Brand
Blue Bird Wanderlodge
Wanderlodge was the luxury motorhome line of Blue Bird, the school bus builder in Fort Valley, Georgia. It began in 1963 as the Blue Bird Transit Home, built on the company’s All American bus, and took the Wanderlodge name by 1968. Wikipedia credits its school-bus chassis and all-steel body for its name for durability, and Blue Bird’s 2004 brochure still stressed a stainless steel body built as one unit with the chassis. Blue Bird sold the line in 2007, and production ended in 2009.
Photo: bus-stuff.com
Models
M450 LXi
Class A
LXi
Class A · 1998–2003
LX
Class A · 1998–2003
WB
Class A · 1988–1997
PT
Class A · 1982–1992
M380
Class A · 2003–2009
BMC
Class A · 1994–1997
SP
Class A · 1989–1992
FC
Class A · 1963–1989
History
Blue Bird started as a school bus builder in Fort Valley, Georgia. Albert L. Luce Sr., a Ford dealer, finished his first bus in 1927 and formed the Blue Bird Body Company in 1932. He died in 1962, and his three sons, George, Albert Jr. (called Buddy) and Joseph, ran the company. Buddy Luce was its president.
In October 1963 Blue Bird showed a motorhome built on its All American school bus. It was called the Blue Bird Transit Home and was priced at $12,000. A new subsidiary, Cardinal Manufacturing Co., built it. Few buyers came at first, even after the prototype was sent on a long tour of campgrounds. In 1965 House Beautiful magazine ran a story on land yachts that included the coach. Five orders followed, and regular production began that year.
By 1968 the coach had a new name, Wanderlodge, and its price had climbed to $25,000. The Vintage Birds owners’ club model list says it came only as a 31-foot coach with a gasoline engine through 1973, that a 33-foot model was added for 1974 and a 35-foot model for 1975, and that a Caterpillar 3208 diesel arrived in 1977. Wikipedia says the diesel had fully replaced the Ford gasoline engines after 1978. Each coach was built to its buyer’s order, and by the late 1980s the option list ran to about 200 items.
Wikipedia says the Wanderlodge was built like a bus, with a chassis taken from the All American school bus and an all-steel body, and credits that construction for the coach’s name for durability and quality. Blue Bird made the same point decades later: its 2004 brochure described a stainless steel body built as one unit with the chassis and said this gave more structural strength than a fiberglass motorhome.
The club’s list and Wikipedia say rear-engine coaches joined the line for 1982. These PT models had Detroit Diesel two-stroke engines and, Wikipedia adds, a tag axle, and came in 35- and 40-foot lengths. The front-engine coaches were then called FC, for forward control. A 102-inch Wide Body followed for 1988, and a 36-foot single-axle pusher, the SP, for 1989. The last forward-control coaches were 1989 models.
By the late 1980s Blue Bird was selling about 150 to 200 Wanderlodges a year, about a fifth of company sales. Prices started at $199,000, and the top model cost $350,000 before options.
In 1992 Merrill Lynch Capital Partners bought 82 percent of Blue Bird in a buyout led by the company’s managers, who took the rest, and the company passed out of Luce family hands. Wikipedia says the motorhomes had been restyled for 1991 to remove almost every visual link to the school bus, and that the BMC (Blue Bird Motor Coach), added for 1994, was a 37-foot coach on a chassis from Spartan Motors rather than Blue Bird’s own. The club’s list adds a 42-foot Wanderlodge with a Detroit Diesel Series 60 for 1995.
A new generation arrived for 1998; Wikipedia says it was based on Blue Bird’s LTC-40 intercity coach. The club lists the 40-foot LX with a Cummins M11 engine and the 41- and 43-foot LXi with a 500-horsepower Detroit Diesel Series 60. Both sources say slide-out rooms came in during these years and were on every coach by 2002. Henlys Group, a British bus company, bought Blue Bird in 1999. Wikipedia says the 38-foot M380 was added for 2003, and a 2004 brochure shows the top model as the Wanderlodge 450 LXi with a 525-horsepower Caterpillar C13.
After a 2006 bankruptcy filing, Blue Bird came under Cerberus Capital Management and its Traxis Group, and the company decided to build only school buses. In July 2007 it sold its Wanderlodge and Coachworks lines, with the Fort Valley plant that built them, to Complete Coach Works of Riverside, California. Coachbuilt.com says the Wanderlodge rights went to Coachworks Holdings Inc., and Wikipedia says the 450 LXi and M380 stayed in production without the Blue Bird name. Coachworks Holdings stopped building coaches in April 2009 and went bankrupt. Its assets were auctioned in Fort Valley on October 15, 2009, and bus converter Parliament Coach of Clearwater, Florida, bought the company’s intellectual property, including its technical records, and the rights to the Wanderlodge name so that owners would still have support.
