Freightliner FS-65
The Freightliner FS-65 is a cowled school bus chassis (conventional style) that was manufactured by Freightliner from 1997 to 2008. Derived from the Freightliner FL-Series medium-duty trucks, the FS-65 was produced primarily for school bus applications, though commercial-use buses and cutaway-cab buses were also built using the FS-65 chassis.
| Freightliner FS-65 | |
|---|---|
2008 Thomas Built Buses FS-65 of Calvert County, Maryland | |
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Freightliner Custom Chassis (Freightliner LLC) |
| Production | January 1997 – December 2006 |
| Assembly | Gaffney, SC |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Type C (conventional) |
| Layout | conventional 4x2 |
| Body style(s) | Cowled chassis
|
| Vehicles | see listing |
| Related | Freightliner FL60 |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine(s) |
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| Transmission(s) |
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| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 150–276 in (3,810.0–7,010.4 mm) |
| Curb weight | 18,000–35,000 lb (8,164.7–15,875.7 kg) (GVWR) |
| Chronology | |
| Successor | Freightliner C2 |
While developed by Freightliner before its acquisition of the Ford heavy-truck product range at the end of 1996 (and medium-duty truck lines were not included as part of the sale) the FS-65 would go on to serve as an indirect successor of the long-running Ford B-Series chassis. After 1998, Ford concentrated bus production towards van-derived chassis, leaving Freightliner to acquire much of the market share of full-size bus production owned by Ford.
The FS-65 chassis was assembled in Gaffney, South Carolina by the Freightliner Custom Chassis subsidiary of Freightliner; as an incomplete vehicle, the chassis was shipped to body manufacturers for final assembly of a bus. After a total of 62,764 units were produced, the final Freightliner FS-65 chassis rolled off the assembly line in September 2006, owned by O'Brien Bus Service, Inc. based out of Maryland.