An Eagles bus broke down on the way to Super Bowl XV and became Northeast Philly’s Liberty Bell

It seemed like the whole neighborhood gathered on the corner, cheering as a crane lifted an old, broken-down bus onto the roof of the auto body shop.

“That was an event,” Jim Harvey said.

Charlie Garuffe decided a year earlier to drive his kelly green Eagles bus to New Orleans so his group of Northeast Philly friends — “The Dirty Dozen Plus One” — could see the Birds in Super Bowl XV. A news helicopter even hovered overhead as the bus, which they used on Sundays to tailgate at Veterans Stadium, left town in January 1981.

But the engine failed in South Carolina and stranded the Northeast Philly guys far from the Superdome, the same stadium the Eagles will play in Sunday in Super Bowl LIX. They split up in rental cars and finished the trip while the bus was towed back north.

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The Eagles lost by 17 points to the Raiders and the bus was shot. But Garuffe had an idea. He gutted the inside and brought an 80-ton crane to Wissinoming in March 1982 to lift the shell of the bus onto his two-story shop on Torresdale Avenue as if it was William Penn atop City Hall.

“It’s part of Philadelphia history,” Garuffe, who died in 2022, said in 1983. “Sort of the Liberty Bell of the Northeast.”

Garuffe bought a new bus and his old bus became a quirky roadside attraction that caught your attention every time you drove past. A painted sign on the rooftop bus said “On our way to New Orleans” as if it was left untouched from its final trip.

It was part of the fabric of the Northeast. Everyone knew about the bus that died on the way to the Super Bowl and sat on the roof of Paintarama.

“I went up there several times and hand painted that bus with a roller and brush,” said Garuffe’s son, Chaz. “Just because of what it meant.”

About 30 guys from the neighborhood went to every Eagles game, driving their cars to the stadium from the Northeast. Someone said it would be easier if they rented a bus.

“My dad said ‘Forget that. We’ll buy a bus,’” Chaz Garuffe said.

Charlie Garuffe purchased a 1954 Ford school bus for $225 in 1970 from a church in Huntingdon Valley. The group of dads from St. Timothy’s parish overhauled the bus, adding a bar, tables, TVs, and even a bathroom. They painted it white with green wings to match the helmets the Eagles wore in the early 1970s and departed every Sunday from the Knights of Columbus hall.

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“I remember walking to St. Tim’s on a Monday morning with my friends when I was 11 years old,” Harvey said. “And there it was. The white bus with green wings on it right by the Devon movie theater. It was so cool. I was like, ‘Wow. The Eagles bus.’”

Garuffe grew up in Mayfair, graduated in 1957 from Father Judge’s first graduating class, and served in the Air Force before opening Paintarama. He embodied Northeast Philly.

“My dad was world famous in a 10-mile area,” Chaz Garuffe said. “He was a mini-celebrity. Everyone knew him. He was a good guy. A stand-up guy. Not many people had a bad word to say. We were never rich, but we never wanted for anything. My dad was well respected in the neighborhood.”

The bus, which would later be painted green, was his thing. No matter what happened in the game, Garuffe said he could not lose.

“We always had a good time,” Charlie Garuffe said in 1983. “Even when they had terrible teams, we had fun. What’s America about if you can’t have a little fun? We had good times and good laughs in here. They’re irreplaceable. The Eagles don’t owe me a thing.”

The guys from St. Tim’s sang on the way down and sang on the way home.

“They saw a lot of bad football,” Chaz Garuffe said. “My dad didn’t leave the game until there was zeros on the clock. Rain, snow, he didn’t care. He sat there.”

The Eagles finished with a losing record in the bus’ first eight seasons before reaching the playoffs in 1978. Dick Vermeil was the head coach and there was hope. Two years later, they were NFC champions. The Eagles, finally, were headed to the Super Bowl. The bus was old but it had to be there.

They covered the bus with signs reading “Go Get ‘Em Eagles” and “On Our Way to New Orleans” and 13 guys headed south.

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But the bus died in Blacksburg, a tiny South Carolina town just over the border from North Carolina. The Dirty Dozen Plus One were 730 miles from New Orleans. Ten of the guys rented cars while Garuffe and two others found a tow truck that could get the bus home. Then they flew to New Orleans, arriving at the Charleston, S.C., airport in a hearse.

“But first the guy had to take a stiff out of the back,” Garuffe said in 1983. “I’m not kidding.”

The hotel they reserved was a dump and the Hilton could only accommodate them for a night. So they spent the weekend on a yacht on the Mississippi River as something finally went right for the crew from Northeast Philly. The Eagles lost, but Garuffe and his friends partied all night.

“It said right on the side of the bus, ‘Either Way We Can’t Lose,’” Chaz Garuffe said. “If the Eagles won or lost, they were just out to have a good day.”

The Garuffes sold Paintarama and the new owners kept the bus on the roof but painted it blue.

“That hurt,” Harvey said. “I took it personally.”

The Eagles bus was the Liberty Bell of Northeast Philly, but now it’s just a blue bus on a roof. Garuffe replaced the broken-down bus with another bus, which ran until about 10 years ago. A third bus is now owned by Harvey, who drives it every week to South Philly as the neighborhood guys tailgate under I-95.

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They meet every Sunday at Gallo’s — Harvey’s Northeast Philly restaurant — and pile in just like they used to at the Knights of Columbus.

“They started this tradition every Sunday,” Harvey said. “The fathers from the neighborhood. Mr. Brennan, Mr. Garuffe, Mr. Connors, Mr. MacNamara. Then they turned it over to the next generation, me and my friends. Now I’m taking my daughters and my grandson. It’s a generational thing.”

Harvey’s bus is a 1992 International with 180,000 miles. The end feels near, but the rides will continue as Harvey has already started pricing out a new bus. The fourth Eagles bus will be even more updated. But it will have the same spirit as the one that died on its way to New Orleans and became Northeast Philly’s Liberty Bell.

“At the very least, we’re going to have to redo it,” Harvey said. “We have Nick Foles and the Super Bowl 52 on one side. If we win this year, we have to update it. When we win this year, I mean.”