some buses in texas

[bevans6]

Just for fun and to waste some time, I decided to cruise Craigslist in Texas for a while.  I figure Ros has already checked into or considered these.

http://collegestation.craigslist.org/rvs/4765645044.html  1979 GM 40' Buffalo converted to family RV, 8V-71 auto, horrible colour.

http://houston.craigslist.org/rvs/4770971904.html   1976, not sure what it is but it looks neat.

http://houston.craigslist.org/rvs/4688112668.html  Very cool old bluebird, only 33' though.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/rvs/4758085734.html  GM 4905 kind of nice inside in a 1980's way.

Brian

[ros]

Hey, Brian.

The first of your list is about 10 or 15 miles from me.  The bus won't climb a slight hill.
This is the first bus that I looked at and the first bus that I drove.

I had seen the unidentified bus but I can't recall what the deal was....perhaps more than I wanted to pay.  I need to call the fellow and see what his bottom dollar may be.  I wonder what folks think of the model of Cummins engine that it has.

The other is 33' as you noted.....too small for me.

The last one has a very sordid tale associated with it.....bottom line, the owners are out and out crooks.  I drove several hundred miles to see it.  The bus won't move and is missing all of the equipment that they said they had.  The generator won't run. Had a lot of rust.  Way too many other things.....refused to show title.  Wanted my cash and would send the title later........Whoa!
Before I went, I asked for a copy of the title 7 or 8 times.....never came

Thanks Brian.

[lvmci]

Looking at busses and driving them is a lot of fun, lvmci...

[luvrbus]

Buses will be for sale on every corner,rally and RV park in Quartzsite from now till the end of Jan

[ros]

Hi, again, Brian.

I called the fellow on the unidentified.  During that conversation I realized that I had called him before.

He says he bought it four years ago and he wasn't sure of what kind of bus it is.  I asked if it could be an MCI and he said no, it was and MIC.  Then, he finally said it was an MCI but didn't know what model.  He didn't know what brand of generator it has and was confused on its capacity.

With all of that, I had to just guess that 'maintenance' was an unknown concept for him.  He sounded like a foreigner, too, not that makes any difference.

Too many red flags for me to go further with it.

Ros

[alley251]

Do you know of any scrapped fishbowls in Texas? Thanks.
    Paul

[ros]

Clifford,

Is there any particular reason for that?  Is there a campground bulletin board?

Ros

Buses will be for sale on every corner,rally and RV park in Quartzsite from now till the end of Jan

[ros]

Paul,

I don't even know what a 'fishbowl' is.  I am guessing that it is a Scenicruiser but I don't know of any.
Sorry.


Ros

Do you know of any scrapped fishbowls in Texas? Thanks.
    Paul

[oldmansax]

The unidentified bus looks like a MCI Combo. They were made to haul freight & passengers, hence the full tandem instead of a drive axle & tag. None of them came with a Cummins from the factory that I know of. Don't think I would want one for a conversion. 2 extra tires, another rear... I think it cut into some of the bay space?

Some discussion here:

http://mcibustalk.com/bbs/index.php?topic=163.0

TOM

[bevans6]

A "fishbowl" is a GM transit bus (or a few other makes that came out of that gene pool) with the characteristic front windshield made up of several panes of glass.  I think some have six panes.  I have an idea that mystery bus is a Newell.  An RV, not a bus per se, but built exactly like a bus to the highest standards.  Not a "sticks and staples" RV.  I count Newells as buses in the same way as I do Bluebirds and Prevosts that are RV's from new.

