The school bus turned Cool Bus was this year’s hot ticket item at the Peach City Beach Cruise.

The 1955 GMC short wheelbase vehicle sporting a 502 Cadillac V8 engine is the love child of Duncan’s Barry Latham.

The bright yellow bus with gleaming mag wheels and pyro graphics adorning the side panels also caught the attention of Penticton fire chief Wayne Williams who voted it his hottest pick of the 672 entries. It also won the modified truck category.

“I’ve actually owned it for 30 years but I just got myself in a position where I could financially do what I always wanted to do and its been about eight years in this last transition,” said Latham afterwards. “Before that it had been used in Vancouver transporting special needs kids then it went up to Dawson Creek where it was used as a lunch room then one of the guys camperized it and took it out to Edmonton and I found it the Buy, Sell and Trade.”

The owner added the hot rod bus, rumoured to be as fast as it is unique, gets lots of attention where ever it goes.

And what do people say when they see it for the first time?

“’Ahhh,’” was Latham’s reply. “Actually there’s lots of different comments but what I like most about it is that it puts a smile on a lot of faces. On the highway people slow down and you see the cameras coming out the window.

“Really I just wanted a hot rod that was unusual and I spotted this bus and said that’s what I want and it turned out well.”

Someone else’s attention it caught was that of Ken Paton, Beach Cruise co-founder and president of the organizing body, the Penticton Historic Automobile Society.

“It’s so different because for somebody to take a school bus and turn it into a hot rod takes a lot of imagination,” he said. “Most guys would take a ‘32 deuce coupe (1932 Ford) but not him, it had to be a school bus.”

The other major trophy given out was the Mayor’s Award that this year went to another Vancouver Island vehicle, a 1941 Willys Coupe owned by Dave and Jan Paige of Mill Bay.

According to Paton there were a record number of vehicles and spectators for the weekend show.

“I think it was a combination of things like the auction we added this year and a little bit to do with the fact we were on My Classic Car (television show) with Dennis Gage,” said the president. “You get 30 million viewers from Europe, USA and Canada and I think that helped bring them out.”

Organizers sold out of buttons (a fundraiser for the BC Children’s Hospital) and event T-shirts before the second day of the show ended. Overall attendance was estimated to be about 24,000.

The die-hard enthusiasts came from all over Canada and the United States.

“Recession? What recession?” asked Paton. “These car guys are one of a kind. They drove all the way from California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Arizona. We had a new group here from Butte, Mont. with 10 cars and they said they would be back next year and would have 20 cars.”

Another visitor he met purchased three vehicles at the auction at a cost of $100,000-plus.

Next year is the 10th anniversary of the Beach Cruise which Paton helped start at the request of then mayor Beth Campbell to financially beef up the usually slow month of June.

“I’m not going to let any surprises out of the bag but it’s going to be good,” said the president about the 2010 Beach Cruise. “I’m just really glad I took on that challenge back then because I love Penticton and for me to be able to give something back to the place I live and I call home and one of the best places on earth to live then it’s all worthwhile.”