👀 the glass as half full
The red around the headlights is non existent in the junk one. That would be the one place the sun and weather wouldnt have hit much. Also the chevolet emblem is clean in the junk one. In the show one its got black stripes through it and mostly black. Thats hard to get off even if let to rot. The doors on the original bus were two alternate doors.and painted. The one in the junk sale seems to be a bifold door and no paint. Just my two cents
Been an old car enthusiast for more than 50 years. Like UFOs and Big Foot, I’ve heard many stories over the years people claiming they found some rare lost special interest vehicle. Trying to recall if even one turned out to be true. A story that didn’t turn out to be a hoax.
What does exist are a lot of incorrect, online fantasy stories. People who claim to have seen the PF bus in a junk yard – but have no picture. Like the Lucy’s Drive-in PF bus story, except that’s not the real bus either. Even Wiki listing has it wrong.
These claims all share a common storyline. Have one photo that shows little, is inconclusive, blurry, dark, out of focus or…covered in snow. Always some guy who says he’s seen it himself. Has seen “documents” but doesn’t have or can’t share. Like spotting UFOs and Big Foot – no one ever has a camera or video or can provide any evidence. Huh.
Gary, your points are all good. Add to that, real PF bus had a steel undercarriage frame added under front bumper. This is not there either. Nor did real PF bus Mondrian-inspired paint scheme have ANY yellow on hood. Sure, entire school bus was once chrome yellow in 1955, but you don’t see any of that paint. The red around headlights is missing. Seems the guy who added colors for the ebay photo also forgot to add that detail.
I wouldn’t. Be to sure. That an egg just may hatch. When least expected…. The head light runs your referring to. Are missing. Along with the parking light plastic covers. Someone. May have removed these early on as sovieners. I personally don’t feel this photo was Photo shopped. They may have never disclosed its location due to the crowd of people it would have drawn. It’s a well known fact the original partridge family bus was painted pure white. And went into the apples way t v series. The bus that was parked at Lucy’s taco stand. Was a promotion bus made for bell records. I still to this day believe the bus under the snow could be an archive hidden in the woods. I say someone run the Calif plate number. And search for the vehicle vin number. People may get a pleasant surprise. This auction picture. Could have been taken anywhere. Doesn’t mean it was photographed in up state New york. Sorry. Man. But there’s a lot of things speaking to.me from this pucture. The bus wheels are more then likely flat. With snow on the ground and the angle of the picture. Your eyes would not see the flat metal plate bar your referring to. Study the cover of life magazine with david Cassidy on the cover. That is the proper windshield. So come on get. Thinking. I’m thinking it was a private sale that was photographed in someone else’s property by people wandering on a hike. Peace. Doug
The headlight rims around the lamp lights. Have been removed. That is why there is no indication of red paint or fading. The lower parking light plastic covers were also removed. All of the paint fading is real. I had the photograph professionally blown up.. There is no indication of computer graphics or Photoshop used on this photo. If you pay attention to prior photos in this auction that people have posted. In the original pilot photo of the t v series there’s black.paint on the good emblem. That is the bell promotion bus. It had mechanical issues with the transmission that’s what started them to do a second rendition of the bus. Take a good look at the photos. The blue part of the bus design in upper left corner is different on both buses. And yes it’s in print. There were three partridge family buses. There’s a picture. Or two on Gerry images. One bus is being towed by tow truck. And in another behind the scenes photo. The tow truck is physically pushing the bus.
Broken down on the set
This is the bell records promotions bus. The photo. Shows no careful nervous mother driving. I believe this is the bus That laid to rest behind lucys taco stand
Doug, Photo you posted is the real PF TV show bus. The “Careful Nervous Mother Driving” sign is there. David Cassidy and girl are blocking – standing in front of it. Artwork can be seen behind them.This is not Bell Records bus.
Only Bell Records promo bus was a 1956 Chev-Carpenter. Different year and make. That bus was only used for publicity for a brief period within Calif. That bus was later parked at Lucy’s Drive-In c1974-1987. Above you posted pic of Bell promo bus when parked at Lucy’s Drive-In. (guy kicking tire) That bus was not same year or school bus coach body make as real PF bus.
There was never any other official PF promo bus in New York, or elsewhere. Johnny Ray Miller’s book “When We’re Singin’“ does not say there were 2 Bell promo buses. It says the opposite. That the only bus was L.A.-based Bell promo bus and that it never travelled further than San Francisco (once) due to fact it did not run well. There was no other Bell promo bus in NYC, or elsewhere. Any other look-alike PF buses were home made, privately owned tribute buses, such as the wreck shown on ebay.
