The Yellow monster arrives.
I bought the bus from a church and it looked as if it had been waiting to be purchased for quite a while since it had a nice coat of rust and mildew over every square inch. Yummy. They actually had two busses for sale, a 1986 Ford with a gas engine that looked to be in worse shape, and this one -- a 1986 International S1700. I wasn't sure on first glance if the bus was going to be a keeper, but I inspected it and with the exception of the exterior, the bus seemed to be in good shape.

I jumped in it, turned the key and the motor instantly started. I live about a mile from the place I bought it so I took it to my house and gave it the full inspection -- over, under and in-between. I used to be a jet mechanic for the U.S. Air Force, so this couldn't be that much different, right? No laughing! Seriously though, the engine and chassis were in super great shape, so I overlooked some of the more glaring body problems.

$2000 later, I was the proud owner of the yellow monster complete with the Tennessee title. Now for the fun part...

Apparently, this is a fire school bus. Huh? The church had attempted some customization of their own. More on that to come.
This is the day I got it. I couldn't wait to start removing some of the junk that I hated. The mirrors and the bus door were the first to come off. All hail the Makita grinder!

Muck and mildew and rust, oh my. They threw it in for free. Thanks guys!
Another shot of the side after I removed some of the offending parts.

The other side. See the hole below the driver window? It was an air intake for three heaters that were inside. It had a ram air scoop that I removed. That hole was something like 4" X 8" it was one BIG air leak.
This bus was obviously equipped for handicap accessibility. It is also a bit shorter in length than a standard bus. It is a "special" bus.