Timeline
Ford dealer Albert L. Luce Sr., who finished his first bus in 1927, sets up the Blue Bird Body Company in Fort Valley, Georgia, to build school buses.
In October 1963 Blue Bird introduces a motorhome based on its All American bus, the Blue Bird Transit Home, priced at $12,000 and built by a new subsidiary, Cardinal Manufacturing Co.
House Beautiful runs a story on land yachts that includes the Transit Home. Five orders follow and sales pick up.
By 1968 the Transit Home name has been dropped for Wanderlodge, and the price has risen to $25,000.
Blue Bird builds nine 35-foot rear-engine coaches with Ford gasoline engines, years before a rear-engine model joins the regular line.
A 33-foot model is added for 1974 and a 35-foot model for 1975. Until then the 31-foot coach was the only size.
The Caterpillar 3208 diesel becomes the factory engine, though early 1977 coaches still have gasoline engines.
A 35-foot anniversary coach called the XV is built with the Caterpillar 3208. Vintage Birds calls it a forerunner of the later pushers.
The PT 35 and PT 40 pushers join the line with Detroit Diesel two-stroke V6 engines. The forward-control coach gets a new bathroom and dashboard.
Blue Bird sells about 150 to 200 Wanderlodges a year, roughly a fifth of company sales. Prices start at $199,000, and the top model costs $350,000 before options.
A 102-inch Wide Body arrives in 38- and 40-foot lengths, along with a 475-horsepower Detroit Diesel 8V92TA with DDEC. A 40-foot XXV model marks 25 years.
A 36-foot single-axle pusher, the SP, is introduced with a 300-horsepower Caterpillar 3208. It is the last model year for the forward-control coach.
The Wide Body and SP get a new exterior and major equipment changes.
Merrill Lynch Capital Partners buys 82 percent of Blue Bird for $397 million in a buyout led by company managers.
The 37-foot BMC, short for Blue Bird Motor Coach, is introduced.
A new generation debuts: the 40-foot LX with a 450-horsepower Cummins M11 and the 41- and 43-foot LXi with a 500-horsepower Detroit Diesel Series 60.
Production of the M380 begins. All but one of the 2003 coaches have a single slide-out.
A factory brochure dated 2004 presents the Wanderlodge 450 LXi with a 525-horsepower Caterpillar C13, an Allison six-speed and a stainless steel body built as one unit with the chassis.
In July 2007 Blue Bird sells its Wanderlodge and Coachworks lines, with the Fort Valley plant, to Complete Coach Works of Riverside, California, to focus on school buses. The line then includes the 450LXi and M380.
Coachworks Holdings Inc. stops building Wanderlodges in April 2009. Its assets are auctioned on October 15, and Parliament Coach of Clearwater, Florida, buys the firm’s intellectual property and the rights to the Wanderlodge name.
Sources
- Highlights of all Blue Bird Wanderlodge Model Changes (Vintage Birds Chapter of FMCA)
- 1979 Blue Bird Wanderlodge page (Vintage Birds Chapter of FMCA)
- Wanderlodge 450 LXi factory brochure, copyright 2004 Blue Bird Corporation (form RV-LXi-0704)
- The Blue Bird Wanderlodge M380 factory brochure (undated)
- Blue Bird manuals index (ManualsLib)
- Wanderlodge Owners Group
- Blue Bird company history (Coachbuilt.com)
- Blue Bird Corporation history (International Directory of Company Histories, via FundingUniverse)
- Blue Bird Wanderlodge (Wikipedia)
- Blue Bird Corporation (Wikipedia)
- Blue Bird Sells Its Coach, Motorhome Lines (School Bus Fleet, July 16, 2007)
- Blue Bird sells its coach bus, motorhome lines (Metro Magazine, July 16, 2007)
- Coachworks to Cease Operations, Blue Bird Unaffected (School Transportation News, April 29, 2009)
- Converter Parliament Coach Buys Blue Bird Assets (RV Business, via MotorHome magazine archive)
- The Classic Ride: 1991 Blue Bird Wanderlodge (MotorHome magazine)
- The Wanderlodge Is A Luxury RV Built By A School Bus Manufacturer (The Autopian, July 28, 2022)
- NHTSA manufacturer record: Coachworks Holdings Inc, One Wanderlodge Way, Fort Valley, GA