This photo of David and fan is a nice snapshot. Do you have any other photos of the bus like this? Thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed the picture. Only off set pic I have.
The original bus had no color of yellow on the bottom quarter of the rear hatch door.
Looks like this pic is flipped (check out the words on the back door).
Come on get chewing and popping that twenty year old bubble gum. You’ve got some serious body work and painting to do
This then 10-year-old collected them. Thanks, for that memory.
C’mon get happy
Getting it all together.
A wonderful pop drop and stop book. Bravo. Johnny Ray Miller. Would love to thank the countless dedicated people who contributed to your endeavors. Keeping the American dream alive
Hopefully. Someone. Will break that egg.
They ‘ll have to make a new opening theme song. Love can start a revolution
Hopefully. One day
When nostalgic moments take over
This is the junk yard bus. Everyone quotes. As gone to the crusher. Wrong year bus. Sorry folks
Here’s a perfect example. Of a replica. Wrong good emblem. At least they left the emergency flashers. Lol
Here’s a tribute bus. Wrong windshield
New book released
As I was commenting on the rear photo of the promotion bell bus. There was no logo on the rear door hatch
This. Is what layers of paint. Covered in layers of snow looks like during a thaw.
What is a case in point. It’s the correct year bus. Correct hood emblem. Correct windshield wipers correct windshield. Did anyone else bother to enlarge the photo. Because the left front passenger wheel run is yellow. Along with the color of red at the bottom corner of folding doors. Don’t forget the correct directional telescopes on the front fenders. Don’t be to surprised when it comes out of sherwoods forest. And is deemed the bus from a nostalgic past
I still believe. This is a story in the making. Wait and see.
So where is this magic bus now?
I think you are correct.I believe this is the original bus from the series.Can’t figure why if someone purchased it that they have not posted anything online about the purchase or about a possible restoration.
The real PF bus is in bus heaven. It was scrapped in 1970s. Like countless thousands of other vehicles used in film & TV back in the day. Producers didn’t save vehicles after shoots. Mostly, they still don’t. They were either rented and returned, or wrecked during production, or sold, scrapped or given away. Anyone doing research on this topic can read online all about how the “Bullitt” Mustangs were gotten rid of after filming. How “Miami Vice” cars were sold off. How “Smokey & Bandit” truck had water color painted mural so Producers could wash off and return asap. Think of a favorite iconic film vehicle, and odds are, it’s long gone. Less than 1% of vehicles used in film & TV vehicles are preserved somewhere because they were in a production. PF bus has not been seen in 44 years. What does that tell you? There are far more valuable iconic film vehicles such as 007 Aston Martin that have disappeared. After 100+ Comments on this topic and no new info to report in 1.5 years, think we’ve exhausted this topic…
Thanks for the closure Autobiography, nothing like a good car mystery. I gotta agree with Mountainwoodie though. Now about that 007 Aston Martin, hmmmmm?
The magic bus is right here
I never understood why anyone cared….
During this decade it was the end of part of our history of war. What ever made Hollywood producers chose this icon for a negative interest for a Charles Manson movie is the total opposite of the partridge generation. It was a time capsule I think the paint development of red white and blue stood for America. The last gasp of innocence a time of people living and coming together
Excellent insight in print. Maybe we ‘ll be reading a novel on its restoration and net profit. Maybe super Chevy will write a inside the mysterys of a pop culture revolution
Moderato!!!
Could you please shut down this thread.
Peter
Maybe you should make a phone call to life magazine. I bet they’d find historical interests. It could be the first amendment. To stop freedom of speech. Right along with freedom of expression. Ring the phones at classic Chevy magazine. They d more then likely run another article . I personally have judged classic original Chevy Belair 1955 thru 1957 stock class for over twenty years. I know what I’m looking at. And it’s not a pile of rust. If this is not the original it came off the same production line.
Hell NO ! Don’t shut this thread down. The first amendment guarantees freedom of speech, even if you don’t understand the attraction, you have to admit this thread has to be one of the longest running articles BarnFinds ever had.
Why couldn’t they have found one of the “ Hi-way Patrol cars from the 50’s or a real Adam 12 prowl car “ ? That be said it’s May, so, “ may the bus be with you” at least until it’s documented. Face it , the bus is as popular as any tv vehicle can get ….. at least with us, though I can’t imagine why. I think most of us may have some deep seeded un-resolved school bus issues…
…. I for one have followed this for months. I wanna see how it plays out. The snow is gone boys… somebody go get pictures. One of you must live near this buried treasure…. BARNFINDERS FIND THAT BUS ! ……….“ of my GOD ! “…. that’s what they say every time the bus moves, ain’t it ?
