While developed by Freightliner before its acquisition of the Ford heavy-truck product range at the end of 1996 (and medium-duty truck lines were not included as part of the sale) the FS-65 would go on to serve as an indirect successor of the long-running Ford B-Series chassis.

After a total of 62,764 units were produced, the final Freightliner FS-65 chassis rolled off the assembly line in September 2006, owned by O'Brien Bus Service, Inc. based out of Maryland.

[3] The FS-65 distinguished itself from other school bus chassis by the standardization of hydraulic anti-lock brakes at the time of its introduction (two years before their requirement in 1998).

Sold alongside the C2, the FS-65 remained in production into the 2007 model year; the final Thomas school bus based on the FS-65 was produced in November 2006.

AmTran never offered the chassis with its bus body (as the company was owned by Navistar International, one of the largest competitors of Freightliner).

The Freightliner FS-65 is notable as the first all-new school bus chassis in North America sold exclusively with diesel engines.