Engine cool down

[davidbrady]

Thanks for sharing your experience William. Growing up in Pennsylvania my friend's dad had a mid-70's Forward Control. It was always impeccably clean and polished. When this sort of thing sinks in a young age you're hooked. I knew my first bus had to be a Wanderlodge. I considered nothing else. I dove in head first buying a 2002 LXi from Parliament Coach and naming it Smokey, after a Smokey Robinson concert where I courted my lovely wife, Suzana. I bought the LXi in 2004 and owned it for 10 years, and for 10 years I did the last 10% of engineering which the Blue Bird factory so kindly leaves for its new owners. My wife and I, pre-children, enjoyed the heck out of that bus. I was in heaven because I like an engineering challenge and I spent lots of time, money, and elbow grease bringing my LXi up to my standards. We attended RITV's, visited the Birds Nest several times per year, and had service done at the Factory. We always had a great time returning to the birth place of Smokey in Fort Valley, Ga, sitting down to a complimentary lunch with the hosts at the Bird's Nest. It was phenomenal experience and I'm very grateful for having been able to participate in some of it, even if it was the tail end. I feel for the folks who are new Wanderlodge owner's but never had the chance to experience the factory. The factory created a Family. We'll never see it again, and it's obvious why. Blue Bird took 45 years to build that Family and it was centered over one brand. Prevost's are unquestionably better than a Wanderlodge, and the many converters do at least as well and generally surpass what we find in a Wanderlodge. The Prevost Service Centers are a phenomenal corporate experience, but the family part is missing. We have a fragmented set of converters. The many converters will never have the brand cohesiveness that Wanderlodge took 45 years to build. When the Factory went belly-up a large part of why I owned a Wanderlodge and why I put up with its many shortcomings went with it. Thank goodness for Prevost and for the many high quality converters we get to choose from!