A 1970 General Motors PD4108 “Buffalo Bus” converted into a rolling living room is back on Bring a Trailer, and the story behind its return is almost as interesting as the bus itself. The previous winning bidder, back in November 2025, simply ghosted — failed to complete the purchase and got publicly reprimanded by the auction site. The bus did nothing wrong. Somebody else just got cold feet.
That’s a shame, because this thing deserves an owner with commitment.
The 35-foot coach started life hauling passengers for James River Bus Lines out of Blackstone, Virginia. At some point it migrated to Connecticut, where its owners spent a full decade turning it into a legitimate motorhome. The conversion was finished in 2004, and the work was good enough to land the cover of Bus Conversions magazine. That’s a niche accolade, sure, but in the world of vintage coach builds, it’s the equivalent of a blue ribbon.
Under the skin sits a Detroit Diesel 9.3-liter V8 mated to an Allison V730 three-speed automatic — a powertrain designed to move 49 passengers and their luggage across state lines without breaking a sweat. Supporting the RV lifestyle is a Webasto diesel furnace, a 10-kilowatt Kubota generator, eight deep-cycle batteries, a 4,000-watt inverter, and a 24-volt electrical system running dual rooftop air conditioners. This is not a weekend project someone half-finished in a barn. It’s a fully realized machine.
Inside, the front section gets Berber carpet while the rear features hand-laid tile. There’s a two-burner electric cooktop, a microwave, a slide-out TV in the lounge area, and an eight-inch memory foam mattress in the bedroom, which comes with its own bathroom. The aesthetic leans heavily toward mid-2000s Home Depot chic — not exactly Architectural Digest material — but scattered bison-themed touches and an airbrushed mural on the aluminum exterior give it personality. Nobody’s buying a 55-year-old bus conversion for minimalist Scandinavian design.
GM’s bus-building history tends to get overlooked, buried under decades of Corvettes and Cadillacs. But the company was once one of the largest bus manufacturers in the country. The “New Look” city bus, better known as the Fishbowl for its enormous glass panels, was as common on American streets as yellow cabs.
The Buffalo arrived in 1966 as GM’s answer to the Greyhound Scenicruiser, featuring a raised passenger section that gave the model its distinctive hump and its nickname. Production ran through 1980 in both 35- and 40-foot configurations.
Finding one that’s been this thoroughly converted, runs, and carries a clean Missouri title with an indicated 89,000 miles is genuinely rare. These coaches are getting harder to come by in any condition, let alone one that’s been rebuilt as a self-contained living space.
The obvious move here is to buy it and start a band. Or at least pretend you have one. A bus like this practically demands a tour schedule, even if the only gig is a campground in Sedona. It has the road presence of a vehicle that’s been places, done things, and isn’t interested in explaining itself.
The auction is live now. The only question is whether this time, the winning bidder actually shows up with the money. The bus has been patient long enough.
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