The Lost History of the Partridge Family Bus

Recently, while we were playing around with Joost, Telstar Logistics happened upon the 1970 pilot episode of "The Partridge Family."   We were never really fans of the show -- it was too contrived for our tastes, even when we were small. Not surprisingly, however, we've always had a soft spot for the De Stijl school bus that the family drove to get from gig to gig.  The Partridge bus is basically what Ken Kesey's Furthur would have looked like if he'd dropped acid at RISD after watching a few reruns of "The Monkees." But it played a big role on the show. Second only to David Cassidy, the bus is what gave "The Partridge Family" it's visual identity:

So how was the bus introduced to the show? In a satisfying little bit of backstory, the pilot episode includes a scene that shows the family purchasing their bus -- a 1957 Chevrolet -- from a used car dealer:

In reality, apparently, the studio purchased the used bus from the Orange County (Calif.) School District... but never mind. More troubling is the scene that shows the family giving their ride its distinctive  paint job. The design is obviously inspired by Mondrian's Composizione 1921, but we never learn why a middle class family in Southern California was moved to create a rolling homage to Dutch proto-modernism. Must've been something that happened off-camera:

The visual transformation of the bus mirrors the rising stardom of the Partridge clan, and before long the family takes its act all the way to the bright lights of Hollywood — with David Cassidy hanging out the window in a not-OSHA-approved sort of way:

And mom (played by Shirley Jones) behind the wheel:

We all know what happened next, of course: Fame, Fortune, and much Getting Happy. But what became of the bus after the show was cancelled in 1974? This Partridge Family fan website tells the tale:

After exhaustive research with a highly reliable source, we have uncovered the following...the actual bus lived for years behind Lucy's Tacos on Martin Luther King Blvd, right by USC. When Lucy's repaved their parking lot, circa February 1987, the bus was sent off to a junk yard. It was in horrible shape -- windows broken, tires flat, all identifying type (such as the family name on the side and the "Caution Nervous Mother Driving" sign on the back) was painted over in white and the rest of the bus was miserably faded. So, the upshot is that the orginal bus is long gone.

Pity we'll never get to see the bus on display in the Smithsonian, but that also means that we should be way of impostors, such as this replica which was spotted on the side of a road in 2007:

Or this horrible copy, which lacks all the appropriate period details:

Accept no substitutes!

LINKS:

David Cassidy's Official Website (Really. David Cassidy's official website)

PREVIOUSLY:
Touring San Francisco's Double-Decker Bus

Three Reverential Photographs of Buses

The Civilized Way to Go Greyhound

Comments

[Jordan]

I've never seen this brought up before, so I'll post it here. It sees to me as though there may have originally been two Partridge Family buses. In the pilot episode the interior walls of the bus are light blue and beige. The seats are all different colors with stick on decorations attached(I assume the bus didn't come from Orange County this way). In all subsequent episodes the interior of the bus is a salmon and beige and the seats are all upholstered in an orange swirl fabric. Secondly, only in the pilot the rear 4 windows have tie up window shades. In the rest of the episodes all the windows have pull down shades. Also, in some shots of the pilot episode the bumper of the bus has a hitch and some it doesn't. Perhaps the hitch was added later.

[Jordan]

I've never seen this brought up before, so I'll post it here. It sees to me as though there may have originally been two Partridge Family buses. In the pilot episode the interior walls of the bus are light blue and beige. The seats are all different colors with stick on decorations attached(I assume the bus didn't come from Orange County this way). In all subsequent episodes the interior of the bus is a salmon and beige and the seats are all upholstered in an orange swirl fabric. Secondly, only in the pilot the rear 4 windows have tie up window shades. In the rest of the episodes all the windows have pull down shades. Also, in some shots of the pilot episode the bumper of the bus has a hitch and some it doesn't. Perhaps the hitch was added later.

[Michele]

Whaaaa... I was hoping the original bus was still in OK condition. I was ready to put on a puka shell necklace and take out my old Tiger Beat magazines filled with David Cassidy's dimpled smile. But, no...

Enjoyed the post though. Thanks!

[Michele]

Whaaaa... I was hoping the original bus was still in OK condition. I was ready to put on a puka shell necklace and take out my old Tiger Beat magazines filled with David Cassidy's dimpled smile. But, no...

