The Blue Bird Corporation (originally known as the Blue Bird Body Company) is an American bus manufacturer. Headquartered in Fort Valley, Georgia, the company was best known for its production of school buses. The company has also manufactured a wide variety of other bus types, including transit buses, motorhomes, and specialty vehicles such as mobile libraries and mobile police command centers.
Since the 1990s, the company has concentrated on the development of alternative-fuel vehicles in the segment. Along with the production of propane, natural gas, and gasoline-fuel buses, Blue Bird has expanded the development of zero-emissions vehicles, introducing electric-powered versions of each of its product lines.
After producing his first bus in 1927 as a side project, A.L. Luce founded Blue Bird Body Company in Fort Valley, Georgia in 1932. Remaining under family control into the early 1990s, Blue Bird changed hands several times in the 2000s, with the company becoming publicly owned in February 2015 (with previous owner Cerberus Capital Management holding a 58% share). The company currently assembles vehicles in its Fort Valley, Georgia facility, its headquarters since 1946. Currently, Blue Bird is the only American full-line school bus manufacturer under American ownership, and concentrates its product lineup on school buses, school pupil activity buses, and specialty vehicle derivatives.http://www.blue-bird.com Blue Bird Corporation
History 1927–1930s As the second quarter of the 20th century began, Albert Luce Sr. was an entrepreneur who developed some of the earliest purpose-built school buses, transitioned from wagons. What is now Blue Bird Corporation began life as a side project in a Ford Motor Company dealership in Perry, Georgia. Along with the dealership in Perry, Luce owned the Ford franchise in Fort Valley, Georgia, a rural farming community south of Macon.
In 1925, Luce sold a customer a Ford Model T with a wooden bus body; the customer sought to use the bus to transport his workers. Due to a combination of unsatisfactory construction quality of the bus body and the rough conditions of the rural Georgia roads, the wooden bus body started to disintegrate before the customer had finished paying for the vehicle. Driven to produce an improved design to sell to his customers, Luce sought input to develop a stronger bus body capable of surviving unimproved roads. In place of wood, Luce constructed his bus body from steel and sheet metal; wood was used as a secondary material. Completed in 1927, the bus was put into use as a school bus.
While buses would initially remain a side project for Luce (with only nine bus bodies produced between 1929 and 1931), the onset of the Great Depression would change his company forever. Following a 95% decline in car sales in 1931, Luce sold both of his Ford dealerships, using the $12,000 proceeds from the sale to begin his own company, concentrating solely on bus production. Inspired to begin production in order to support the local economy, Luce also felt school buses would be a necessary resource as part of the shift towards consolidated schools.
The early use of farm wagons on a part-time basis soon evolved into purpose-built school bus products, each with economy and function as major priorities. In 1937, the company began production of full-steel bus bodies, an innovation which soon replaced the wooden bodies which were then in common use around the United States.
In a 1939 industry conference, Blue Bird engineers contributed to the selection of school bus yellow, still in use today.
Blue Bird Number One
Completed in 1927, the first bus completed by A.L. Luce was sold to a customer and put into use as a school bus. Following the establishment of Blue Bird Body Company in 1932, the bus became retroactively known as Blue Bird "Number One". In 1946, the bus was reacquired by the Luce family; as part of the restoration, the body was placed on a Ford Model TT chassis, undergoing a second restoration in the 1970s.
In 2008, Blue Bird "Number One" was donated to the Henry Ford Museum, marking the 100th anniversary of the Model T Ford and the 80th anniversary of its construction.
Alongside the 1948 Blue Bird All American, a replica of Blue Bird Number One sits on the Blue Bird factory floor in Fort Valley.
1940s By the 1940s, the demand for school buses expanded the presence of Blue Bird from rural Georgia to multiple states across the Southern United States. Following World War II, several changes across the country further created a need for school buses. In all but the most remote rural communities, centralized schools (with the graded class structure of urban schools) had succeeded one-room schoolhouses. In metropolitan areas, urban populations began to move into suburbs. Depending on location, the practice of walking to school had become increasingly impractical (particularly as students progressed into high school). At the end of the decade, the baby-boom generation began their education, having an impact across the education system for the next 30 years.
Near the end of 1945, the company suffered a major setback, as its Fort Valley factory was destroyed by fire (nearly claiming the life of A.L. Luce). While the factory building was burned to the ground, a significant amount of equipment was salvaged along with a number of buses on the assembly line. Production was restarted on a makeshift assembly line on other company property, with some work completed under tents. The Fort Valley factory was rebuilt by the spring of 1946, following several challenges; while building materials themselves were no longer rationed, the ability to secure large quantities of beams, trusses, and sheetmetal remained a formidable task.
Following a 1946 heart attack, A.L. Luce began to hand over day-to-day operations of Blue Bird to his three sons. By the end of the decade, the company became the seventh-largest school bus manufacturer in the United States.
