The history of Blue Birds - part 2

The man on the far right is Laurence Luce; next to him is George (Laurence Coppedge's grandfather), then Buddy, then Joe. George felt called to the mission field, and though he was conflicted about whether to stay home to help with the family business, his father told him to go where he was called.

Laurence Coppedge had a coat that had been Laurence Luce's - it was evident that Laurence Luce had spent time working on the vehicles that were manufactured in his plant.

Since George went to Belgium on his way to the mission field, he was able to see the new chassis design at the Paris auto show and send it home to the family business.

Bringing about the first forward control transit bus without a conventional front in the US in 1948.

The family tried other businesses - like delivering chicks...

And various businesses under the Cardinal brand.

The first motor home type was built in 1963. Both the first and second ended up being owned by the same owner as the first burned up due to a poor design (I think something about the manifold) - so the second was sent to the owner in Las Vegas to replace the first that burned.

The Governor of Georgia (Bo Callaway) had a Blue Bird Transit Home - it was written up in the magazine, House Beautiful.

The motor home's name became The Traveler. Meanwhile, the bus company, which had been fighting being in a southern niche, pursued being successful in Canada and became the #1 bus in Canada.

The first Wanderlodge was built in 1964-65.

Blue Bird attempted to compete with other motor homes, but it was a unique product

The first coaches were built in the older part of the factory where the wooden ambulances from the WWII era had been built.

Redesigned interiors

In the mid 70s, Blue Bird Body Company reached #1 in the US school bus market. Wanderlodge still gets more press, and is the top of the line production coach.

In the late 70s, in the height of the fuel crisis, they prototyped a huge 450 gallon fuel tank that would allow driving from Atlanta to LA without filling up.