Blue Bird International S1800 School Bus 3D model

The Blue Bird Corporation (originally known as the Blue Bird Body Company) is an American bus manufacturer headquartered in Fort Valley, Georgia. Best known for its production of school buses, the company has also manufactured a wide variety of other bus types, including transit buses, motorhomes, and specialty vehicles such as mobile libraries and mobile police command centers. Currently, Blue Bird concentrates its product lineup on school buses, school pupil activity buses (SPAB) and specialty vehicle derivatives.

Blue Bird Body Company was founded in 1932 in Fort Valley, Georgia, as A.L. Luce closed his automobile dealership to concentrate exclusively on bus production. Remaining under family control into the early 1990s, Blue Bird changed hands several times in the 2000s; in February 2015, it became a publicly owned company (with previous owner Cerberus Capital Management holding a 58% share). The bus chassis variant of the International S series is a cowled bus chassis (conventional style) that was produced by International Harvester (later Navistar International) from 1979 to 2001. Produced primarily for school bus applications, the chassis was also produced for other applications, including commercial-use buses and cutaway-cab buses. In addition, the cowled chassis formed the basis for front-engine and rear-engine stripped chassis produced for bus applications.

Designed as a replacement for the International Loadstar bus chassis, the S-series bus chassis was produced in two distinct generations. Matching the development of the International S series, during 1989, the model line underwent a major update, becoming the International 3800. In 2004, the International 3800 ended production, replaced by the International 3300 (a cowled-chassis version of the International 4300/DuraStar). In production for over 25 years, the S-series bus chassis was the longest-lived model line ever produced by International and the final Navistar product line developed by International Harvester