Gday all!
After deciding to sell everything and live on the road for a bit, a mate and i did a deal for this bus>>
Thanks to the wealth of information on this site (and not anywhere else on the net!) we found out its '67-'69 Ansair bodied GM DSPA5019.
Heres the fun part, it needs a fair bit of work.... and parts :/

Mechanically it seems fine, starts, runs, moves, brakes work but the rear needs to dialed in,
the the clutch seems to be loosing fluid, and the power assisted steering hasnt been tested.

But our windscreen.... lovely they decided to make the surround panel out of steel...
Some serious cancer the whole way around the surround, the 2 lower screens are perspex and have turned opaque over time, and all 6 peices have to come out for some serious welding.
I doubt we will find a replacement.

So, anyone know of anyone parting one out? ^_^
or are we up the proverbial creek with the same for a paddle?

i have 2 extremely talented boiler makers, 2 diesel mechs and a sparky up the sleeve, and i haven't found a motor i cant massage into life yet.
But, this will be a learning curve from the 60s/70s/80s cars i normally play with.

Also, anyone know where the body number may be? As I, and some on this site would like to know, what its history was.
Theres one on the fire wall which i have to scrub to read, and i found one on the front axle/cross member.

heres some flics, enjoy:

Werks,
Start of the journey mate !
We eventually just dropped bonded windows into the screen areas, after much agonising.............
If you change them a bit I guarantee no one will notice
It will be about 6 months before you drop the "I want to restore to original"
Save yourself some agony and surrender now

Ok, here she is....

Just a thought on the engine,does it have to a GM? Could you be better off with something like a Scania,MAN,Volvo engine instead? You would get better fuel economy from those yet still have the horsepower of the GM?

Based on the condition your vehicle is in,is it worth while fixing it up to keep it and use it? Are there any major repairs that need to be dealt with? Whats your budget to get the vehicle roadworthy? You can look in magazines like "Motorhome & Caravan Trader" to compare whats out there for sale compared to what you've got.

Well denv12, we got it pretty cheap, the injectors have been replaced and the motor tuned to some degree, its really just the rust around the windscreen that is the main issue.
ive brang valiants back from the dead that are in far worse condition.
That and id think new and second hand parts on the road would be cheaper and easier to find seeing as many trucks run the same driveline, or so im told by all the truckies i know.
Also, they say il die before the running gear will...

We have about 15k at disposal, but were looking at about 7k just in solar panel, inverter, battery's, finch underbunk aircon and the lighting system.
If we get to the point of it going over budget we may move it on and acquire another bus but were trying not to.
Alot of its just surface rust and small things that im confident with, and we have somewhere to spray her aswell.
Just have to remove all the panels from the sub frame and go from there, which hopefully will be next weekend.
Then, my mate Jimmy the boilermaker can give me the good news, or bad news as to whether or not shes worth it

Guess well see and thanks for the thought! more flics as we go ^_^

oh, and it was last regoed' in 2011 as a caravan/motorhome, so in south aust its just a walk in transfer of ownership
but obviously it needs a clean up and spray

Please keep us updated on your progress and if you have photos of your progress too.Thanks for sharing.

I'd suggest popping some windows out and checking the frame before committing much $ to it. Frame starts getting expensive quickly.

Option b would be to fibreglass the windscreen area. There'd be some fuel savings in a more streamlined front.

Hi
You have one of 49 Ansair scenicruisers ever built for pioneer tours as a replacement for the flxible clippers.
I have number 45. There is a 5 digit body number " RExxx" on the Ansair plate inside the front door, I'll be able to tell you the fleet number from that and which of the 49 it was.
Any questions you have feel free to contact me via pm or here. I know a fair bit about this one. !
Your chassis number is under the fan belt on top of the left chassis rail 6 characters about 8mm high.
The windscreen is the same as a American GM newlook transit bus 96 inch version. Rubbers are available and I think windscreens obrien in Melbourne have the main screens ( last heard thru the clipper club.). There are only 2 of these left registered that I know of. Mine and one in warrnambool Vic. I'm in Sydney. Was this one from Murray bridge ? I saw that up for sale a while back.
Anyway let me know if you need more info. Happy to help out.
Matt.

qbb469 wrote:I'd suggest popping some windows out and checking the frame before committing much $ to it. Frame starts getting expensive quickly.

Option b would be to fibreglass the windscreen area. There'd be some fuel savings in a more streamlined front.

I like qbb469's idea. You'd be better off doing something about the front of that vehicle so you could have a simpler front so its cheaper to replace windscreens for a start. Once you get the air flow over the front it will be cheaper to run.Thats aerodynamics for you.

Any update on progress with this one?

Looks like this coach was pioneer fleet number D410, the 10th scenicruiser built in late 66.
Anyone have any fleet lists or info on where this bus went after pioneer ? The owner is interested to know a bit of its history.
If anyone knows, they'll be on this forum!
Hope someone can help out.

Progress update, bugger all.
Mainly due to work and being interstate for it.
Stripped most of the interior out and found a few more issues that arnt too bad.
Ive hit up a bunch of forums in the US and Canada for windscreen surround and parts from the US GM New Look Fishbowl model.
No luck yet

Old aircon system..... going to be fun cutting this out.
Il get an extra bay if i do and i cant see any reason to leave it in

Some progress, little but it all helps

Im sure your going to get some kind of award if you get this serviceable again.

Dunno about being returned into service as a people carrying bus, but as an already engineered "caravan" on SA rego, its possible...