Enjoyed the post though. Thanks!

[Michele]

Whaaaa... I was hoping the original bus was still in OK condition. I was ready to put on a puka shell necklace and take out my old Tiger Beat magazines filled with David Cassidy's dimpled smile. But, no...

Enjoyed the post though. Thanks!

[mark marion]

After 20 years of searching we have finally located the original bus and are planning to fully restore it and hopefully put it in the Henry Ford museum after auctioning off the 35 year reunion bus we bought off ebay 3 years ago. Love the site,great info,have a groovy day!
Mark & Karla

[Kyle]

Now if it's true, THAT would be truly amazing.
I'd be very interested in more information on this incredible tidbit, and possibly assisting with restoration efforts if possible. I'm doing a Herbie the Love Bug currently.
Kyle~

[Ari Ross]

I lived in LA back as a kid in the 80s and recall seeing what I think now was indeed .. THE BUS!!!

I have memory of it being far south in the city and seeing what looked an awful lot like the Partridge Family bus beside a building (off-street). I figured it was an imposter because "How could the ACTUAL bus be down HERE, out side in the elements, away from Hollywood proper, etc, etc."

If only I could have fortold the 10 years later or so desire for "Boomer" retro, etc... and later on...eBay!! Maybe could have bought it for a couple grand and flipped it later for a few grand more!? :-)

[Paul]

There was an episode of "APPLE'S WAY" that had a bus painted all white. I believe this was the Partridge's bus remebering the distictive Chevy grill with it's two molded "bullets" between the headlights. If this was the bus, it did not take long before it was painted white. THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY ran from 1970-1974 and APPLE'S WAY from 1974-1975.

[sue]

i just saw the bus on May 3rd in a town near windham, ny. I can send you a picture

[Dean Atkinson]

I believe there were Two Buses. One of the buses came from A San Diego radio station Promotion that went bad. Seems that a 16 year old Girl won the bus from KGB-AM. Her father insisted that the station give her money instead of the bus. It sat in a lot near highway 5 and Balboa until someone from the show aquired it. I was told this story by a instucter in a Broadcast promotions class at City College in 1975-76. She was in Sales/Promotions in the 60s and 70s. I don't think the bus ran well enough to drive much and I think they used it for interior shots. This is what I remember. I am a child of the 60s. this how I remember it.

[Van Sales]

I visited this blog first time and found it very interesting and informative.. Keep up the good work thanks..

[Donna King]

I have come acrossed what looks like the bus in Ashland NY on a mountain road in a driveway

[Donna King]

Ashland is between Windham and Durham NY

[Kris]

My Father owns the original on screen bus.There was two of them. He bought it from a Guy in California a while back. He’s been traveling the Country with it for years, and in the past 15 years or so (when me and my brother were born) he has settled down and now it sits in the back of my house. It’s not the original colors. The previous owner painted it light blue and beige, and my father repainted it. The paint is chipping and you can see the original paints. Its not in the best condition, but he has all the original paperwork. I never really believed him, but In the last couple of years I’ve seen the paper work myself. My father is looking for as much information as he can on it. The value of the bus and where the current location of the other bus is. He said when he was in Cali, he talked to the original seller if both buses. And he said the other on screen bus he last seen sitting behind some taco stand. If anyone can give me any information that could be useful, it would me much appreciated. Thank You.

[bob]

No idea about the taco stand bus, but the original bus lived in Montecito CA for a long time after the show. If the above poster's comments are real, that would be the bus his father has.

[Dirk]

It would be great if we could see some photos to support these claims. I can identify a '57 Superior coach on a Chevy chassis pretty easily.
Anyone can open a Photobucket or Flikr account to host photos on the web.
Hope to see some real proof soon.
The guy with the Herbie above is a stand up guy and I know he's interested in the bus and it's preservation if it's still surviving.

[DONNY RECTOR]

THE ORIGINAL PARTRIDGE BUS HAS BEEN SCRAPPED OUT... BUT THE LEGACY STILL LIVES ON. JUST CHECK OUT THE DUDES BUSSES IN WISCONSIN... ITS PARTRIDGEFAMILYPARTYBUS.COM

[G Kast]

The bus was parked in a lot in Los Angeles between downtown and USC for years. I know because I used to see it every day riding a bus on Figueroa, between 1983-87.

