The Blue Bird All American is a series of buses produced by American school bus manufacturer Blue Bird Corporation (originally Blue Bird Body Company). In production since 1949, the model line is the longest-assembled commercial vehicle line in the world, currently in its sixth generation (introduced for 2014).http://www.blue-bird.com/pressrelease.aspx?item=2012 Originally developed as a yellow school bus, additional versions of the All American have been designed for a wide variety of applications, ranging from the Blue Bird Wanderlodge luxury motorhome to buses for law enforcement use.
While the All American was not the first school bus designed with a transit-style body design (with a flat-front body, placing the front axle behind the entry door), the model line popularized the body design in North America, with many competitive manufacturers introducing similar designs. Since 1952, Blue Bird has used a proprietary chassis for the All American, a practice later used for its TC/2000 and Vision model lines (and their derivatives). Originally produced as a front-engine vehicle, the All American has also been produced as a rear-engine vehicle since 1961.
Since 1949, Blue Bird has sourced production of the All American nearly entirely from its facility in Fort Valley, Georgia. From the 1960s to the 1980s, the model line was also produced in South America, using locally sourced chassis.
Development
1930s In the 1930s, to expand student seating capacity in school buses, manufacturers developed "forward control" school buses. By modifying conventional truck chassis, the engine was placed next to the driver and the front axle moved rearward of the entrance door. This allowed for the use of greater capacity within the same overall length and better forward visibility; the shorter wheelbase gave them improved maneuverability.
In 1932, Crown Coach introduced the Supercoach alongside a similar design by Wayne Works; Gillig introduced a design with a rear-mounted engine. In 1937, the Crown Supercoach was expanded to a capacity of 79 passengers, becoming one of the largest school buses of its time.
1940s In the years following World War II, Blue Bird company founder A.L. Luce sought to develop his own forward control bus. In 1948, during a trip to Europe, he and his son George visited the Paris Auto Salon. One of the vehicles on display was a front-engine motorcoach (either Van Hool or Jonckheere bodywork) with a General Motors chassis built in an Opel factory in Belgium.
Inspired by the design, A.L. Luce sought to develop uses for the chassis as a school bus; however, the Luces learned that it was a model specifically for export markets. In an effort to reverse-engineer the vehicle, A.L. Luce purchased the Paris Auto coach from the body manufacturer in order to ship it to Blue Bird in Fort Valley, Georgia. Moving past the bodywork, Blue Bird engineers found that the Opel chassis shared much in common with Chevrolet medium-duty trucks converted to forward-control; the front axle was widened and modifications were made to the steering gear. In a unique feature, the transmission was shifted by remote control.
Due to its design commonality with the export Opel chassis, Blue Bird selected Chevrolet as the initial chassis for the forward-control prototype. The first prototype, named Blue Bird All American, was completed in 1949. Plagued by engineering issues, the All American did not enter full production until 1950.
First generation (1950–1956)
For 1950, the All American entered full-scale production, deriving its design from the original prototype. Though the move to a Chevrolet/GMC chassis allowed for commonality with its conventional-chassis vehicles, its method of assembly hindered its production. To fit a chassis to an All American, Blue Bird had to strip the cowled-chassis frame bare and convert it to a forward-control layout before the body was mounted. Along with adding time to final assembly, the conversion process required that nearly every chassis component be rechecked for functionality.
To improve design quality and reduce the time of assembly, Blue Bird ended its use of second-party chassis for the All American in 1952 in an effort to develop its own design. Subsequently, every front-engine All American has utilized a Blue Bird chassis (rear-engine, since 1988); since 2008, all full-size Blue Bird buses use a proprietary chassis design. In a secondary change, Blue Bird expanded the range of engines for the All American beyond Chevrolet and GMC.
In the switch to the Blue Bird chassis, several changes were made to the body of the All American, with some remaining a part of the design today. In addition to a larger entryway and front door, the front roofline was extended forward several inches (with the windshield becoming nearly vertical); the rear bodywork became less rounded, with the side windows extending nearly the full length of the bus. The overall seating capacity of the All American was expanded, with the largest versions seating up to 72 passengers.
Second generation (1957–1989)
For 1957, along with the Blue Bird Conventional, the body of the All American was given a ground-up redesign. To better accommodate older students and adult passengers walking inside the bus standing up, the roof was raised upward several inches, matched with flatter sides. The drivers' compartment was completely redesigned; to reduce blind spots, the entry door glass was enlarged and the windshield was made panoramic, nearly wrapping from the entry door to the driver window.
In 1958, after federal legislation permitted their use on road vehicles, quad headlights were added to the All American; in various forms, the All American would use quad headlights through 2013.
