Grateful Dead Music Forum

These are pictures of "Sugar Magnolia" Dead tour bus. It is currently owned by an automobile museum in Roscoe, IL if you're interested (about an hour and a half west of Chicago).

Just thought y'all might be interested!









I thought this was pretty neat. Maybe some of you might know more about this bus? Stories? Sightings? Etc?[/img]

wow! very cool. thanks for sharing. so the band actually used this bus since 1965? first ive ever heard/seen it. i wonder if they named it sugar magnolia before the song was written? probably not, but still cool


anyone got anymore info about it? instresesting!

the bus is currently owned by Butch Patrick. If his name sounds familiar it's because as a child he portrayed Eddie Munster in the popular television series The Munsters.

"She was the sound bus, the caboose, number five in a caravan and unofficially the party bus where the guys relaxed with their friends after the show

I don't remember ever seeing the bus out there.

Very cool. Never saw/knew of that before.

They spelled Jimi wrong...

Good eye !

I never heard of this bus.
Smells Fishy.
I mean - wouldnt there be stories of this bus where all the hippies hung out ?
"Sugar Magnolia" ?????

Named Sugar Magnolia in 1965 or 67? Not likely.

However it wouldn't surprise me if there is some validity to this story. I've heard it before once or twice.

Where is this at in IL? I'm 40 mins west of Chicago.

I bet its some hippies tour wagon - the Dead would have outgrown that bus well before '83.
Its cool though.

Beyond never having heard stories about this bus, what strikes me as suspect is the claim that Jim Morrison and the Doors visted the boys. I was a pretty hardcore Jim fan in my teens and read quite few biographies, including Densmore's, and I don't recall ever having read that there was contact between the two bands.

Of course a lot of bong hits have been ripped in the time between, so I could have just forgotten...

Anyone hear stories of the two bands having contact?

Either way the bus looks cool.

Tennessee Jedi wrote:I bet its some hippies tour wagon - the Dead would have outgrown that bus well before '83.
Its cool though.

Agreed, if not before '73, even. What is their provenance? None provided here. Looks more like a hippie family tour bus than a band/crew vehicle.

They also mispelled "Creedence", and I've never seen the Airplane referred to as "Grace Slick and"...

It's definitely a cool old relic of some kind!

hesgone95 wrote:Beyond never having heard stories about this bus, what strikes me as suspect is the claim that Jim Morrison and the Doors visted the boys. I was a pretty hardcore Jim fan in my teens and read quite few biographies, including Densmore's, and I don't recall ever having read that there was contact between the two bands.

Of course a lot of bong hits have been ripped in the time between, so I could have just forgotten...

Anyone hear stories of the two bands having contact?

Either way the bus looks cool.

Actually the only Doors/Dead story I have heard is that Jerry, ummm how to put it... had little or no respect for Morrison, at least as a performer. Not sure where to find the quote, possibly in the JG biography. Not surprising, given the Dead's aversion to "rabble-rousing", which was obvs a big part of Morrison's stage persona.

TS-I'm pretty sure that I've heard that before too, but I don't remember where either. The two bands, and in particular JG & JM were sort of the antithesis of one another--The Doors dark and existential and The Dead with a much more positive upbeat vibe...if that makes any sense.

strumminsix wrote:Named Sugar Magnolia in 1965 or 67? Not likely.

However it wouldn't surprise me if there is some validity to this story. I've heard it before once or twice.

Where is this at in IL? I'm 40 mins west of Chicago.

Roscoe is just north of Rockford... I'm sure if you're 40 mins west of chicago you know where Rockford is, can't be too far from you.

That Bus is owned by Butch Patrick, and I helped renovate it. It was in real bad shape and we buffed her up and cleaned her out. the amount of history inside is truly incredible.

Butch might be exaggerating a little bit. I don't think it was called sugar magnolia in 65, I don't even think the dead owned it in 65. I doubt Jim Morrison ever stepped foot in the bus, as for the misspelled named give me a break its Eddie Munster!

If you go to munsters.com you can see some more pics of the bus. Personally i do think that the boys at one point spent some time on this bus the logo for the seva foundation can be found toward the back, and the scarab on the back of the bus is very similar to this
maybe its just cuz me and my boyz worked on it that i want to believe but either way it is a very cool piece of grateful dead history

whoa kat, thanks for really clearing all that up in a jiff...