1989-1993 : MCI/NovaBus Classic

[OC Transpo/STO Fan 21]

The nostalgic Classics.

Where do I begin? Great buses!

Livery: They were aesthetically pleasing to the eye and looked awesome in both liveries, although the maple leaf livery makes them look modern! If I had to give a slight edge to the livery, I'd pick maple leaf on these buses! 26 1989s, 12 1991s, and 5 1993s received the maple leaf livery and were rebuilt in 2003-2006. The rest simply received a light rebuild and kept their livery. Starting in 2005, some buses started receiving the stripe livery with the red maple leaf front to repair rust on the front end. While not looking bad, it's a sign that the mechanics were too lazy to either repaint the whole bus or keep the stripe intact as a whole.

These buses had the most random batch of liveries ever, ranging from stripe, to maple leaf, to stripe with red front, to ex Grey Line livery, to half red front while keeping stripe, etc. It's like OC Transpo couldn't stay consistent on which livery to use.

Powertrain: These had a 6V92TA transmission coupled with either an Allison V731 or VR731 transmission based on year, 1991s and 1993s including the former. These sounded awesome although could have been a bit speedier.

Seats: The seats were very comfortable although they would stick to you during the summer because they were leather. 

Air conditioning: The 1991s and 1993s featured air conditioning although were disabled in 1996 due to budget cuts from OC Transpo. The 1991s had Carrier rear mounted A/C units while the 1993s had roof mounted Sutrak A/C units. They never got re-enabled although 9110-9119 kept the A/C units on for longer during their Gray Line days before getting disabled in the late 1990s.

Known issues: Due to overuse, these buses started corroding, especially the 1993s due to being Nova's first year of producing Classics. Not as bad as the earlier Orion Vs but not living up to their older MCI cousins. They held up well mechanically but the 1993s have started rusting as early as 2006! That's not to say that they were built like crap and the 1989s and 1991s were problem free because they too had problem units, although were older.

Verdict: I think these buses were near and dear to our hearts because of the nostalgia it brought us. The fact that some kept their stripe livery made them even more reminiscent of the past.

 

[STO_1601 10]

The GM Classics all had the two pieces exit doors.

The MCI & NovaBus Classics all had the four pieces exit doors.

[STO_1601 10]

My birthday cake of a 1989 MCI Classic on the 31, from Baskin Robbins which I specifically chose since I'm now 31, The ice cream inside is a special flavour called Love Potion #31 and this image on the cake was a big surprise for me! 

Edited February 18 by STO_1601

[Loud-Invero 3]

On 2021-02-18 at 1:52 AM, STO_1601 said:

My birthday cake of a 1989 MCI Classic on the 31, from Baskin Robbins which I specifically chose since I'm now 31, The ice cream inside is a special flavour called Love Potion #31 and this image on the cake was a big surprise for me! 

Very nice! IMO you should have gotten a D40 on it since it's as old as you! lol

[STO_1601 10]

54 minutes ago, Loud-Invero said:

Very nice! IMO you should have gotten a D40 on it since it's as old as you! lol

This was a surprise, I had now idea what the image on the cake was going to be.

My parents chose this one because they wanted to find one with route 31 on the destination sign and this was the only one they could find on the web.