World War II production Following the outbreak of World War II, school bus production went on hiatus; Blue Bird produced buses for the U.S. Navy. As steel was heavily rationed, company engineers were required to re-engineer the body designs, using wood as part of the body structure.
Alongside its buses for the Navy, Blue Bird also produced ambulance buses. Intended for mass evacuations, the vehicles were fitted with four stretchers.
All American
In 1948, on a trip to Europe, A.L. Luce and his son George attended the 1948 Paris Auto Show. After viewing a GM-chassis forward-control bus on display, Luce sought to buy a similar bus chassis to produce with a Blue Bird body. Unable to secure a chassis, Luce instead purchased the display vehicle, importing it to the United States.
After reverse-engineering the chassis design (to modify American-produced vehicles), Blue Bird completed its first forward-control prototype in 1949, naming it the All American. In 1950, the All American entered full-scale production. For 1952, Blue Bird became the first school bus manufacturer to produce its own chassis (rather than from outside suppliers). With the exception of the van-based Micro Bird, Blue Bird builds the chassis of each bus its produces.
Currently in its sixth generation, the Blue Bird All American is the longest-running bus model line. While not the first forward-control school bus (the Crown Supercoach was introduced in 1932), the All American would become one of the designs to widely expand its use, leading its wider use by school districts and school bus operators throughout the United States and Canada. Along with the Blue Bird Conventional (and the later Blue Bird Vision), many Blue Bird body designs would share design elements with the All American, including the TC/2000, TC/1000, APC and CS commercial buses, and Wanderlodge recreational vehicle.
1950s In 1950, A.L. Luce retired from daily operations of Blue Bird, with operations of the company handled by his three sons; A.L. "Buddy" Luce Jr. became company president and general manager; George Luce oversaw engineering and Joseph Luce overseeing production and assembly. The same year, the company began assembly of a second product line, as the All American entered full-scale production. In an effort to guarantee year-round demand, Blue Bird turned to exports for its buses, entering Central America and South America.
During the late 1950s, several changes were made to the body design of Blue Bird buses. In 1957, the body underwent a complete redesign, including a higher roofline and flatter body sides; with several revisions, the current Blue Bird Vision and All American continue to use this body. As an option, a "high-headroom" body was introduced, raising interior height to 77 inches.
1960s At the beginning of the 1960s, Blue Bird stood as the fourth-largest manufacturer of school buses in the United States. To accommodate the added demand, the Luce brothers added several production facilities to supplement the Fort Valley, Georgia plant. In 1958, Blue Bird Canada was opened in Brantford, Ontario. In 1962, Blue Bird Midwest was opened in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
At the beginning of the decade, Blue Bird introduced its roofline brand emblem, becoming the first bus manufacturer to do so. In 1962, Blue Bird introduced a panoramic windshield design, used on the All American through 2013 (and still on use on the Vision). In the early 1960s, Blue Bird introduced its long-running company slogan: "Your Children's Safety is Our Business", appearing in company advertising (and inside bus bodies) into the 1990s.
Company founder A.L. Luce died in 1962. Shortly after, the three Luce sons sought to diversify the company product line, fearing that demand for school bus production would eventually recede; while the baby boom generation affected student populations, the generation (as a whole) would complete high school shortly after 1980.
In 1965, the company launched bus assembly outside of North America for the first time, opening Blue Bird Central America in Guatemala. While assembling the bodies of the Conventional and All American, Blue Bird Central America lowered production and maintenance costs by using locally sourced chassis (from Mercedes-Benz, Hino, Nissan Diesel, and Toyota) in place of sharing components from the United States.
Wanderlodge
In 1963, the first major Blue Bird venture outside of school buses made its debut. Named the Blue Bird Transit Home (re-branded as Wanderlodge in 1968), it was a $12,000 luxury recreational vehicle based on the All American type. Using the heavy-duty frame and all-steel body to its advantage, the vehicle was marketed as higher-quality than other RVs of the time; the interior was largely built to order. For over 25 years of production, the Wanderlodge developed a loyal customer base, including celebrities and heads of state among their owners.
1970s In the 1970s, Blue Bird further diversified its product line, entering the transit bus segment. In 1976, the City Bird was introduced as a rear-engine variant of the All American developed for smaller mass-transit routes.
During the decade, the design of small school buses evolved into a dedicated vehicle (away from adaptations of automobiles). While designs based on cutaway vans were not invented by the company, the 1975 Micro Bird introduced several key features retained by van-based buses today. Along with a full-height entry door, the Micro Bird added windows forward of the entry door (to aid loading-zone visibility). The 1977 Mini Bird used the chassis of the GM P30 stepvan; slightly larger than the Micro Bird, the model line shared the body width of the full-size Conventional and All American.