What do you do when you have a passion for aviation and make your living in the food service industry? Turn a DC-3 mounted on a school bus frame into a café, of course.
In the 1990s Phil and Becky Peterson of Oxnard, Calif., were toying with the idea of mating an airframe with a school bus frame to create a rolling food service facility.
“”We even looked at a B-52 fuselage, but decided that was way too big,”” Phil recalled.
Then they found a DC-3 already mounted on a bus frame.
“”The previous owner had it painted like the Space Shuttle,”” he says. “”It was used for parties and was driven all over Europe to car shows and the like.””
The Petersons bought the shuttle bus and spent the next four years restoring it and customizing it for their needs. Last summer they took the Space Shuttle Café around to a few airshows and plan to do the same thing this year. The food is your typical airshow fare — pastrami sandwiches, sausage and the like, says Phil.
The machine attracts a lot of attention when it drives down the road.
“”It’s wild,”” he says. “”People pull over to take pictures. Sometimes they follow us and wave at us. It is pretty funny.””
