Carpenter/Dodge school bus on display at the National American History Museum - Smithsonian in Washington DC.
(sepia photo filter CS)


Thirty-six passenger school bus. Body built by Carpenter
Body Works in 1936, chassis by Dodge in 1939. Carried students to the Martinsburg School (grade school) Martinsburg, Ind., ca. 1940-1946. Owned and driven by Russell Bishop during that period. Used as a traveling grocery store until 1962. Streamlined steel body painted double deep or Omaha orange with black trim. Restored by Carpenter Body Works in the early 1980's under the supervision of Ollie Eager, who was Carpenter's plant manager in 1936 and John Foddrill, who worked in the Carpenter plant in 1936. The bus has replacement seats that do not match the originals exactly. The originals were black upholstery. Bus came with extra orange spray paint.