Blue Bird Micro Bird

During the 1960s and early 1970s, small school buses in the United States and Canada were heavily derived from production vehicles. Along with full-size vans such as the Dodge A100, the Chevrolet ChevyVan/GMC Handi-Van, and the Ford Econoline, large "carryall" SUVs were also used (such as the Chevrolet Suburban/GMC Carryall and International Travelall). To increase the safety of small vehicles transporting students, bus manufacturers chose to design a bus body that mated a production vehicle chassis with a body designed with the same reinforced internal structure of a large school bus. In 1973, Wayne Corporation introduced the Wayne Busette, the first school bus to successfully use a cutaway van chassis with a school bus body. To increase its stability over a van or an SUV, the Busette chassis (the Chevrolet/GMC G30) utilized a dual rear-wheel axle. As a response to the Busette, Blue Bird designers sought to develop their own body for a cutaway chassis. Dubbed the Micro Bird, the body distinguished itself from the Busette with several key features, many of them geared towards aiding the loading/unloading process. Rather than use the stock van door as part of the entrance, Blue Bird designed the Micro Bird body to utilize a standard school bus door, the same design used on Conventional and All American full-size buses. Ahead of the entry door, two windows were added, further aiding visibility; to this day, this layout is copied in virtually all cutaway-chassis buses. While the Busette was designed with its own body from the ground up, the Micro Bird shared the design of its body with the Conventional; the key change was its narrower width to properly fit the van chassis. At its launch, the intended markets for the Micro Bird were districts transporting small children or special needs students (the Micro Bird would become popular with the "Handy Bus" option, fitted with a wheelchair lift). ==Design overview==

Body 3500 chassis.|left First generation (1975-2010) During its 35-year production run, the body design of the first-generation Blue Bird Micro Bird saw a gradual degree of change, with many updates tied to redesigns of its cutaway van chassis. During the 1980s, to aid in driver visibility, Blue Bird replaced the two-piece loading-zone window with a larger single-piece window; to do so, a portion of the van chassis passenger-side door was replaced with glass. Following the introduction of the Chevrolet Express/GMC Savana cutaway bus chassis for the 1997 model year, Blue Bird would make several major changes to the Micro Bird body, including a higher roofline and wider body. In a move to increase interior headroom, the curve of the roof was flattened slightly; in the interest of aerodynamics, the front and rear roof caps were replaced by re-profiled fiberglass versions. For exterior body panels, Blue Bird switched from steel to aluminum construction. As part of the joint venture, the MB-II returned to the Blue Bird product line during 2010, serving as the replacement for the single rear-wheel Micro Bird. G5 (2010-present) During 2005, Girardin Minibus introduced the G5, serving as the replacement for the MB-IV. As part of Micro Bird, Inc., the G5 became a Blue Bird in 2010, replacing the long-running first-generation Micro Bird. Distinguished by its squared-off roofline, the G5 is built solely on dual rear-wheel chassis. Starting in 2013, as with all Blue Birds, the design of the roofline "streamer" (roof stripe) was changed from a full-length design to a single-length design shared with the MB-II, Vision, and All American. An electric version of the micro bird G5 built on Ford E450 chassis is set to commerce production for 2019. T-Series (2014-present) In October 2014, Micro Bird launched its third product range, the T-Series. The first school bus body developed for the Ford Transit cutaway van chassis, Using a version of the Girardin MB body (Micro Bird T-Series), both single and dual rear-wheel configurations are produced. ==Chassis Manufacturers==

Prior to 2010, Blue Bird assembled the Micro Bird at the following manufacturing facilities: • Blue Bird Body Company in Fort Valley, Georgia (1975–2010) • Blue Bird Midwest in Mount Pleasant, Iowa (1975–2002) • Blue Bird Canada in Brantford, Ontario, Canada (1975–2007) ==See also==