First of all. the First Amendment guarantees a citizens freedom of speech from the governments’ suppression of speech except in certain instances. Barn Finds is a private business enterprise owned by private citizens. They have no legal obligation to keep anything on their site. If they wish to delete any post they are within their rights..
So enough of that. They also have no obligation to turn this thread into some nutty fan site for a lame tv show. I am sure in the vast netherworld of the interwebs there are plenty of web sites for people like that.
This guy who keeps posting pictures of that lame actor and the show clearly has, shall we say, an obsession. Even after he has been proven wrong multiple times about the provenance of this particular bus.
I live in Upstate New York (where the eBay bus was supposedly located), so my original offer still stands: If anyone can figure out exactly where this thing is, I will personally go and attempt to see it for myself (by legal means, of course). I tried to get a location from the poster back when the original ad was active, to no avail. Ugh.
And this thread is where I would post those pictures, so…
For the sake of everyone’s sanity, this comment thread had better stay extant.
Looks like a touched a few cultural cinematic nerves there ( :
It has been going for years now ( :
Ok then who has Maxwell Smart’s Opel GT from ‘Get Smart”?
Good question. I love a good automotive mystery.
Which is why this article interests me. Honestly, I had no idea what “The Partridge Family” really was until I read about it here. I guess I somehow had it confused with “The Waltons” in my head, another show which I really know next to nothing about.
That being said, I can certainly see the cultural significance of “The Partridge Family” and why it could be important to those familiar with it. :)
David Cassidy. Had the freedom of speech. He kept saying. Who’s the cute chick with the long hair. During his comeback your in the 90 s. He was looking to travel in the original bus.
I’m starting ( well not really starting ) to think that someone has a fixation on the lamest of the lame. David Cassidy? Bubblegum? The Partridge family? The bus? Wow. Just wow.
In regard to your lame lack of collectors interests. Review the post above on the cowsills
Well my obsessed poster, this is not a fan site for any of your juvenile interests. So unless you have some countervailing evidence of the provenance of this sad bus, and you don’t, run along and fine a fan site for your shall we say, odd obsession.
This is a site and a thread for
“barn find” vehicles, not for your peculiar fixation on David Cassidy or the similarly lame Cowsills.
I believe the ” boys” in that band ( at least they could actually sing and a few play instruments) all died of drug overdoses or in Katrina in New Orleans in 2005.
So unless they have a “barn find” car…..
Also. It’s not the Plymouth featured in the 📺television series
Profanity personal attacks. Enjoy reading hemmngs motor news. You’ve been flagged and reported
Say it aint so!
From what I’ve read and heard over the years, is that after The Partridge Family ended its network run on ABC, Screen Gems sold the bus to a private entity and was sighted parked in various locations in Los Angles, CA throughout the mid 70s and early 80s. The long circulated story about the purported Partridge bus parked behind a taco stand has been debunked. Evedentially Screen Gems used more than one Chevrolet bus on the Partridge Family. The bus seen throughout most of the show was a 1957 Chevrolet 6400 series with a Carpenter bus body. The interior shot of Shirley Jones behind the wheel of another bus is a 1955 or 56. How do I know? The steering wheels on 55 and 56 Chevrolet and GMC trucks had a flat three spoke design; the 1957-60 models had an indented three spoke design. Also, another identifiable feature on 55-57 Chevy and GMC trucks is the hood design. The 55’s and 56s had flat hoods, and the 57’s had two prominent raised vertical lines on the truck’s hoods for added strength to the hood. As for the existence of the Partridge buses, they more than likely do not exist. All that is know by former production staff is that the bus(s) were sold off when the series ended.
The bus shown in the episodes was a Superior body, not a Carpenter. The curved ribbed “fins” behind the rear windows on each side of the bus are Superior design cues, and Superior badging can be seen above the right side door and on the back door below the window.
It was a sunny day in the fall of 1980 when I happened upon The Bus lol.
It was such an unexpectedly bizarre thing to see… kind of blew my mind.
I had recently moved to Southern California from the midwest and was out looking for work when I saw what was left of the PF bus parked along the side of South Vermont Avenue, about a block north of Pacific Coast Highway.
I pulled over and parked and got out to take a closer look. What you mentioned in the OP pretty much exactly matches what I saw- the bus was in terrible condition, the paint was very faded, body basically rusted out with big holes in it and tons more rust starting to come through what was left of the paint job.
THEN I noticed that there were some long-haired, apparently unwashed people living in the bus LOL and I hastily departed!