I know you would have seen all of these.  I'd personally check out the mystery bus once again, it may have promise.  But really I was trying to see what was out there and try to understand why you are having such a hard timing finding a running, probably reliable, somewhat decently converted, not owned by wanna-be criminals, costs under a quite reasonable limit, converted bus.  I think the biggest problem is that buses that are for sale are mostly old, converted a long time ago, not driven much if at all it the past 5 years, or even 10 years, and need too much work.  I think that the value of a bus drops dramatically once it's not driveable, and makes it useless to you.  Buses that can drive reliably, have a decent conversion with RV stuff that actually works, have been used often in the past year, are owned by decent folk, are both quite rare and may command a cost relative to their actual value.  After all, if it's not a fire sale you don't get a fire sale price.  But that same bus will be a crap-shoot five years from now after sitting a field rotting because the owner can't deal with it's upkeep any longer.

Brian

[ros]

Okay, Tom.

Another thing about the seller, he didn't even know the correct year of the bus.
That didn't inspire confidence.

Yesterday, I found out from one of the members that the
Buffalo has the most bay space
Eagle is second.
MCI is third and the Prevost has the least.



Ros

The unidentified bus looks like a MCI Combo. They were made to haul freight & passengers, hence the full tandem instead of a drive axle & tag. None of them came with a Cummins from the factory that I know of. Don't think I would want one for a conversion. 2 extra tires, another rear... I think it cut into some of the bay space?

Some discussion here:

http://mcibustalk.com/bbs/index.php?topic=163.0

TOM

[B_K]

Setra's have lots too!
  BK 

[ros]

Okay, Brian.

You hit on some very good points.

The things 'wrong' with the bus for me have been all over the board.

The price and everything that I find 'doable' but the money is a stretch only to find out it needs all new tires before it can be driven 20 miles.  So, if I am struggling to meet the price, the tires do me in.  I am just using tires as an example.

When one sits back and observes another trying to buy a bus and that person has deeper pockets, it is too easy to cast doubts and aspersions on the other person while the 'objector' has no idea what the potential buyer has seen and investigated.

Brian, here I go being too picky or some such , there is another reason that I don't want the mystery bus and it is a big reason (for me), considering that any variance in drive-train and the vehicle itself, regardless of all of its warts, *FROM THE BIG 4,  will be a real hardship for me when it comes to a point that I need parts.  I can't even imagine how hard it would be to try to find parts for a bastardized Newell or MCI with the weird rear-end.  I doubt that there are many who would know what I needed and I probably couldn't explain it properly at first.


Thanks  for taking your time to investigate.

Ros


* "Big Four" to me are the GMC (4905), the Eagles, the MCIs and the Prevost.

A "fishbowl" is a GM transit bus (or a few other makes that came out of that gene pool) with the characteristic front windshield made up of several panes of glass.  I think some have six panes.  I have an idea that mystery bus is a Newell.  An RV, not a bus per se, but built exactly like a bus to the highest standards.  Not a "sticks and staples" RV.  I count Newells as buses in the same way as I do Bluebirds and Prevosts that are RV's from new.

I know you would have seen all of these.  I'd personally check out the mystery bus once again, it may have promise.  But really I was trying to see what was out there and try to understand why you are having such a hard timing finding a running, probably reliable, somewhat decently converted, not owned by wanna-be criminals, costs under a quite reasonable limit, converted bus.  I think the biggest problem is that buses that are for sale are mostly old, converted a long time ago, not driven much if at all it the past 5 years, or even 10 years, and need too much work.  I think that the value of a bus drops dramatically once it's not driveable, and makes it useless to you.  Buses that can drive reliably, have a decent conversion with RV stuff that actually works, have been used often in the past year, are owned by decent folk, are both quite rare and may command a cost relative to their actual value.  After all, if it's not a fire sale you don't get a fire sale price.  But that same bus will be a crap-shoot five years from now after sitting a field rotting because the owner can't deal with it's upkeep any longer.

Brian

[oldmansax]

Hey Brian,

Did Newell make a bus with a full tandem?

TOM

[TomC]

No. The only full tandem I know of is a 40ft Crown or Gillig school bus. Even some of those were only single drive like the GMC Scenicruiser and MCI Combi. Good Luck, TomC