Lot 1039

Auburn Spring 2015

1977 Blue Bird Wanderlodge

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$14,850 USD | Sold

United States | Auburn, Indiana

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As one of North America's top three school bus manufacturers - Fort Valley, Georgia's Blue Bird Corporation delivers thousands of school buses to the market each year. According to current CEO Phil Horlock:

"We've built over 550,000 school buses since 1927, the amazing thing is over 200,000 of those are still on the road today, because our buses are built to last."

With a lengthy and strong background in building buses, in October of 1963 Blue Bird introduced the Blue Bird Transit Home, a high-end recreational vehicle based upon their All American platform, and manufactured by a new subsidiary, the Cardinal Manufacturing Co. Originally priced at $12,000, there was little interest at first and Blue Bird sent the prototype around the country campgrounds and RV parks to see if they could generate interest in their new product, which they were rightly proud of. The trip was largely unrewarding for the firm, however it attracted the attention of House Beautiful magazine who in1965 published a story on “Land Yachts” which included pictures and a description of the Blue Bird Transit Home and 10 of its competitors. Shortly after the story appeared, Blue Bird received five Transit Home orders, and sales took off from there.

By 1968 the price of the Transit Home had risen to $25,000 and the original moniker had been abandoned in favor of the name it's known by today: Wanderlodge. Notable

Wanderlodge owners included King Hussein of Jordan, President Jimmy Carter, Muhammad Ali, John Wayne and Johnny Cash.

In the timeframe that the 1977 Blue Bird Wanderlodge we are offering was built; this brand was well-recognized as one the leaders in the industry and known to be a first-class, quality motorcoach. This 33-foot version has had one prior owner since the vehicle was new. It has been stored inside since it was new and was recently serviced by Caterpillar (CAT). This stands to reason as the Blue Bird is powered by a 3208 CAT diesel. This motorhome has forward controls, alloy wheels, air horns, exterior window awnings, large wheel-to-wheel length awning on the passenger’s side for comfortable gatherings, roof ladder, tasteful colors, stowage, sleeping quarters, dining table, kitchenette , bath , seating and microwave are just a few of the amenities to be found on this older, but still nice RV.