Rick & The Ramblers Tour Bus is a 1957 Flxible Starliner originally sold as a 29 passenger intercity coach, the last and the most sophisticated model in a long line of Clippers built by the Flxible Company in Loudonville, Ohio between 1937 and 1967. This Starliner was purchased by Rick in March of 1998 from Steve Cyr in Marleboro, MA, another member of the Flxible Owners International.
The Starliner was introduced in 1957 and only 276 were built between 1957 and 1967 and only a fraction of these were built with the raised roof. Both the Ray Charles Orchestra and B.B. King special ordered a raised roof Starliner from Flxible.
In July of 2000, Rick drove the bus from Burlington back to Loudonville, Ohio where she was built for the Flxible Owners International Homecoming Rally. The featured speaker was Custom Coach Corp. founder Kirwan Elmers. He graciously came on board and recalled in detail the conversion job his company did on our very bus back in 1961 at a cost of $65,000. It was a thrill hearing the stories Kirwan told about the coaches he built for Merle Haggard. The great condition of our coach today is a testimony to the quality and craftsmanship of the Custom Coach team.
The 1961 conversion was a total interior refit installing new Ford 534 V-8 main engine with 6 speed Allison Transmission; 10-KW generator with 4 cylinder Continental engine (which we use to power up the band and PA system at Vermont State Park shows); galley with sink and refrigerator; rest room and hot shower; bunks to sleep six; lounge in rear and two tables in front with seating for 14 passengers; and two zones of heating and air-conditioning; hot and cold water systems; stereo and CB radio and eight storage drawers, four cabinets and one closet of storage space. Top speed, 90-plus miles per hour, air brakes and Torsilastic suspension system. And altimeter, paneling, mirrors, yellow and green upholstery and shag carpeting.
Our very green '57 Flxible Starliner scored roles in two movies filmed in Montreal and a background appearance in three episodes of Entertainment Tonight. The first was shot in April of 2000, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt in a bio-pic about Audrey Hepburn that aired on ABC-TV in January of 2001. They recreated the set from the 1960 movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and used the coach as Audrey Hepburn's dressing room. There was one very cool scene where Audrey sat on the hood of a '53 Buick and sang Moon River for director Blake Edwards... right in front of the Starliner. The photo was shot following that scene. The second movie was a pilot for MTV that aired in February of 2001 called "Live Through This." The Starliner plays the tour bus for a calypso group called "The Latin Gigolos." The very hip logo in the photo was removed before attempting re-entry into the United States.
In October of 2002, Burlington's Seventh Generation hired bus and driver (Rick) to travel to 13 Shaw's and Bread & Circus grocery stores in the Boston area to help promote their environmentally conscious paper and cleaning products. They are great folks and the tour was a blast!
Former Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle commandeered the bus and Rick for a tour of the entire State of Vermont at the end of October during his 2004 gubernatorial campaign, visiting over 60 towns in all 14 counties in just one week. See Rick's account of the adventure below
This is Rick & The Ramblers' second Flxible Clipper band bus. The first was 1946 Flxible Airporter model that was in such rough shape that the band name and sponsors' logos were only painted on the ditch side so that when it broke down on the highway, it wouldn't embarrass our sponsors.
The Ramblers and the bus
from Left: Gail & "Flxible" Joe Pirri, Swansea, MA., Des Feary from Australia and Dee & Butch Penny, Soddy-daisy, TN, new owners of the old Ramblers '46 Flx clipper. What a great time we had at the Flxible Rally!
Jennifer Love-Hewitt with the bus
the bus as the coach for "the Latin Gigolos" on MTV
On Seventh Generation tour with toilet paper man (he's on a roll)
Our first bus
On The Road With The "Clavelle For Governor" Campaign
By Rambler Rick Norcross
On a sunny mid-October day on the Church Street Marketplace, Burlington Mayor and Democratic candidate for Governor of Vermont, Peter Clavelle pulled me aside and asked if I'd be willing to drive him around the state in our band tour bus for a five day campaign swing just before the elections. This is not something you get to do every day and as I already had huge respect and affection for his honor "Da Mayor," I immediately agreed to embark on what I knew would be a great adventure.
After a few days scrubbing the dust off the inside, the removal of band posters, Airbrush Ron Hernandez applying fresh paint to a couple of outside rust spots, a little oil and a lot of gas, we loaded up our 1957 Flxible Starliner. On came campaign "lit," lawn signs, bumper stickers, sandwich supplies, lemon squares, beef jerky, coffee cups, campaign staff, Peter's parents, Ray and Elle Clavelle and Peter's wife, the irrepressable, Red-Sox jacketed Betsy Ferries. Then we left for Vermont. All of Vermont.
We traveled pretty much every major highway in the state on what turned into a seven day voyage through all 14 counties, visiting over 60 towns. Here's how the campaign trip went. We headed out well before 6 am each morning to "Honk & Wave" at major intersections during the morning rush hours from 7 to 9 am. Then we visited businesses where Peter could meet and talk to people. Meanwhile the campaign staff would do "lit drops," leaving info about Peter's experience and goals for the people of Vermont. We hooked up with local and national level Democrats throughout the state and campaigned with them in their districts.
We attended rallies and candidate forums where Peter could answer questions and meet more people. We visited general stores, schools, senior centers and more general stores. I watched Peter field the questions and concerns of young people and old people dealing with everyday issues. Through it all, I watched Peter wage a hard-fought campaign with the kind of class, warmth and integrity that made me proud to be driving the bus.
(Note: Peter Clavelle was unsuccessful in his 2004 bid to unseat incumbent Governor Jim Douglas.)
The Clipper Sculpture
On January 28th, during a driving snowstorm, our friend and master mechanic, Norm Breault, who rebuilt the Continental generator motor in our '57 Starliner among other thngs, was loading scrap metal into a recycling dumpster just down the street from Rambler Ranch here on the Burlington waterfront. He looked into the dumpster and saw the back end of this six and one half inch Clipper covered with snow and recognized what it was. Norm jumped into the dumpster and dug it out and gave it to me a few minutes later. Can you imagine that it ended up in a scrap metal dumpster (a day and a half's drive from the Loudonville, Ohio Flxible factory) just moments before Norm showed up to discard his metal salvage? And that he would recognize what it was in a driving snowstorm and then bring it to me? I can't believe it. How many of these could possibly exist in Vermont? It's a little beat up and has a hole in the top. It weighs a little under two pounds and is, I am told, white metal, whatever that is, and it is lightly plated with copper. It is very cool and obviously was meant to live at Rambler Ranch.