SARATOGA SPRINGS — What had been a yellow, 32-passenger city school district bus for 16 years has been transformed by the district’s mechanics into a sparkling blue utility truck capable of carrying a sand spreader in winter.

The bus mechanics at the school district’s transportation garage spent part of the summer transforming the rusting bus into the flatbed utility vehicle.

“It was basically built with obsolete school bus parts,” said Charles Tanzer, the district’s bus fleet maintenance manager.

A key element in the vehicle transformation was an almost new surplus bus engine. Tanzer said this extra bus engine was purchased a decade ago when it could have been used in half of the district’s 100-vehicle fleet.

As buses were replaced over the years with new models, the engine became obsolete. It was, however, a perfect fit in the old bus.

The school bus body was removed from the bus frame, and then the renovation work started. The frame was refurbished and the new engine and transmission installed.

“It’s a team effort,” said Jeffrey Wainwright, the district’s assistant transportation supervisor.

“You wouldn’t know it was a school bus,” he said. “Chuck [Tanzer] orchestrated the whole project.”

Wainwright said it would have cost between $100,000 and $110,000 to purchase a new flatbed truck. The entire restoration project, including a new 5.5-yard sand spreading machine, cost approximately $20,000.

The seven bus mechanics at the district bus transportation center in the W.J. Grande Industrial Park took turns this summer turning the 1992 school bus into the much-needed utility truck.

Tanzer said work on the conversion was not done every day but in between other more pressing work at the transportation center.

He said two mechanics worked steadily on the project for three weeks. Since then, the work has been “sporadic.”

“We are blessed in Saratoga Springs to have some really, really talented local people,” Tanzer said about the bus maintenance staff.

He said the old bus served the district well before it was dismantled. He said the bus served the Lake Desolation Road route for many years. This route is one of the most distant from the district’s center.

Tanzer said the project has turned out better than he expected. He described the renovation as “one of the most awesome recycling projects.”

The idea for the project was planted at a Board of Education meeting last year. School board members asked if one of the old buses could be converted into a snowplow so the district wouldn’t have to purchase a new plow truck.

Tanzer said he and his fellow transportation workers discussed the idea.

“We needed a new sanding truck,” Tanzer said.

The bus transportation center includes 15 acres that need plowing and sanding during winter months. He said the old sanding truck was 25 years old and falling apart.

The old sanding truck also had a much smaller sand-holding capacity than the new truck.

“We needed to fill it three times to do the parking lot,” Tanzer said.

“This truck has turned out so well we will be able to use it on service calls,” Tanzer added.

When a school bus gets stuck on icy roads somewhere in the district’s 110 square miles of territory, the new sanding truck can be called out to spread sand for traction.

“It will be a 100 percent great support vehicle,” Tanzer said.

The cab of the truck has already been painted blue, and soon it will have a gold school district seal on the doors.

The lettering “Home of the Blue Streaks” will also be painted onto the truck along with gold lightning bolts, the traditional Blue Streaks sports logo.