[Bill]

One of the buses can be seen in an episode of CHiPs sitting behind that building, or in a gas station if I remember correctly.

[Michael]

Thanks for the post. I saw a Partridge Family bus on Fremont Street in Las Vegas last week and wondered if it was the real one. Obviously it wasn't. :-(

homepage.mac.com/msv_apocalypse/.Pictures/partridgefamilybus.jpg

[Mister70s]

Dear bus lovers,
I have read everyone's posts very carefully and "YES" after looking at the pilot episode of "The Partridge Family" it seems obvious that there were two separate bus interiors used.....so until we have solid evidence...let's just assume that there was more then just one bus in the filming....Kris mentioned that his father has one of the buses...and Mark and Carla claim that they found the original bus and are restoring it.....If the bus behind Lucy's Taco's got scrapped in 1987 wouldn't that make THREE buses that we know of ?? That is unless by some miracle it got fished out of the scrap yard where it sat since 1987 (highly unlikely) I would really like to see picture proof of these buses please email me at mister70s@yahoo.com and If the owners of the replica bus in New York read this post please contact me A.S.A.P. in regards to your bus....thanks so much gang !!

[SanPueblo]

Hi,

I think I have information people will find helpful. According to the show's producers and people who worked on the set, there was only one bus purchased for the series. Screen Gems paid around $500.00 for the bus. The reason why there appears to be more than one (different interior paint jobs) is because they changed the interior of the bus between the pilot and first few filmed episodes and the later episodes in Season One. Later Season One episodes and Seasons 2 - 4 episodes have the same bus/paint job. Also, at some point, battery packs were added to the underside of the body on each side. These are hidden from view by an extra flap of metal that extends below where the bus was originally designed to finish. The battery packs were added in order to facilitate the lights needed for filming inside the bus. (Rather than feed the film lights off of the bus's main battery, an auxiliary battery was added.

The episodes were NOT aired in the same order that they were filmed. That's why they look different from episode to episode and why the bus's interior design seems to go back and forth from striped ceiling to plain colored interior. (Check out Keith's hair in Season One. He goes back and forth from hair parted in the middle to poufy shag a number of times, further evidence that they were aired out of filming order.) They never did finish painting the roof of the bus, as they hid some of it with a storage rack and tarp. The black outlines were never painted on top. (Check out the skunk episode and you'll se a shot from above.)

After the PF series ceased production in 1974, the bus had been painted over an off-white color and reused for a WB series called, "Apple's Way," which was filmed on the same lot as the PF in Burbank, CA. (Columbia/Screen Gems sold the lot to Warner Bros. and is still located on Hollywood Way in Burbank. It's mostly gone now except for the exteriors for the houses used in PF, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, etc. The new series, "The Middle" uses the neighborhood lot now.

After the bus left Lucy's Taco Stand, it was sent to a scrap metal/junk yard that deals primarily in old Movie/TV vehicles in the San Fernando Valley area. Believe it or not, the actual bus DOES still exist, although the only part that still stands is the body, from the dashboard to the rear door.

I hope that info helps. :-)

[Kristie]

I was driving on the thruway yesterday and on the back of a truck was a totally run down colorful bus with The Partridge Family on the side.

I took a pic but dont see how I could attach it.

August, 2010 - Buffalo NY

[Paul DiMarco]

OK,
In conclusion there was only one original bus....and yes...it was the bus that lived behind Lucy's Tacos.

These other buses are fakes or reproductions of the original.

The bus that is in Upstate NY is the fake newer model bus that was used in the fairly recent Partridge Family movie.

And the bus that Kris's father has is obviously another impostor.

Seems that there were many of these 57 Chevy buses around at one time....

But try to find one on today's time....in running condition....good luck...

I could kick myself in the rear end for not buying the one I saw in Connecticut about two years ago.

There was a guy scraping out all the vehicles on his property and I went there to get a few parts for my 68 chevy van, parked under a set of pine trees was a 57 chevy full size bus in fairly decent shape. (it was still school bus yellow but I'm 99 percent sure it was the right style and year bus)

I can even remember saying to the guy "wow you have everything in this yard..even the Partridge Family's Bus"

I'm sure the bus is long gone....I only hope that somebody was smarter than me and came back for it !!