About Fun Fleet Bus #9799
Some Specs
#9799
Vin: T8H-5307A-3939
Built in February 1977 for Chicago Transit Authority
Fourth generation
102 inches wide/40 feet long, Two door, rear push type
V871 Detroit/Allison VS-1-8 transmission
53 seats, American reclining seats
Added to Fun Fleet
This bus was purchased from Chicago Transit Authority. #9799 was one of my favorite buses. It was supposed to be the last fishbowl GM made. they were saying goodbye to the bus industry. This is another story. I have always been lucky having good friends and went along with craziness. My friend, Andre Christapons had worked for CTA and knew the purchasing agent there. Now up to this time, Chicago always sold buses by the scrap pound. You simply could not buy a complete bus. Now #9799 had to be saved.
Buses Sold by the Pound?
So Andre got together with the purchasing agent and came up with a plan. I had to wait nearly a year when I got the call. You can have it for $1000 but you have to act quickly. Turns out the purchaser agent was retiring, and he sold me this bus "over the counter". The sale had to be done before he retired because buses were to be sold by the pound.
Tires Owned by Firestone?
I immediately send a check and paid for it. I later got a panicked call from the purchasing agent. Tires were going to be a problem. The tires couldn't be sold with the bus because they belonged to Firestone. So to solve the problem, I sent 6 tires and they installed them. Now keep in mind I had never seen this bus. The story is that the shop people were so excited that it would be save, they installed a complete power plant. I didn't even know the bus had no engine.
"Scott, try to remember you work for me".
I sent Scott Richard to Chicago to help me drive the bus back. I had earlier purchased a 5303 from Toronto and went to New York to pick up seats and when went to Chicago. when I got there, Scott had already took control of this bus and wouldn't let me near it! After all, I had paid for it, but if you know Scott, you could get bitten if you got too close. He fell in love with the bus, and we drove it back to California. He drove 9799 and I followed in the 5303 from Toronto. Everyone said we would not make it to the city limits. I loved calling them and saying it arrived, under its own power, back to California.
Speedy Bus
Scott finally let me drive my own bus when it got back home. These buses had the best power steering I have ever seen on a transit. You could steer it with one finger. Problem was that is would only do 50 MPH. I had to correct that and changed out the rear axle assembly and updated it to run 65 MPH. I also updated the injectors to N60 type. Now this bus was a mean and fast runner. We loved it. After doing modification it ran well for many years.
When and Where Did it Go?
A bus museum in Chicago wanted this bus along with bus 375 and unusual 5301. I sold it to them and drove it back to Chicago. Bus fans there could not believe it when we ran 65 MPH in the fast lane. It actually ended up at the Illinois Railway museum. Unfortunately, it developed a broken support over the rear axle and it is now out of service. If it were here in California, I would certainly repaired this major damage. Let's hope it gets fixed.