What Happened to the Partridge Family Bus?

THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY, Suzanne Crough, David Cassidy, Jeremy Gelbwaks, Shirley Jones, Danny Bonaduce, Susan Dey, 1970-1974, first season — Credit: Everett Collection

Much like any former TV star that has fallen off the map, there are many rumors about what the Patridge Family bus is up to these days. The groovily painted 1957 Chevrolet Series 6800 Superior, which spent four seasons hauling around five rockin’ kids and their “nervous mother” across the country, has been the subject of so many unconfirmed sightings, it would put Bigfoot and Elvis to shame. It has supposedly been spotted everywhere from a backyard in Northern California to a junkyard in upstate New York, and multiple buses claiming to be the original bus used for filming The Partridge Family have turned up for sale and on auction sites through the years.

But if your dream in life is to throw on your pukka shell necklace and visit the actual Partridge Family bus, the real story of what happened to it will not give you any reason to get happy.

The Partridge Family bus began its life as an actual school bus, used by the Orange County School District; Screen Gems, the company that produced the show, supposedly purchased it for $500. Although fans have pointed out numerous differences in the bus’ interior between different episodes, the show’s producers maintain that there was only one bus used on screen during the show’s entire run. And yes, Shirley Jones really did drive it — according to a 2005 interview with the Archive of American Television, she had to learn to drive stick to do it.

Jeremy Gelbwaks, Shirley Jones, Danny Bonaduce, Suzanne Crough, David Cassidy and Susan Dey. Credit: Everett Collection

>> How David Cassidy & The Partridge Family Came To Rule 1970s

But when the show ended in 1974, the bus’ fate became murky. “Where the original one is, I’m still not sure,” Jones herself noted. It is largely believed that the bus was painted white and used in the 1974 TV drama Apple’s Way. The bus — or possibly another bus that looks exactly like the Partridge Family bus — can also be seen in the background of a 1982 CHiPs episode, “In the Best of Families.” And many Los Angelenos recall a bus that was reputed to be the THE Partridge Family bus parked behind an L.A. restaurant called Lucy’s Tacos throughout the early ’80s (though that, too, is a subject of some debate).

The only real consensus about the fate of the original Patridge Family bus is that it gone: TIME reported in 2011 that it was sent to a California scrap yard in 1987 (though photos of the scrap yard show what may be the very badly damaged body of the bus). Given that the Partridge Family house was on a backlot and was also demolished in 2023, there are sadly not many sites for potential fan pilgrimages.

But if you yearn to shake your tambourine besides a facsimile of the bus, you may still be in luck. There are known to be multiple replica buses around the country, some of which were used either to publicize the show’s original run, for Nick at Nite promotions, or on screen in the 1999 made for TV movie Come On, Get Happy: the Partridge Family Story.

And if you live in the greater Milwaukee area, you can always rent a Partridge Family party bus from Partridge Family Party Bus, an event transportation group that will haul you and your loved ones to a wedding, concert or ball game in a replica of the bus (though, of course, the original bus did not have a Facebook web address painted on the side). But if you and the gang want to throw on your maroon vests for a photo shoot, it might just be close enough.