The history of Blue Birds - part 3 - "We are simple people, we bend metal and paint it yellow." - George Luce

Also in the 70's they started bringing customers in for the Rally in the Valley, bringing customers and employees together.

1982 brought changes in how the wiring was done in the coaches, reducing the amount of wiring from 6 miles to 2 miles of wires per coach!

1982 brought the wide body - 102 inches wide

A quote from one of the family members: "Wanderlodges were the show horses and school buses were the work horses." - Sarah Louise Luce

Some interesting stories about certain Wanderlodges - the check image is from the president of Nicaragua who bought a Wanderlodge in 1974. Other famous people also had them - some of the stories he told - Johnny Cash's bus was brought in for service; the workers found that Miss June's Bible was open next to the bed. They were having problems getting the heating system working, until they found that some compartment was stuffed full with cash; Johnny said, "Oh, yes, let me get that out of your way." and then the heater worked. Mohammed Ali backed his coach into Lake Michigan. The King of Saudi Arabia had his specially built with special large tires for running in the desert; the drivers compartment was specifically built without air conditioning. Saddam Hussein ordered a number of coaches; there is evidently news footage of him fleeing in a bus that is a Wanderlodge.

The Luce family also had a coach - three families shared one coach. As far as he knew, they only ever had used coaches.

Some family pictures, including his grandfather, George, helping a person out who had broken down in their car, getting his hands greasy while helping them get on their way. And then the bottom right was the same as the first picture in the presentation, of young Laurence Coppedge in his grandfather's lap.

In 1992, the family sold the Blue Bird and Wanderlodge companies to Merrill Lynch Capital Partners.

Laurence found a statement of the beliefs of the company, reflecting the family's values - he purchased this document at the sale when the company closed.

Laurence has now started his own businesses.

He included a quote from his grandfather at the end: "We are simple people, we bend metal and paint it yellow." - George Luce

More information about Laurence Coppedge: http://www.cardinal-industries.net/about-us/laurence-coppedge-founder-and-ceo/