Unfortunately I had no camera with me or I would have snapped some pics.
What a day that was. I’ll never forget it!
There have been MANY replicas of the PF bus made, but there was only ONE used on the TV show and that includes the pilot.
Terry (Jul 6, 2019) has it right. Yes, ribbed fins makes the PF bus distinctively Superior. Bob (May 26, 2019) has most of it right. The never-ending correcting of what is not complicated is exasperating. An indication that the internet is going to forever re-hash info, with people who know little or nothing repeating the same historically incorrect info, requiring experts and historians, and those who were there to correct. As Terry correctly stated, the PF bus was a 8-window Superior Coach. The school bus body was mounted on a 1955 Chevrolet 6800 chassis. There was only one (1) TV show bus. The yellow, 7-window 1957 Carpenter that appears at Al’s Used Cars in the pilot was NOT the same bus as was painted in the Piet Mondrian-inspired paint scheme. The 8-window 1956 Carpenter that was parked at Lucy’s Drive In (not called Lucy’s Tacos) was the former Bell Records promo bus. That bus never appeared in the TV show. That bus is the wrong year and make. The incorrect Wiki posting states the bus was a 1957. It was not. The 1955 had a flat hood, different steering wheel and badging. The numbers 6800 can clearly be seen countless times in the PF TV show on the front right fender.
Hi,would you email me at movinonfan@yahoo.com?..I have new info on the PF buses.[Not location info but history info.]…Thanks/Bill
What a great thread of facts and theories, It’s just my two cents but i would bet there are some very close replicas out there but the actual “real bus” was used for several different shows and movies and eventually sold off to a person who didn’t really care about its history and eventually scrapped it, here in upstate New York (Poughkeepsie) we have several apple orchards where farmers use these old retired busses to cart their apple picker to and from the orchards…This is just one of a million things that people use old busses for…Doug deserves kudos for the continued research that he has provided…..Keep up the great work….One more thing…or should I say regret…back in 2007 I was on ebay and a guy in Connecticut (Stores CT) was selling some van parts for my 68 Chevy van, I answered the add and went to see what he had…..Turns out he had several acres of junk cars in the woods behind his parents house which had to be cleared out due to them selling the property…again….Stupid me didn’t think to take a picture….but parked next to a large pine tree completely intact was a full size 55, 6 or 7, Chevrolet school bus (green and yellow to my best memory)….it had the right look to make a perfect replica for sure….I even remember saying to him…Wow you even have The Partridge Family’s bus here…He laughed and said ‘yeah we’ve got to get that thing out of here too” Please go easy on me…..I know what I should have done…I just didn’t think of it at the time. If anyone is up near Stores College in CT and wants to see if it’s still there feel free to do so…I know the property owner worked at the college but I would bet the bus and the property are long long gone.
hey paul we purchased the 1957 chevy superior bus from arizona shes a beauty she s everything the seller descibed and then some……on with the restoration
I dont believe this was a backyard replica too many model factors in this archive. Thank you for the compliment paul
It’s probably the bell records promotional bus from the East Coast
Darrel Sparks=
My grandfather painted it 3 times before they got it right.He was a painter for universal studios. “SPARKEY” was his name on the set….I located this comment on Facebook.Might help with the bus history here.
I mean no disrespect to your recollections Bill B. I believe the bus you saw in 1980 was the former PF Bell Records promotional bus. It was a 1956 Chev and looked quite similar. That bus was parked at a storage yard of a service station near Vermont & PCH for a long time. It eventually ended up parked at Lucy’s Tacos where it remained until 1987. Aside from being a different year and bus body make, it looked the same, down to hand-painted pull-down canvas window blinds with Mondrian paint scheme. Painted at same film studio paint shop. Described in Johnny Ray Miller’s 2015 book “C’mon Get Happy”, as recalled by the PF Bell Records rep who was responsible for the bus.
From what is known by 1980, the real PF bus was gone. In its last few years prior to being disposed it had been repainted several times and no longer looked like the PF TV show bus 1969-1974. After the PF show was cancelled in 1974 the bus once used in the TV show would not have been recognizable as the former PF bus.
Would’ve been good if you’d taken a picture of the bus you saw. As you describe, the Bell Records bus would have been in bad condition in 1980. By all accounts it was in poor condition 10 years prior in 1970. It was in such bad shape that it was rarely used. If it existed today imagine what it would look like 50 years later.
The rotting bus pictures posted here and on FB 2 years ago was also not the PF TV show bus. The reason there has never been anything more posted online about that bus is because it was a tribute bus parked at a dairy bar for 3 decades then left to rot in a forest. Rusted out and too far gone to restore.
