Member to display Flxible conversion

By Todd Moning
FMCA.com Editor

Aside from family, David Rosique’s Flxible is the love of his life.

FMCA also loves the Flxible. It’s the motor coach depicted on the association’s official logo.

To see this significant coach, which populated many of FMCA’s earliest gatherings, head to FMCA’s 2008 convention in Pomona, Calif. Rosique’s 1950 Flxible Visicoach bus conversion will be on display.

“I’m no full-timer,” said Rosique, 50, of Oak Hills, Calif. “I’m still a working man, but I don’t plan on ever getting another motorhome. I love this old bus.”

Family affair
Rosique is director of maintenance for the Orange County High School of the Arts. Prior to that, he was self-employed as a mechanic/garage owner for 18 years.

In addition to the Visicoach, he has owned five Flxible Clippers, one Crown Coach and his first bus, a 1957 Chevrolet/Wayne school bus.

Rosique’s two sons, Jeremy, 27, and Jason, 25, share his passion for Flxibles. Jeremy has a converted 1955 Flxible VL100 and a 1947 Flxible Clipper. Jason has a 1951 Flxible factory conversion by Custom Coach of Ohio. David’s older brother has a 1959 Flxible VL100.

“We are definitely bus nuts.”

Rosique and his wife, Terry, call their Flxible “The Bus and Us.” The best thing about the 34½-foot diesel-powered bus, he said, is driving it. “When people see it they can’t believe it. It’s the kind of thing that draws attention wherever it goes. You’re never looking for someone to talk to at a campground, either. Normally you park it and the first thing someone says is, ‘What year is it?’ It’s pretty fun, it really is.”

‘Spruce Goose’ connection
Rosique said his Visicoach had lain in service at Citizens Auto Storage Co. in Nogales, Ariz., from 1950 until the previous owner bought it in 1968. That owner contracted with an individual named John Sampo to do the conversion work, which was completed in 1969.

Sampo was a subcontractor who actually worked on Howard Hughes’ famous flying boat, the “Spruce Goose,” said Rosique, who purchased the Visicoach in 1991.

“It’s evident he [Sampo] knew what he was doing. I look at some of the curved wood and some of the teak wood and everything in the coach and I say, gosh, I couldn’t have done this.”

Teak wood is known for its durability and light weight. It’s often used in boatbuilding and as a veneer for indoor furnishings.

‘In great shape’
The Visicoach has a Clipper body style, which Flxible produced from the 1930s to the late 1960s.

“Its actual model is a Visicoach,” Rosique said, “although people refer to it as a Clipper. But it’s really not, because they had the Clipper, Visicoach and the Starliner. They all looked like a Clipper but they are different.”

The conversion is still in great shape with its period teak-wood bunk beds and decorative trim along with plenty of Formica, he said.

“I’ve tried to preserve what was there. Since it was originally converted in ’69 it had a facelift in the late ‘80s with some Berber carpet and new upholstery. But all of the woodwork, all of the original idea is all there still, well preserved.”

Piling up the miles
The Visicoach has undergone several engine overhauls over the years, most recently in 1990 with a Detroit 8.2-liter V-8 turbo diesel engine coupled an Allison automatic transmission. The Visicoach gets a consistent 10 mpg when towing a 1982 Toyota pickup truck, Rosique said.

The Rosiques’ longest trip in the Visicoach was to Louisiana. “I've put over 60,000 miles on it since I've had it. It's made several trips down south as well as all over the western states. Someday, my wife and I would like to tour the East Coast and also do Alaska.”

FMCA ties
Flxibles were prevalent when FMCA’s California chapter held its formation meeting in February 1965. “We had about 35 coaches there and I bet you half of them were Flxibles,” said Jim Holifield, one of the chapter’s founding members.

Flxibles were nice-looking coaches and reasonable in price, Holifield added. “People would convert them and put all kinds of engines in them. I’ve owned four of them — two gasoline ones and two diesel ones.”

Rosique, now on his sixth Flxible, credits FMCA for sparking his interest in this vintage bus. He bought his first Flxible, a 1947 Clipper, from FMCA member Bruce Johnston.

“I am grateful to the pioneers of FMCA for their vision with regard to converting buses,” he said.

Note: The Flxible interior will not be open for touring.

 

More info links

The Flxible Owners International
www.flxibleowners.org