School Bus Refurbishment

Peach State Freightliner Locations

Peach State Truck Centers has two state of the art body shops, one in Jefferson, Georgia and one in Birmingham, Alabama. Both facilities are staffed with technicians with decades of experience among them and equipment that can’t be found in smaller body shops, including large paint booths and alignment machines. In addition to the standard body shop work done on all makes and models of commercial vehicles, Peach State is proficient in working with school buses old and new.

A popular program over the years has been the company’s school bus refurbishment program which allowed counties and municipalities to clean up old buses so that they didn’t have to spend money on new ones. Now the refurbishment program has been taken a step further. Peach State’s Jefferson location has recently partnered with school systems to completely reformat old school buses into something else entirely. One recent redesign transformed an old Thomas Built Bus into a reading mobile with the help of Books for Keeps.

“We are proud to partner with school systems and many organizations to refurbish buses,” said Peach State Truck Centers Jefferson’s Body Shop Manager Danny Prather. “Recently, our body shop was approached by Books for Keeps Athens and asked if we could bring an old Thomas Bus back to life, in a new way!”

Books for Keeps is non-profit organization started because a local schoolteacher realized that some kids went home for the summer and lost their access to books. Since its beginning in 2009, they have given over half a million books to kids from low-income families to ensure that they do not decrease reading skills over the summer. They expanded, to now have book mobiles that travel to the students and schools. This is where Peach State came in.

In 2021, the non-profit reached out to the dealership in Jefferson and asked about the possibility of refurbishing an old Thomas Bus and painting it to fit with their other book mobiles. Peach State’s incredibly talented lead painter Vance Wheeler got involved in the project which meant a lot to him. He loved working on it, knowing the impact it would have on those kids who need books!

Then the book bus work just kept on coming. Peach State recently completed a Literacy Bus for Bleckley County Schools. Robert Fordham from Bleckley County Transportation contacted the Jefferson location about changing the color on an aging school bus that they were planning on converting to a literacy bus. Robert just picked up the bus today and they were very happy with the job. Along with the fresh coat of paint we upgraded it with all new lighting and mirrors.

Peach State Truck Centers Body Shop is open to new challenges when it comes to bus refurbishment, so reach out today to see how we can help you with your next project.