Hi,thanks for your reply.The story was not from myself but from a post I had found on the net.I did find a guy on Facebook who said his grandfather worked for the studio and painted three PF buses while employed with there.His grandfathers nickname at the studio transportation department was “Sparky” as his last name was Sparks.[ I didn’t ask what his first name was.]….In researching this I have found that there were in fact 3 buses!…One bus was used in the pilot episode. Two other buses were used after the pilot sold.The pilot bus has black stripes painted on the front hood emblem and on the top left of the roof you can see a different paint line versus the other two buses.[it has no trailer hitch on back as the other two buses have.] One of the two buses seen in episode two and on has a bar welded on it’s front and a trailer hitch on it’s back below the emergency door exit.The second bus seen after the pilot episode does not have the front bar but does have a trailer hitch.I know one of the two buses used after the pilot episode was painted White and used in the short lived tv series “Apples Way”.After that it was used in the tv movie “Helter Skelter”.[you probably already knew that.] I’m not sure what happened to these three buses.I feel sure that at least one of the buses is still out there.[maybe more!]…..Are you 100 percent sure the bus in N.Y. is not one of the three mentioned here? It looks like it was painted White over the PF design and it has a Cali plate which would lead you to believe it was driven from Cali to N.Y. at some point in the past….Thanks
Pilot bus with hitch seen below:
https://youtu.be/k8BP-IA8DjU?t=60
Interesting. Are you familiar with the specific bus in question? What was the name of the dairy bar/where was it? I think that one of the other comments mentioned that there used to be a tribute bus parked outside of Schenectady, NY.
I ask because I live in Upstate New York, and have been trying to track down the Cohoes bus in the ad so we can finally have some closure on this thing. With the result almost certainly being that this thing is an old, fan-made replica. Especially since the ad itself was written so incompetently.
M.C.S. – Yes, I’m familiar with the bus and the story. I’m also aware there’s someone who has been researching and writing a book about the history of the PF bus for years. I’ve corresponded with him. He has done a lot of work on this. I can tell you the Cohoes claim is a dead end. He did a search of the Cali license plate and it showed no connection.
Out of respect to Barnfinds, and for legal reasons, I will not name the person who posted the ad. The listing back in Jan. 2018 was as you wrote; “written so incompetently”. More like it was intentionally vague and misleading. I was told the guy is a convicted criminal with crimes including theft. He did not own the rotted tribute bus in question — he took a picture of it. From what is said in the other Comments above, no one was ever able to make contact with the guy.
The seller created his ebay name just prior to listing the bus. Then deleted his account after the listing ended. One could conclude the reason he spelled “Partrage” and not “Partridge” is that there was no “Partrage” TV show. By misspelling he was saying nothing. Best explanation I read was he found out wire fraud is a felony. (and 3 strikes means life in prison)
The lack of photos and details in the ebay ad says it all. When you re-read the earliest BF Comments above posted during the week the auction was on-going, note how many people pointed out the obvious missing details. Keep in mind the title of the BF article by Nathan Avots-Smith is: “C’mon get skeptical…” Doubt was there from the outset.
3 years and 160 Comments later — the reason there has never been anything more about this is because there is nothing more to the story. Common sense says this was another internet hoax. There were countless PF tribute buses decorated in the 1970s. Several exist today. The PF show was cancelled more than 46 years ago. If any of the 3+(?) PF buses still existed we would know about it by now.
Streamliner:
I have been following updates to this thread from the beginning, so am not sure how I missed your response until recently, almost 2 years after you posted it.
That being said, some “thanks” for your thoughtful, friendly response are long overdue.
Everything that you are saying makes total sense, and I understand why you needed to omit some details for peoples’ privacy.
I just wish others on this thread would look at the known facts on the subject in question, rather than continuously make wild, unsupported claims.
Thanks again, and see you around.
– M. C. S.
Hi,would you email me at movinonfan@yahoo.com?..I have new info on the PF buses.[Not location info but history info.]…Thanks/Bill
I have had numerous conversations with some very hard core bus people on this page (on the phone and over the internet) and quite honestly if one of the three busses still was in existence someone would have come forward by now…. I’m not in a position to do this although it was a very strong thought of mine for a long time. why not build one to spec ? there’s enough pictures and technology in today’s world to make one and the benefits might be profitable.
They are hard to find….But look at the link below and let your imagination flow.
https://carscoms.com/1957-chevy-school-bus-like-the-partridge-family-bus-219134.html
Hi Paul,would you email me at movinonfan@yahoo.com?..I have new info on the PF buses.[Not location info but history info.]…Thanks/Bill
Thanks for the information Paul the bus has been purchased… and what to our wondering eyes appear everything the seller described…..Come on Get Happy….. She s in process of restoration.. the originality of this bus…and its dry climate conditions….Incredible
Please keep me posted…This is great news !!
