Blue Bird Semi Truck Parts & Accessories

Blue Bird Corporation is the oldest continuously operating school bus manufacturer in North America and one of the continent’s three full-line school bus companies. Blue Bird builds Type C, conventional, and Type D, front and rear engine transit-style buses at the company’s headquarters in Fort Valley, Georgia. They also market Type A, cutaway van buses that are sold under the Blue Bird name but assembled by Girardin Minibus Inc. of Drummondville, Quebec, Canada. The company’s almost 90 year history has been marked by numerous innovations including the industry’s first all-steel bus body and the first school bus powered by CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). Blue Bird was also the first manufacturer to build their own chassis and they pioneered the flat-front transit-style bus design. Blue Bird buses are renowned for their quality, which is exemplified by their exceptional durability: Of the 550,000 buses produced since the company’s inception in 1927, over 1/3 are still on the road today.

The origin of Blue Bird can be traced to a request made by a customer at one of Albert Luce’s Ford dealerships in 1925. A cement company wanted a vehicle to transport workers to and from one of their plants, so Luce acquired a wooden bus body from a coach builder and attached it to a Model T chassis. Unfortunately, the coachwork was of poor quality and the body virtually disintegrated after the vehicle had spent only a short time on Georgia’s rough rural roads. Convinced he could do a better job, in 1927 Luce constructed a much sturdier body on a Ford Model TT chassis, using steel, sheet metal and wood, and the completed vehicle was used as a school bus. Although this first bus proved to be a success, sales were good at both Ford dealerships, so at first the bus business was just a sideline. But then came the great depression and sales plummeted from hundreds of cars in 1929 to only 10 in 1931. At the same time Luce saw the educational system changing in the region from small schools within walking distance to larger centralized schools. He knew there would be a need for student transportation so he closed his Ford dealerships and invested his last $12,000 to start the bus company that would later become Blue Bird. Legend has it that the company name came about when a student saw a scale model of a blue and yellow bus and remarked that it looked like a “pretty little blue bird”.

Money was tight in the beginning – the first 25 buses were assembled in rented peach packing sheds, and at times Luce was unable to make payroll – but business soon improved and he was able to build a dedicated 27,000 sq. ft. factory in 1935. At this time the company was still building bus bodies employing steel panel over wood framework construction, but a number of fatal bus-train accidents led Luce to believe that lives could be saved if buses were stronger, so the company converted to all steel coachwork in 1937. The safety of all steel construction proved to be a potent sales tool, and the company secured a number of orders when school boards found that competitors were still using forest products. By 1939 Blue Bird had become such a prominent bus manufacturer that they were included in a school bus safety conference where the company’s engineers helped develop the shade of yellow that is used on school buses to this day.

During World War II, Blue Bird manufactured buses and ambulances for the military. While on a post-war trip to Europe in 1948, Albert Luce became intrigued with a streamlined, forward control bus he saw at a Paris auto show and had one shipped home to the Blue Bird factory. After examining it company engineers were able to make several improvements on the design, incorporating them in Blue Bird’s own Type D, transit-style bus, the “All American”, which was introduced in 1952. The current rear engine CNG or diesel powered All American REs and front engine diesel All American FE are the descendants of that first Type D, making the All American the longest continuously produced transit-style bus by an American manufacturer. The All American was also the first bus for which Blue Bird manufactured their own chassis, a practice that continues today for both Type C and Type D buses.

During the 1960s Blue Bird diversified, creating their first vehicle outside of the school bus business, a luxury RV called the Wanderlodge that was based on the All American. Expansion into other markets continued in the 1970s with the introduction of the City Bird, a short wheelbase, rear engine version of the All American that was marketed to mass-transit systems. In the same decade, responding to the demand for smaller school buses, Blue Bird entered the Type A market with the Micro Bird, which was based on a dual rear-wheel GM van chassis. In the early 1980s, once the last of the baby boom generation left high school, shrinking student populations resulted in decreased demand for school buses, and many of Blue Bird’s competitors went under. However, Blue Bird was able to survive and prosper thanks to upgraded products. By the mid-80s, one out of every 3 new school buses was a Blue Bird, and by the 1990s Blue Bird controlled 50% of the North American school bus market.

In the 1990s Blue Bird introduced the CNG powered All American RE, and also briefly experimented with a battery powered electric school bus. Family owned since its founding, it was also during this decade that the company changed hands in a management-led buyout that resulted in the majority of the company being controlled by Merrill Lynch Capital Partners. The Wanderlodge was redesigned for a larger body and changed over to an out-sourced chassis. Blue Bird ended in-house production of the Micro Bird and entered into the agreement with Girardin, which enabled Blue Bird to offer an updated Type A design on a single rear-wheel chassis. The first decade of the 21st century was a period of change and consolidation for the company: There were several ownership changes and for a time the company was part of the Volvo Group, the largest bus builder in the world. In an effort to concentrate resources on school bus manufacturing, Blue Bird ceased production of the Wanderlodge motor home as well as buses for mass transit systems.

Today shares of Blue Bird trade publically on the NASDAQ stock exchange, although the majority are owned by Cerberus affiliate The Traxis Group. In addition to the aforementioned Type D, All American buses, available in up to 84-90 passenger capacities and up to 36,200 lb. GVWR, Blue Bird also manufactures the Type C, conventional bodied Vision, available powered by gasoline, diesel, CNG or propane, in capacities up to 78 passengers, and GVWR up to 33,000 lbs. The Type A, cutaway van Micro Bird MB-II and G5 are both available powered by gasoline or diesel, the former in capacities up to 20 passengers and GVWR up to 10,100 lbs., and the latter with capacities up to 30 passengers and GVWR up to 14,500 lbs. The all new Micro Bird T5 is the first school bus to use the new Ford Transit cab and chassis, and has a capacity of up to 25 passengers and a GVWR of up to 10,360 lbs. Although primarily designed for student transportation, Blue Bird buses are also available configured for specialized government contract applications, commercial and social organization activities, and for use in particular global environments.

While Blue Bird buses have a well-deserved reputation for reliability, you can help ensure your individual bus or fleet delivers dependable service with a regular maintenance schedule and timely service that can prevent major failures down the road. You’ll find our digital shelves well-stocked with the products to help you do the job, including maintenance needs like fluids and filters, as well the quality parts that result in successful repairs.

Dress your vehicle up. Keep it running at its peak or unleash its hidden power. Make it look like it just rolled off the show room floor. Take care of it and maintain it. You name it, we've got it. We have gathered everything you need to make your Blue Bird perfect both inside and out. CARiD's job is to meet your every expectation and provide you with quality and durable accessories and parts designed with excellence in mind. Whether you're after luxurious style, brisk performance, or anything in between, our wide assortment covers all the bases.

Downtime means lost income. The faster you repair your semi-truck, the faster it gets on the road and keeps on moving your business forward. With that in mind, we have gathered high-quality Blue Bird parts and accessories that work the first time, every time. We have everything you need to maintain your Blue Bird in top condition to avoid truck breakdowns and get it operating properly again. Our goal is to support you and your business. Shopping with us, you get parts and accessories that work hard just like you, built tough just like your vehicle.