In 1961, Blue Bird expanded the All American product line by introducing a rear-engine "pusher" configuration. Developed largely to secure bids in areas where rear-engine buses were favored, Blue Bird initially outsourced the chassis for the All American Rear Engine to GMC. For 1962, to further improve forward visibility, the windshield was enlarged further, with two versions offered: a 4-pane flat glass version (standard) or a 2-pane curved glass (optional). For 1967, the roofline of the All American underwent a slight revision. To better accommodate the 8-lamp warning systems coming into use, the curved roof cap used since the 1930s was replaced by a flat, vertically-oriented design. For 1968, the bodywork below the windshield was revised, including a new (larger) grille, vertically-stacked headlamps, and a reduction of the amount of chrome trim.
During the 1970s, the All American underwent several changes; centered around compliance with the introduction of safety regulations, few changes were externally visible. To comply with regulations introduced for 1977 production, the body panels and internal structure were strengthened; as a passive restraint system, high-back padded passenger seats were added. To match the front roof cap, Blue Bird changed the rear roof cap to a vertical design (borrowing bodywork from the Wanderlodge).
In contrast to the first All Americans, which offered a maximum of 60-passenger seating, by the end of the 1970s, an All American could be equipped to seat 90 passengers. Alongside its rear-engine counterpart, the front-engine All American was sold with both gasoline and diesel engines. As an effect of the 1970s fuel crises, fuel economy concerns led to widespread adoption of diesel engines in high-capacity school buses.
The All American evolutionary changes during the 1980s, centered around updates to powertrain supplier. In 1981, Ford discontinued its Super Duty V8; the Chevrolet 427 cubic-inch V8 became the sole gasoline-powered engine offering. Alongside the rear-engine version, the front-engine All American was produced with diesel engines supplied by Caterpillar, Cummins, and Detroit Diesel. As a design change, in 1982, a drop-sash window was added to the rearmost row of seats, replacing a fixed pane of glass (available as an option for several years).
After using second-party chassis from multiple manufacturers since 1961, Blue Bird commenced production of a proprietary chassis for the rear-engine All American for 1988. +1957-1989 Blue Bird All American powertrain detailsEngine nameProductionFuelChevrolet Mark IV V81965-1989GasolineFord Super Duty V8c.1958-1981GasolineCaterpillar 1160 V8 Caterpillar 3208 V81970-1989DieselCummins VT555 V81975-c.1985DieselDetroit Diesel 8.2L V81980-1989Diesel
Design epilogue In production for 32 years, the second-generation All American is among the longest-produced bus bodies in North American bus manufacturing history (outclassed by Crown, Gillig, and the GM New Look/Classic). With the exception of the All American D3-series and EC-72 prototypes, all full-size Blue Bird school buses produced since 1957 have derived much of their bodywork from the second-generation All American. While using a lighter-duty chassis and a different design for the driver compartment, the TC/2000 school bus also derives much of its bodywork from the second-generation All American. In various sizes, the windshield design introduced on the All American in 1962 was retained through 2013; it currently remains in use on the Vision.
Following the introduction of a rear-engine chassis for the All American in 1988, Blue Bird began a shift towards using company-produced chassis for all of its bodies; with the exception of the Micro Bird (based on a cutaway van), all Blue Bird vehicles are produced on proprietary chassis.
Third generation (1989–1998) Introduced during 1989 production, the third-generation All American marked the most extensive changes to the model line since 1957. To modernize the All American for both drivers and mechanics, Blue Bird made multiple changes to the interior and the chassis of the bus. For the first time since 1967, horizontally-aligned headlamps returned to the exterior.
To streamline its production, much of the body was carried over from the previous generation (entirely so, above the window line). The drivers' compartment was completely redesigned, retaining only the windshield and driver-side window. The instrument panel was angled more vertically (to better face the driver), including more legible gauges; a modernized secondary control panel was adopted from the TC/2000.
While the redesign carried over the windshield (used since 1962), multiple changes were made to upgrade driver sightlines. Alongside the redesign of the dashboard, the entry door was redesigned with larger glass panels (a design later adopted by all Blue Bird buses). On front-engine buses, a less-obstructive engine cover design provided more room for both the driver and the front entry steps (the design remained much larger than that of the TC/2000, as the two model lines used different engines). To improve serviceability, the configuration of the front body panels was revised, allowing them to be removed for general maintenance without the use of tools.
In a major change, the third-generation All American introduced an entirely new powertrain range. In response to the manufacturer discontinuation of the previous V8 diesel engines, the model line adopted Cummins inline-6 diesels. The manual transmission and 7.0L gasoline V8 were dropped from the model line (theoretically remaining standard for the TC/2000). Engine nameProductionFuelAvailabilityCummins B5.9 I61989-1998DieselFront engineCummins C8.3 I61989-1998DieselBothCaterpillar 31161990-1998DieselFront engine