My question is, why, if the PF bus was painted white, for duty on “Apple’s Way”, would someone(and, whom), then re-paint it, in the PF livery? I say, “nay”, to it’s being the same vehicle.
Don…That bus has been outside in New York winters since 1979….the paint is peeling layers at a time as the bus’s sheet metal rots from the inside out….For all we know it has trees growing through the floorboards….My point….the white paint is there…what’s left of it….and Douglas Gould made a solid case… There are dents in it….Same place …Same Side…as the bus that David Cassidy posed next to in all of his photos…. You can’t duplicate a dent….and why the hell would you ?
“C:\Users\dgoul\Pictures\pf bus\pd2.jpg” paul dimarco the viewers on barnfinds have never seen four sides of this bus. the photos that were dumped on a post on facebook never appeared to this web page its very clear to see the bus in the woods has a roof rack the 6800 series tag on passenger fender as well as the grab bars that were installed by columbia pictures the superior bus is eight windows . people can comment all they want that the auction was fake. ebay confirmed there was no fraud the auction was in fact real. so the gentleman that commented if you search further and paper work i personally believe he knows what he s talking about.
Douglass Gould:
I have been following this thing from the beginning, and highly doubt that this is “the” bus.
As I live relatively close to Cohoes, I attempted to contact the seller so I could get a real look at it before “placing a bid”.
They refused to respond.
Furthermore, if this thing was the real deal, wouldn’t the seller have gone through the effort to advertise it properly? The posting was one of the laziest I have ever seen. Terrible punctuation and capitalization. Barely two sentences. And to top it off, they couldn’t even be bothered to spell “Partridge” correctly.
All this being said, I would love to be proven wrong.
Doug, do you have information that the rest of us don’t?
Why don’t you post the other pictures of the specimen in question that you mention above?
Do you know where in Cohoes that the bus is? (I say Cohoes because I doubt it actually sold to a new owner.) I would be happy to drive down, count the windows, and check the brand of coachwork (with the owner’s permission, of course).
I want a definitive answer to this thing.
Go to groups on the internet look for the group the history of american television once you become a member of the group you will see the photos of all four sides of the partridge family bus. as for john he said if you search further for the truth this one is credible. the people who sold this had no idea what this bus was. happy trails
What does the unavailability of the purchaser or poor punctuation have to do with ANYTHING? The Lucy’s Taco’s Bus was a completely different make and model with a totally different paint job. The CmonGetHappy website has refused to correct their error for years, but it has long since been debunked with photographs. That bus actually had been owned by Bell Records and used for promotion. The last we heard of the original PF bus, it was painted white and used in the movie Helter Skelter for one scene. It’s a bit of a mystery what the bus was doing all these years for it to wind up in upstate NY with a different license plate. But every worn corner matches the features of the original bus. After careful study by a number of PF and bus experts we are convinced without a doubt that the bus from this auction is the original PF bus used on the show. Unfortunately, whoever bought the auction for the bus in Cohoes closed their Ebay acct and went underground. Since it was already pretty well gutted, we dont know if they are even trying to refurbish it. But whoever got it, got the real deal.
I also believe this was one of the buses used in the PF series
There were at least two buses use. The pilot bus had its interior repainted when the series sold. That bus was in poor mechanical shape
(Barely ran) A second bus was used for this reason. There are many things seen either the PF episodes in all seasons to support this claim. Check out my Facebook page.
“Partridge Family bus history”
You are spot on with everything you have posted… I’m convinced that the mystery has been solved…and as far as I’m concerned the only person who has The Partridge Family’s Bus is Doug Gould…Until you find me a bus that even comes closer to the original. Have A Nice Day !!
there was no internet hoax this is a 1955 chevy superior task force model 8 windows the same bus under the snow
she has the unmistaken ear marks of star quality aka danny partridge
hope the archive photos are helpful
this is not a replica
one has to let the imagination wonder happy trails
If those photos were taken by you of the bus, one person who for certain could say if that bus was authentic would be Shirley Jones herself because she’d have firsthand knowledge of it inside and out. I believe it is the bus and for a long while it very well COULD have been in California hence the tags
“Richard Griffith”
Perhaps there is no other greater trivia-regarded mystery than “What really happened to the original Partridge Family TV-show bus?”
