This is a 1986 Blue Bird Wanderlodge, it’s one of the most luxurious motorhomes of its time, and this example benefits from $110,000+ spent on renovations and upgrades in the last few years.
Wanderlodge owners have included Johnny Cash, King Hussein of Jordan, and even former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. They’re known for providing an opulent living experience – better than many homes that are permanently attached to the ground.
Fast Facts: A 1986 Blue Bird Wanderlodge PT38
- Blue Bird started out in 1927 when Albert L. Luce developed a stronger steel-bodied school bus after an earlier wooden-bodied vehicle he sold began falling apart. He founded the Blue Bird Body Company in 1932, which grew into one of America’s leading school bus manufacturers, introducing all-steel construction, and the influential All American transit-style bus.
- Blue Bird entered the motorhome market in 1963 with the Transit Home, a luxury recreational vehicle based on its heavy-duty school bus platform. Renamed the Wanderlodge in 1968, the range expanded to include longer bodies, diesel engines, and rear-engine models.
- This 1986 Blue Bird Wanderlodge PT38 is reportedly one of just 63 examples built in this length. Now registered in France, it has a 470 bhp Detroit Diesel 8V92 turbocharged two-stroke V8, a 4-speed automatic transmission, and luxurious accommodations including a double bedroom, kitchen, dining area, and separate bathroom.
- The seller reports over $110,000 spent on renovations and upgrades, including new upholstery, kitchen and plumbing improvements, solar panels, and lithium batteries. Previous work included a replacement gearbox and rear axle in 2014, new air cushions in 2022, and eight tires in 2025. Extensive documentation accompanies the motorhome.
History Speedrun: Blue Bird And The Wanderlodge
In 1925 Albert L. Luce, who owned Ford dealerships in Fort Valley and Perry, Georgia, sold a customer a bus to carry workers to a cement plant. He had mounted a locally-made wooden body onto a Ford Model TT truck chassis, but the body started rattling apart on rural Georgia roads before the customer had even finished paying for it. It was a disaster.
This is a 1986 Blue Bird Wanderlodge, it’s one of the most luxurious motorhomes of its time, and this example benefits from $110,000+ spent on renovations and upgrades in the last few years.
Luce was completely convinced he could build a better bus, and by 1927 he’d done it. It had a body of steel sheet, as well as wood and canvas over a steel framework, on a Model TT chassis with Ford’s 177 cubic inch (2.9 liter) four-cylinder rated at 20 bhp.
The new bus went to Frank Slade of Marshallville, Georgia, who used it to carry schoolchildren. Many years later, Luce’s son Albert “Buddy” Luce Jr. bought the bus back for the sake of posterity, and he later donated it to The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn in 2008. It’s now the oldest surviving school bus in America.
Buses remained a sideline for the company until the Great Depression gutted car sales in the 1930s, Luce sold his dealership and in 1932 founded the Blue Bird Body Company in Fort Valley, about 25 miles south of Macon, Georgia.
According to the company’s official history, he rejected his own surname as the company name for fear of jokes about a “loose bus,” and took the new name after schoolchildren likened one of his blue-and-yellow buses to a little bluebird. A dedicated 27,000 square foot factory opened in 1935, and Blue Bird built its first all-steel bus in 1937. By the end of the Second World War it ranked 7th among 12 American school bus makers.
A cataclysmic fire destroyed the plant late in 1945, just as WWII was drawing to an end, but a larger one replaced it a year later. That same year Luce suffered a heart attack and began handing the day to day operations of the company to his sons.
In 1948 he and his son George visited the Paris Auto Salon and saw a flat-fronted, forward-control bus on a General Motors chassis. Luce brought one back to Fort Valley, and it became the basis of the All American, a transit-style school bus with its front axle behind the entry door.
Albert L. Luce retired from daily operations in 1950, when Buddy Luce became president, George Luce took over engineering and Joseph Luce took over production. Luce died in October of 1962, by then Blue Bird was the fourth-largest school bus builder in the country.
Wanderlodge owners have included Johnny Cash, King Hussein of Jordan, and even former US President Jimmy Carter. They’re known for providing an opulent living experience – better than many homes that are permanently attached to the ground.
