This Bus Filled With Random Computers And A Faraday Cage As A Shower Might Be The Craziest RV I’ve Seen

Every day I search the Internet for weird things in the RV world and over the years I’ve found some great stuff, like airplanes turned into motorhomes and school buses with rooftop observation decks and fire pits. Then there’s this 1999 Dina Viaggio GV1000. This vehicle started life as a coach bus before someone added a second deck, eight battery banks, gaming computers, and oh yeah, a shower that’s also a faraday cage. I’m not even sure what you should call this thing.

This bus is currently for sale in Ashland, Oregon for $35,000 and I just can’t stop looking at the pictures of it. Every time I look at a picture I see something new, be it just the solar panels placed randomly over the thing or the fact that there are bars over only a few of the windows. The seller says it took 17 years and $210,000 to create this bus, and it’s frankly just entirely off the wall. The more you look at this thing, the more questions you’re going to get.

I’m going to try my best to answer the questions of this mad machine, starting with what the heck even is a Dina Viaggio?

An International Affair

The first thing that caught me about this bus is that it wasn’t built by a particularly popular manufacturer in this part of North America. Usually, you’ll see old Prevost and MCI coaches converted into motorhomes, but not a Dina. What even is a Dina, anyway?

This bus has origins with Marcopolo S.A., a transportation equipment manufacturer that was founded in 1949 in Brazil. The company, which started as Nicola & Cia Ltd., had all of 8 partners and 15 employees. In a little facility in Caxias do Sul, the handful of Nicola & Cia began building buses by hand. By 1952, the company says, it was constructing its buses with metal bodies. In 1968, the company launched its first Marcopolo coach bus, named after the Italian navigator Marco Polo. By 1971, Nicola & Cia changed its name to Marcopolo S.A. Carrocerias e Ônibus.

Today, Marcopolo claims to be a world leader in bus manufacturing, but it has had only limited penetration into the North American market. That changed with the help of Grupo Dina S.A., a Mexican bus manufacturer that was founded in 1951 by the Mexican government. Since its founding, Dina has frequently partnered up with other firms for technology and manufacturing, often making Dina bus derivatives of existing buses from other companies. Dina has partnered with companies far and wide from Cummins and Fiat to Škoda and Chrysler plus a bunch of bus manufacturers.

Dina says it entered into a partnership with Marcopolo in 1990. This partnership resulted in Marcopolo sending semi-knock-down bus bodies to Dina, where Dina would then bolt the bus body to its own chassis with a drivetrain from another partner. This partnership brought Marcopolo Paradiso and Viaggio buses to Mexico beginning in around 1992. Then, Dina acquired some Motor Coach Industries factories a couple of years later, opening the door for Dina to bring these buses to the United States.

The Dina-Marcopolo Viaggio sold in the United States until about the year 2000. So, these aren’t super common buses and if the folks at the Canadian Public Transit Discussion Board are to be believed, only 26 are left in service in the United States, all of them with the Valley Transit Company of Harlingen, Texas.

If true, this Viaggio GV1000 is a bit of a rare beast, but that’s not really bad news. What you’re looking at here is essentially a 43-foot body from Brazil, a chassis from Mexico, but a powertrain from the United States. Housed in the rear of the coach is a familiar engine, a Detroit Diesel Series 60 11.1 liter straight-six making 365 HP.

This alone is fantastic. The Series 60 was Detroit’s most successful engine and you’ll find countless examples of them still in service today, many with over a million miles.

Dina then paired that engine with an Allison B500 five-speed automatic, Rockwell axles, and Ross Gear TAS 65 steering. So, despite the exotic name this isn’t that much of an exotic bus. What is outlandish is what happened to the bus after its service life came to an end.

The Mobile Command Center

The most obvious change you’ll see immediately is that the bus body has been dramatically changed.

The Viaggio GV1000 is not a double-decker bus, but the builder wanted to keep the main deck open for various activities. The roof was raised about a foot, giving the bus a height of 13.3 feet, or about the same height as a large Class A coach. This roof raise allowed the builder to store the coach’s beds — all eight of them — entirely on the upper level. One touch I like is that unlike the roof raises on a school bus conversion, the builder actually added windows to the upper level. That should help the massive bedroom not feel like a dungeon up there.

The seller says all of the custom windows on the coach are double-pane security glass, so there’s probably some decent insulation going on there. The confusing part is that some of the windows have metal grates over them, but some do not. Sadly, I have not been given an explanation for why that’s going on. It looks like the grates are perhaps cheap versions of the Molle panels we see on every overland-style vehicle today.

The exterior continues being weird with a bunch of ladders to reach the roof and weird hatches cut into the side of the bus body that don’t give access to the interior. It all looks a bit prepper-like but then also not, because again, some sparse thin metal grates don’t really scream “apocalypse-ready.”

What’s Going On, Here?

Then we get inside, and here’s where things really come off of the rails.

You might ask why a 43-foot-long bus needs to have an upper level just for sleeping. Well, that’s because the lower level appears to be for a gigantic LAN party or something. Interior photos show a long table with workstations, laptop docks, and more. In the center of it all is a lone gaming chair. How crazy is this bus? Even the driver gets a laptop and a webcam.

I’ve reached out to the seller about this, but is this bus supposed to be a rolling game room or something? Are you supposed to bring your Asus Rog to play some Call of Duty on the road with your friends? Or is this more of a covert thing? A mobile WeWork deal? What’s going on here?

The seller says the bus has a Xantrex house power system that runs off of 8 battery banks, solar power, and a generator. Then there’s a gigantic air-conditioning system to keep the bus cool when presumably, there will be lots of hot computers generating heat in there.

But it doesn’t stop there. The coach has a double-basin stainless steel sink, an electric cooktop, and double refrigerators. We’re also told that the bathroom is all stainless steel, featuring a shower that doubles as a faraday cage. Then, maddeningly, we’re not given a picture of it. See what I mean when I say you get more questions than answers?

The interior is a mix of neat and questionable, too. There’s some nice wood paneling used for the ceiling, but those desks, the dinette, and the floor seem like afterthoughts. It doesn’t feel very cozy, but I suppose it’s not supposed to be. Still, it’s sort of wild this is what the builders got after 17 years and a supposed $210,000 of work into the bus.

Oh yeah, and here’s what that upper deck looks like. There isn’t standing room or mattresses:

The seller originally tried selling this coach for $250,000, calling it an “alternative power source mobile home.” Now the price is reduced to just $35,000. Sadly, we’re told that the bus has a radiator leak and will probably need a new one before driving far. Then, I guess, you can have the mobile command center of your dreams or your nightmares. If you’re not sold on it yet, the seller says it comes with new tires and a half-tank of diesel.

I’ve reached out to the seller for more information. I’ll update if I hear back.

I’m not entirely sure what to make of this bus. It’s equal parts confusing and fascinating. A part of me wishes I had enough gamer friends to make this a thing. I’d finish out the interior with a lot of pink and RGB lighting. Just really lean into the crazy. Maybe I’d cover up the drab floor with one of those rugs with cartoon city streets on them or something. Either way, this might be the craziest RV conversion I’ve seen in a long time. It’s just so, out there, man.

(Images: Torne U, unless otherwise noted.)