There have been sightings, there have been accounts from different people of having had known the original bus’s whereabouts at least for a certain amount of years, there have been people who claim to have known someone who bought the bus, there have been people who have studied the model of bus that the original PF bus was and debunking that certain buses later in existence which have the Piet Mondrian colors on them were not the exact same physical design as the original PF bus. etc etc.
But it just MIGHT be that only actress Shirley Jones herself can tell.
But in 2022 she 88 years old. Her last look at the original bus was probably
in the mid 1970s when the TV series went off the air. I think there was a “reunion” type of publicity stunt in which a replica bus was used with some of the original cast, but who would know if Ms. Jones would have a solid recollection of the old original bus. Even if she did, then it is not likely she could pick the bus out among all other replica buses if all existing PF buses were collected together and put in one parking lot, broken down and rusted and faded and deteriorated?
Maybe Susan Dey would know? Other than Ms. Dey and Ms. Jones, the other surviving cast members, Jeremy Gelbwaks, Danny Bonaduce, and Brian Forster were, or might have been, too young at the time to now recall the real bus.
It genuinely looks like the mystery may never be solved. People who were young enough in the 1970 to 1974 who were Partridge Family fans are now in their very late 50s at the youngest and when the generation of PF fans are no longer around, it seems that the enthusiasm for the hunt for the real Partridge Family bus will have bee watered down and with time and other generations will fade. Perhaps only a few remaining people who have taken up the search out of genuine interest will keep the hunt going until the mystery is solved But it is likely that the mystery became unsolvable decades ago anyway.
We can only get a good interesting glimpse of the facts surrounding it.
https://unrememberedhistory.com/2017/11/22/there-is-an-artist-behind-the-iconic-partridge-family-bus/
We certainly don’t need Shirley or any other cast members to confirm something they are far less likely to remember than we are. For them it just isn’t that serious. Thanks for your feedback, but we’ve already come to a consensus about the Partridge Family bus found in Cohoes.
Unfortunately, the “consensus” is that the bus in question is an old tribute vehicle, not the original one.
From the beginning, users have been pointing out inconsistencies from the single picture alone.
The Ebay listing was written with such lazy incompetence… If someone thought that they were selling the “real deal”, they would have bothered to post multiple pictures and a coherent description. They would have spelled “Partridge” properly.
One user contacted the California DMV to run the plate number… no Partridge connection.
Look at all of the comments made by “Streamliner”. He lays out all of the facts really well.
The real Partridge buses could still be out there, but it’s not this one, unfortunately.
Also look closely at the license plate, the month has red letters which is indicative of 1975 through most of the 80’s and the California sticker is red and white indicative of the years 1975 to1978 when this color was used. I was able to zoom in on and enhance the license plate to see these details, and another indicator of the fact that this license plate is 70’s era is the presence of 7 characters on the plate whereas in the latter half of the 70’s California plates only permitted 6 characters with a space between (I’m somewhat of an historian on license plates particularly those of California.
Also look closely at the license plate, the month has red letters which is indicative of 1975 through most of the 80’s and the California sticker is red and white indicative of the years 1975 to1978 when this color was used. I was able to zoom in on and enhance the license plate to see these details, and another indicator of the fact that this license plate is 70’s era is the presence of 7 characters on the plate whereas in the latter half of the 70’s California plates only permitted 6 characters with a space between (I’m somewhat of an historian on license plates particularly those of California.
I am simply going by Douglas Gould’s own words, and I quote:
“its very clear to see the bus in the woods has a roof rack the 6800 series tag on passenger fender as well as the grab bars that were installed by columbia pictures the superior bus is eight windows . people can comment all they want that the auction was fake. ebay confirmed there was no fraud the auction was in fact real. so the gentleman that commented if you search further and paper work i personally believe he knows what he s talking about.:
That alone is verification for me, that and also what are the odds the California plate could have been used on the bus when it was in Helter Skelter? I can’t seem to find any screenshots of the movie to be sure if that plate was on the bus at the time but I’d bet that because there are clearly NO records of the plate number with the California DMV or any license plate search engine, it’s most likely a studio created plate.
Then explain the roof rack and the grab handles which were added to the bus for Helter Skelter? Secondly the Manson murders took place in California, thirdly the blue and gold license plates started being used at the end of 1969 and that particular license plate is an early version hence its presence on the bus. I have compared this bus to the one in Helter Skelter, even the tire hanging on the back is present in Helter Skelter.
