PHILADELPHIA — There was a bicycle on the rooftop of the nearby pub, and another establishment displayed a moving van up above. Thus, when the Eagles' bus appeared on the roof of an auto body shop in Wissinoming, it blended right into the character of the Northeast Philadelphia community.
"But we were the pioneers," asserted Chaz Garuffe, whose dad, Chalie, hoisted the hull of a verdant school bus atop the structure of Paintarama situated at the intersection of Torresdale Avenue and Brill Street exactly one year following when the vehicle stalled out in January 1981 during a spirited journey transporting a group of rambunctious Eagles supporters to the Super Bowl held in New Orleans.
The bus perched above Garuffe’s auto body shop served as a local landmark, a testament to the bunch of guys from the area who attempted to make it to the Super Bowl by road.
The Eagles remained absent from the major contest for close to 25 years, and the bus atop the rooftop known as "The Liberty Bell of Northeast Philly," according to Chalie Garuffe, served as a long-standing symbol that the team had participated in the Super Bowl.
That constituted our entire universe," Chaz Garuffe stated. "The Eagles didn't even claim victory in that Super Bowl. 'Dad, the Eagles failed to win that match.' I suppose it was simply a huge affair.
The Garuffes sold the building in the early 2000s and the bus was painted blue a few years ago. That made Garuffe’s stomach turn.
“He mentioned that there was no longer any point in looking upwards.”
A month ago, things escalated further as the bus was taken away; this allowed the present owners to replace the roof prior to selling the property. According to Garuffe, the bus likely ended up being cut into sections because it had been stripped down to merely an empty shell lacking both an engine and interior components. Attempts to contact the current owners for their input were unsuccessful.
Northeast Philly lost a landmark
“No one saw it come down,” Chaz Garuffe said. “No one saw it halfway done. We got it up there with a crane. No one put a crane on the ground and blocked off the streets. No one saw it come down. Maybe it happened at nighttime.”
According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, the property was sold last week for $1.04 million by Pea Vine Properties LP—a company associated with an address in Conshohocken—to 5223 Torresdale LLC, which has ties to a residence in Mayfair.
Chalie Garuffe, who passed away in 2022, was part of Father Judge’s inaugural graduating class of 1957. After serving in the Air Force, he founded Paintarama. Additionally, he ran a bar located in the basement of the same building, which he named "Thee Bus Stop" as an homage to the bus displayed on the rooftop.
Once his Paintarama shut down, two auto body shops took over the space inside the building. The bus remained there all along until now.
I grew up there," Chaz Garuffe stated. "I began working there at the age of 12.
Chalie Garuffe bought the 1954 Ford school bus for $225 in 1970 from a church in Huntingdon Valley. The bus was painted for the Eagles — first white with green trim and then green with white trim — and used every game to transport a group of dads from St. Timothy’s parish to the Vet.
The Eagles were terrible for most of the 1970s, but the bus still rumbled every week to South Philly. The guys sang on the way down and sang on the way home. A sign on the side of the bus said, “Either Way We Can’t Lose.”
We always enjoyed ourselves," Charlie Garuffe stated back in 1983. "Even during those years with really poor teams, we still had a blast. Isn't part of what makes America great having some fun? There were plenty of enjoyable moments and hearty laughs within these walls. Those memories are invaluable. I hold no claims against the Eagles.
‘It’s a generational thing’
In January 1981, when the Eagles made it to the Super Bowl, Garuffe chose to direct the bus towards New Orleans, packing in 13 individuals. This group dubbed itself the "Dirty Dozen Plus One" and had the vehicle customized to feature amenities like a bar, seating areas, television sets, and even a restroom.
However, it met its end in South Carolina, 730 miles away from the Super Bowl. A tow truck transported the bus back to northeast Philadelphia as the "Dirty Dozen Plus One" sought alternative ways to reach New Orleans. Some members ended up renting hearses. The defunct bus was hoisted onto the rooftop, and Garuffe purchased a new one for Sundays.
Jim Harvey, owner of the third version of the Northeast Philly Eagles bus, which departs from Mayfair for each game, stated, "This tradition began every Sunday with the dads from around here: Mr. Brennan, Mr. Garuffe, Mr. Connors, and Mr. MacNamara. They handed it down to us—the younger generation—and now I'm passing it along by bringing my daughters and my grandson. This has become something passed through generations."
The bus on the roof was a thing, something that caught your eye when you were driving down Torresdale Avenue. It was part of a neighborhood that had a bar with a bike on the roof. The bike has long been gone. And now the bus is, too.
My father would say, 'It's time to move forward,' " Garuffe stated. "Allow someone else to have a tale to share.
©2025 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Visit inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.