1611

1972 International Harvester - 11 row Superior - handicap lift
Loadstar 1600 - butterfly hoods

WHAT A FIND!! A 1972 INTERNATIONAL SUPERIOR 11 ROW HANDICAP BUS

345 V8 gasoline
5 speed manual transmission
air brakes

Just driven 1100 miles to florida. It drove like a brand new bus and had incredible horsepower. It climbed the jelico mountain on i-75 at 50 mph. Not many buses will do that!! The fuel mileage was great, as well. 8.4 mpg on the trip, which included all idle time, the mountain driving, and a couple of huge traffic jams along the way. WOW, did this bus ever get the attention on the trip! At the gas stations, and even during the traffic jams on the freeway, people came up to me and wanted to know about the bus.

It used no oil at all on the 1100 mile trip. It idles for long periods without loading up on gasoline or oil. The engine is exceptionally tight and shows absolutely no sign of being tired.

The steering system was super tight, as well. The bus, literally, drives like a brand new one. There is no pull, shimmy, shake, or wobble. It goes down the road perfectly straight and smooth. Top speed was 65 for me, but it might go 70. I never did let it out all the way. I preferred to drive 55 and 60. It ran very well at those speeds.

This bus meets all 1972 specifications. That was a year of its own! The seats were required to have padded backs. The hand rails ahead of the seats were required to have padding. An 11 row or larger bus was required to have air brakes, and the air brake system is different from those that were used other years. There are 2 buttons. One works like regular air brakes. In, the parking brakes are released. Out, the parking brakes are set. The second button allows you, when pushed in, to move the bus even with the parking brakes set and not enough air pressure to release them. This was a safety device in case a bus lost air pressure and could not get off a railroad crossing or out of a busy intersection. It was all good ideas that made the 1972 school bus much safer, but the 'experts' decided it was too expensive. So, in 1973, the buses went back to the 1971 standards. It wasn't until 1977 that school bus standards changed, again. At that time, they had some improvements in safety that were not included in 1972 (like caged fuel tanks and modesty barriers). So, 1972 still, today, remains the only year that this braking system was used, that these padded seats were used, that these padded rails were used, and so on. It makes this a very rare school!

Also, this was the year that handicapped children were required to be carried to and from school in yellow school buses. This bus is a 1972 bus with a wheelchair lift. This makes it the first year that wheelchair lifts were required on yellow school buses transporting handicapped children. No bus manufacturer offered them, yet. So, this bus had to be put on a train and shipped to Virginia, where the wheelchair lift was added. Then, it had to be shipped back to the manufacturer in Ohio, and was then delivered to an Ohio school district. When I drove it to Florida, that was the first long highway trip it had ever been on!

Here are some photos of it, as it arrived in Florida. It has not been to the detail shop, so it is still 'as is'. We can clean it up. We can repaint it, if you like. We can do whatever you like. OR, you can buy it 'as is' and keep it original, the same exact way it came from the school.

THIS IS LITERALLY A MUSEUM PIECE!

Loadstar 1600 - incredibly solid Superior body made in Lima, Ohio

Handicap lift installed for 1972 regulation requiring schools to transport all students,
even the handicapped, to school and back home in yellow school buses (for safety).