1949 Spartan

House-Bus

Very Rare Factory House-Bus

What a story! Spartan was a very short lived company building buses for transit and public transportation. However, this one has a different story. Spartan was contacted by a wealthy Texas business man who special ordered one of their buses but to be built to his specification with a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, etc.. Making this one of, if not the first, factory built motor coach to use a bus chassis. Unfortunately the Texas man never saw his ingenuity come to life. Spartan went out of business before the coach was completed.

One of the employees of Spartan, an engineer, purchased the unfinished project completing it for himself and his family to travel in. After its completion, the family put only 25k miles on it over a period of about 15 years when sadly the owner passed away. The bus was never entered again until 2016 when we purchased it. It is a true time capsule that was just as it was left in the 1960's, right down to the toiletries and the dishes.

Along with the purchase of the bus came a photo album of the families journey's. The elderly man who we purchased it from was just a little boy in the photos, now in his 70's. The photos show off just how untouched the bus remained over the decades.

Guests of the Volo Auto Museum are able to walk through the bus and experience it for themselves.