The Blue Bird Wanderlodge
Under the Luce brothers, Blue Bird tried city buses, beverage delivery trucks, and even a window fan design, all mostly without success. In 1963 the company introduced the Transit Home, a motorhome derived from the front-engine All American and built by a new subsidiary, Cardinal Manufacturing.
It kept the school bus’s steel body and heavy-duty frame, moved the entry door to the middle of the body, and offered gasoline engines including Chevrolet’s 348 cubic inch (5.7 liter) V8. Interest was thin, and so to drum up some publicity, Blue Bird company employees drove the prototype to campgrounds across the country for two years.
A 1965 magazine feature on “land yachts” included the Blue Bird Transit Home, and five orders followed. Series production began that year on a 31 foot body with Ford’s Super Duty truck V8. By 1968 the name had changed to Wanderlodge.
Longer bodies arrived in the mid-1970s, and a Caterpillar 3208 diesel V8 became optional for 1977 before replacing the gasoline engines after 1978. In 1982 Blue Bird added a regular-production rear-engine model with a Detroit Diesel 6V92 and a tag axle, an unpowered third axle behind the drive axle. Front-engine coaches became the FC series and the pushers the PT.
Every coach was built to order from 200+ options, but many buyers wanted more custom features. Waylon Jennings had the bathroom taken out for living space. King Fahd of Saudi Arabia ordered four-wheel drive and a throne in place of a bed. In 1987 base prices ran from $199,000 to $350,000 ($593,000 to $1,030,000 USD) before options, and owners included Jimmy Carter, Johnny Cash, and King Hussein of Jordan.
By late 2005 Blue Bird had built more than 4,000 Wanderlodges, and a base model 450 LXi listed at more than $770,000 USD. In 2007 Blue Bird sold the division to Complete Coach Works, and production eventually ended two years later in 2009.
This Wanderlodge is powered by a 12.1 liter Detroit Diesel 8V92 two-stroke turbo V8 producing 470 bhp, driving the rear wheels through a 4-speed automatic transmission. The RV is finished in two-tone black and gold with gray, red, and black graphics, and it rides on 22.5 inch chrome alloy wheels.
The 1986 Blue Bird Wanderlodge Shown Here
This is a 1986 Blue Bird Wanderlodge PT38, a luxury American motorhome that the seller says was one of just 63 examples built in this length. Originally registered abroad, it is now located in France with French registration papers and number plates. The seller reports that approximately $110,000 has been spent on renovations and upgrades in recent years.
This Wanderlodge is powered by a 12.1 liter Detroit Diesel 8V92 two-stroke turbo V8 producing 470 bhp, driving the rear wheels through a 4-speed automatic transmission. The RV is finished in two-tone black and gold with gray, red, and black graphics, and it rides on 22.5 inch chrome alloy wheels.
Inside, this motorhome has brown and beige leatherette, beige crushed velvet upholstery, wood flooring, and a combination of wood veneer and gloss-white cabinetry. Living accommodations include a double bed, futon sofas, a dining area, a fully equipped kitchen with an oven, gas hob, microwave, and full-size fridge-freezer, along with a separate shower and toilet.
Other equipment includes air conditioning, electrically adjustable front seats, cruise control, a Pioneer entertainment system, exterior awnings, hydraulic leveling jacks, and a 12kW Kohler generator. The seller notes that a replacement gearbox and rear axle were fitted in 2014, when the motorhome also received paintwork, followed by 10 new chassis air cushions in 2022.
Recent work has included renovations to the kitchen and plumbing, new interior upholstery, a 560Ah lithium battery system with Victron charging equipment, and 900 watts of solar panels. Eight new tires were reportedly fitted in August of 2025, when the vehicle also received some maintenance.
Inside, this motorhome has brown and beige leatherette, beige crushed velvet upholstery, wood flooring, and a combination of wood veneer and gloss-white cabinetry. Living accommodations include a double bed, futon sofas, a dining area, a fully equipped kitchen with an oven, gas hob, microwave, and full-size fridge-freezer, along with a separate shower and toilet.
It comes with its original Blue Bird documentation box containing period manuals and technical plans, along with spare parts, extensive service records, historical documents, a logbook covering the past 20 years, and two keys.
It’s now being offered for sale out of La Clayette, France on Collecting Cars, and you can visit the listing here if you’d like to read more about it or register to bid.
Images courtesy of Collecting Cars
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
