Bus Build - Part 8
Still no plate, so more time to beautify the exterior: the build from Sept 27 - Oct 3, 2018. We have made progress on getting the plates from the state, there was was clerical issue with one of the forms and wrong address, Even with all the setbacks from the state, we finally have a fairly sure timeline to launch this bus into the wild streets of Pittsburgh.
This week was a lot of exterior work and it was great to finally get things looking presentable. The weather this week was what let us get the work done, there was no rain and it wasn’t too hot. The first thing that I had to do was remove and replace the front sign plexiglass.
The interesting thing about this bus is that there are hardly any right angles. Most of the windows have a rounded corner, the exterior is rounded, and just about every light fixture is round. This interesting style makes it all the more ‘fun’ to replace and update broken or old parts. That is the reason why replacing this from sign took the better part of 3 hours. The front plexiglass and rubber seal was cracked and leaking, so I had to buy all new parts and custom cut the new plexiglass. In the end it was absolutly worth it to see the front of the bus come to life.
This task took me back to a very specific time in my life, before working with Blue Sparrow in anyway. When Luke was first building the original truck in 2016 with our friend Tim, they spent many hours and late nights figuring out how to build a food truck. One night they were attempting to put in a new front windshield that was giving them some problems. The tool that came with the rubber seal broke, the outside temperature was getting cold, and they spent hours trying to put in the new pane of glass. Tim suggested calling me, because apparently I am good at strangely weird things. So I head down to where they truck is being stored, take a long look at the problem, and assess what i need to do to put a windshield in my friends food truck. With nothing but a broken plastic fork and knife, rubber trim, a stubborn personality, and 40 minutes, I had the new windshield in and set. That night I told Luke that if he ever needed someone else to build sandwiches when the truck was up and running that I would love to work a few events.
And as I stand on scaffolding in front of this bus putting in new glass I can’t help but thinking back to that first night I started working with Luke. I never thought that my assistance with the windshield would lead to this fun adventure.
The weather finally broke and we were able to get the outside prepped and ready for Cam to come in and paint our logos. Cam is the artist who did most of the new work on the current blue sparrow truck and is an incredibly talented artist. We challenged him with designing the new logo for for this bus. We wanted to keep a classic and clean look that this bus is historically known for, which is a completely different style from the first truck. Cam took our suggestions into consideration and came back withs is beauty. The profile of a sparrow flying with the slanted blues accent lines behind it makes the bus look amazing. When he pulled off the first stencil I was blown away and so happy with the way it turned out.
Cam is going to be working on the lettering and more painting as this week goes and I cant wait for you all to seen the final project. Be sure to check out some of his other works linked above.
Another thing that was accomplished this week was rewiring the tail lights and prepping for the new reverse lights. The lights were shipping from Greece and took a while to shop up, but when they did I was very excited when they fit. The one image shows when the back of the lights looked like that came out of the bus, and what the new ones looked like before being installed.
Lights have always been a stress point for me with this vehicle because its the one thing that can easily cause and accident if they are not working properly. Especially with older vehicles that don’t have a ton of marking lights, having the ones that are present in full working order make me feel safe.
In addition to the lights that got fixed, I am hoping to install new LED lights under the bumper that will turn on when the bus is in reverse. These will be extra helpful with seeing the bus length at night and when trying to park. The new LEDs will cast a bright light right at the edge of the back of the bus that will be easily visible from the driver’s seat.
Thank you all for reading again this week. The end of this saga will be coming soon when we get the plates from the state, but until then, thanks for checking in. I hope these are becoming more literate as time goes on.