Richard, you are wasting your time arguing with MCS. License plates come and go, they can be changed at any point … her entire argument is distractive, it is completely irrelevant to the authenticity of the Partridge Family bus found in Cohoes. She may have a ‘consensus’ in her own mind, but meanwhile we’ve all examined it in great detail, examining the FACTUAL evidence and there is no question about the bus. Perhaps our energies are better spent finding the buyer to see what he did with it, or better yet, supporting Douglas Gould’s work, who has created to most authentic looking replica of the Partridge Family bus in 50 years.
What would really be the best revenge is if we could find the location of the bus, why? Because Shirly Jones when she left the set for the last time, retained a key to the original bus, and provided the bus still has the original ignition cylinder, wouldn’t it be the icing on the cake if she put the original key into the lock and it turned? I know the bus wouldn’t start since at the moment it’s minus an engine, but the best revenge would be seeing that cylinder turn vindicating what we already know to be true.
One further thing, the info I got about the paint scheme, particularly about the bus being painted yellow in an episode of “Apple’s Way” is from none other than our very own STREAMLINER from when he commented on a post on IMCDB.org. Here is what he said including the reference to the yellow paint on the bus which can be seen on the bus in Doug Gould’s post along with all the other paints, the visual proof is THERE. Now here are Streamliner’s OWN words from back in 2013:
“streamliner US
◊ 2013-05-11 00:45
It is obvious when watching the show that the Producers barely took care of the one 1955 “hero” bus, as the peeling, sunbaked paint demonstrates. The actual PF bus had body rot in specific places and was dented and painted over from the outset in places. Collectively, the dents, paint scheme, roof rack, side grab handles, trailer hitch, underbelly battery boxes and interior are unique and unmistakable.
It remains a mystery what happened to the actual PF bus. What is known is that shortly after the PF show was cancelled in spring, 1974 the actual PF TV show bus was completely repainted a plain cream color for use in “The Candy Drive”, an episode of the short-lived Lorimar TV show “Apple’s Way”.(1974-75)
Within the storyline of this episode, the former PF bus is again repainted a brighter yellow. A brief shot inside the bus confirms the recognizable PF seat fabric. Aside from a few airings on TV Land in 2000s, over the past 40 years “Apples Way” has never been syndicated, and to date is not available as a download or on DVD.”
Yes I just used Streamliner’s OWN words from back in 2013 AGAINST him as he said that the roof rack and the grab handles would essentially be the easiest way to identify the original bus and THIS bus has BOTH.
The bus in question may have a similar set of grab handles and a roof rack, but that isn’t definitive proof, unfortunately.
Any bus could have been equipped with these accessories. A well-done “tribute” bus put together by a fan would have had them, which is probably what we are looking at here.
Believe what you want dude, the yellow paint and cream color paint that was on the bus when it was in “Apple’s Way” is present on the bus, the green paint from it’s time in the movie Helter Skelter is on there, the grab handles and the roof racks are not “similar” they are the exact ones it’s not my fault you’re too blind to see the details that are literally all over the bus.
Plus if you do a bit of backlighting on the bus photo to brighten certain areas you can see the “underbelly battery boxes” Streamliner talked about that were added to the bus and he said so HIMSELF that if all these details were present on the bus that chances were pretty good that it’s the original bus.
You may be a career naysayer along with countless others here but ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you that I have an extremely analytical mind, I suppose the NEXT thing you’ll say is that the 1980 Kenworth Aerodyne that was found abandoned in the woods in Douglasville Georgia isn’t the real “BJ and the Bear” truck, and that IT is a replica.
I suppose you’ll say also someone in California took an old trailer made by Brown Manufacturing and painted it to look like the “BJ and the Bear” trailer as well as went to the trouble of putting “Universal Studios DOT” stickers on it in the correct places? Why would anyone go through the trouble of putting ALL the paint schemes on THIS bus that the ORIGINAL one had? Think McFly, think!
I don’t feel like paying 10 bucks just to be able to put images into my comments on here but I have taken the liberty of placing wording on each section of the bus where the paint is from Apple’s Way, where the paint is from Helter Skelter and where it is from The Partridge Family, also zoom in on the center window on the back, the yellowed stain pattern seen on that window can clearly be seen when the back door of the bus is open in Helter Skelter. Look for yourself. If I can see it others could too if they knew what to look for.
And also take this into consideration, without having pulled measurements DIRECTLY OFF the original bus, how would one be able to get the EXACT piping and grab handles that were used on the original bus to make a tribute? Sorry but your little theory of this being a tribute bus is sinking faster than the Titanic did after it collided with the iceberg.
Oh and one last thing, the identifying dents THIS bus has line up exactly with what the bus shown in publicity shots and onscreen has, and as one well knows, dents CANNOT be duplicated no matter HOW hard one tries. It CAN’T be done.