Hello. This is a great forum . I have been lurking for about six months! I basically have decided to finish a project I started in 1992 !
I have owned a number of class 8 trucks and class A diesel pushers. One of my brother in laws is in the auto racing field and has managed a number of sports car teams over the years. Back in the 80's we were at daytona standing on the roof of a Newell coach to get a better view of the road race and I thought how silly it was to be on the roof and not in the ac. I thought a double decker bus would be the obvious answer with full ac up and down. So in 1990 I bought a 1967 Bristol FLF Lodekka bus from the city of St Petersberg Fl. This bus was sold to them by a broker that refurbished them for the US. One thing they did was move the door to the right side of the bus so you would not get off on the traffic side! The lodekka is special because it is only 13ft 5.5inches tall a foot shorter than a regular double decker bus and one of the only models that is legal height in the US . That is why the top of most double deckers in the US are cut off. I drove it to Daytona one time and realized that 49 mph was not going to cut it! I spent about a year looking at different engine transmission options but ultimeately decided on a drastic solution to speed dependability and handling. I got out the old autosketch program and designed a modification to a fifth wheel trailer ! Thats right I took out the engine, radiator , cab ,front axle etc etc. I sold all these back to the importer. I have this great shop that builds custom heavy duty trucks among other things. They took my plans and shop-drew real parts to make a semi trailer out of the double decker bus. When I started this in 1995 there was no air ride hitch available so I used a single axle freightliner columbia. That was in 2003. So now I have decided to resurrect and restore and finish this project based on all the new stuff thats available. I have a 2006 780. I will use bludot air over hydraulic brakes,and an et hitch. We started the project back up in Nov after a ten year vacation!! Thank you for all the info so far.
