CUMMINS C-SERIES GILLIGS
The Cummins C-Series Gilligs, the first rear-engine diesel transit-style school buses built, became a leader in the rear-engine diesel bus market not only for California, but all throughout the west coast. They set the industry standard for rear-engined buses, and set a standard for Gillig as well. The Cummins C-Series engines were inline sixes with varying horsepower, and displacement. The most popular C-Series engine in a Gillig was the Cummins C-180. The C-Series Gilligs were introduced in 1959, and were produced until the early 1970s, when the Caterpillar-powered 636D-Series became preferred over the C-Series.
CLOVER PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT BUS NO. 54 - WASHINGTON STATE - NEW
This bus hailed from the Clover Park School District in Washington State. Currently, not much is known about the history or fleet number of this particular unit. For the last decade, it served a church on Sleater-Kinney Road in Olympia, Washington. In 2017 the bus disappeared from the church's parking lot and was thought to be lost. In late 2018, it showed up on an online listing at Harlow's Bus Sales out of Spokane, Washington. GilligCoachesNET archivist Timothy Olsen and GilligCoachesNET founder and lead archivist Steve Rosenow purchased the bus in January 2019. It is now part of the Gillig Coach Club/GilligCoach Historical Society.
It made its return drive home on January 21, 2018, back to the Puget Sound area. It will then undergo a complete restoration back to factory OEM specification. The first set of photos provided by Harlow's Bus Sales' online listing page. Further photos will be courtesy GilligCoachesNET.
ENUMCLAW SCHOOL DISTRICT BUS NO. 14 - WASHINGTON STATE
This bus hails from Enumclaw School District No. 216 in Enumclaw, Washington. It originally rolled off the factory floor with a Cummins C-180, but was repowered in the seventies with a Detroit 6V53, and later a Caterpillar 1160 diesel. It is now powered by a remanufactured Caterpillar 3208 with less than 30,000 miles. After serving its time with Enumclaw School District, it was purchased in a private sale and later sold again to a couple in Montesano, Washington - who purchased it along with a dump truck (the Gillig was intended to be an engine donor, but the dump truck was sold instead!). Its model designation is officially a C-180-12 and its serial number is D1474. It has a 73 passenger capacity rating, and was built on October 20, 1966.
#14 was owned by the webmaster and was purchased in late 2008, and it remained a GilligCoaches.NET fleet unit until February 2011, when it was lost due to uncontrollable circumstances.
UNIDENTIFIED WA-STATE GILLIG IN CALIFORNIA
This Gillig comes to GilligCoaches.NET via eBay where it has frequently shown up in search listings for "Gillig" in eBay Motors. It's an ex-Washington unit due to a number of features that were not present on Oregon or California-spec Gilligs of that era. The main feature that determines it as a former Washington unit is the presence of the air scoop, which was an option selected only by Washington state school districts. Additionally, it has a the remnants of a stop paddle (or stop arm in some states) assembly, and on a Gillig of this era, were never equipped with them in California.
It has been painted white with odd "eyelash" type black patches on the front of it over the headlights. Another interesting fact about this Gillig is that its build date is 10/24/1966 and has an identical 73 passenger capacity rating as the ex-Enumclaw School District Gillig posted above, with its serial number being D2011-1, indicating that this bus was part of a batch order.
CASTLE ROCK PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT BUS NO. 15 - WASHINGTON STATE
This bus is equipped with a C-190 diesel engine. This bus was purchased from the Castle Rock School District in 2001 by Mark Obtinario for use as a shuttle bus at a local Weyerhaeuser log yard. Since these photos were taken, it has since been scrapped.
FRANKLIN PIERCE SCHOOL DISTRICT BUS NO.'s 24 and 28 - WASHINGTON STATE
This bus is a 1963 Gillig C-180 formerly operated by Franklin Pierce School District. It was retired in 1994 and presumably has been sitting here at this lot in South Tacoma since then. It is equipped with a Cummins C-180 diesel engine and a six-speed manual transmission. The history behind this bus is being investigated by the GilligCoaches.NET web team for possible purchase and restoration, as this bodystyle is very rare nowadays, in addition to the fact that aside from a few broken windows, this bus is completely intact.
This bus is a 1960 Gillig C-180 formerly operated by Franklin Pierce School District. It was retired in 1994 and presumably has been sitting here along with Bus No. 24 at this lot in South Tacoma since then. It is equipped with a Cummins C-180 diesel engine and a six-speed manual transmission. Like No. 24 pictured above, the history behind this bus is being investigated by the GilligCoaches.NET web team for possible purchase and restoration, as this bodystyle is very rare nowadays. This bus would need new seats, a new rubber floor installed, and just like No. 24, some windows replaced. Along with Bus No. 24, the photos of this bus were photographed on June 10, 2006.
CAMAS SCHOOL DISTRICT BUS NO. 4 - WASHINGTON STATE
This photo, showing a late-50s Gillig from Camas, Washington, shows some features not typically seen in a Gillig. For instance, you'll note a manual door opener if you look closely at the photo. All other details about this bus are currently unknown, and this bus was retired some time ago. Photo by Stephen E. Adams.
1970 GILLIG PHOTOGRAPHED IN ADA, OKLAHOMA
This Gillig, a 1970 C-180, was retired from a California school district a few years ago and was last known to be at a residence in Oklahoma. These photos were sourced from the eBay listing this bus was featured in back in November of 2006. This bus ultimately listed twice, and it's not known if it sold.
