Please allow me to introduce myself

[HansRuys]

No,.... not the old "stones" tune, although I do live in St. Petersburg,
but just another new (wannabe) busnut,
September brings the start of my 65th year on this spinning rock,
so it's about time for me to make my dreams a reality,

I had a bus once, a 56 GMC schoolie, from 1975 until 80,
never really took it anywhere just worked on it,
had it parked at my parents house about a half mile away,
every time I "blew" the air horn my Dad's chickens wouldn't lay eggs for about a week!

My marriage deteriorated,
I put my Harley and my toolbox in the back of my El Camino and drove to Florida.
Best move I ever made, made a phone call, "you can have it all, I'm not coming back!"

So why am I telling you all that? .....this "bus dream" has already got "a few miles" on it.

Right now I'm reading the archives, finished 2000 and 2001 so I've got a ways to go.

The plan is to buy a bus in the next couple of months, when I find the right one,
What do I want, one of those million dollar Prevost of course,
that's probably not going to happen considering that my budget
is somewhere between an Eagle and the contents of a black water tank.

Had a conversation with my "current" wife last night,
she suggested that I could make a lot of improvements on the house with my "bus money"

Thought about that, then told her, when I'm eighty I would rather be saying,
I wish I had put that money in the house instead of buying that bus and traveling around.
Than I wish I would have bought that bus.

[Boomer]

Welcome, Hans.  Follow your dream, we only get one shot.  If this one interests you, contact me.

[DKO]

That is a beautiful Eagle!
Davy

[Boomer]

Thank you.  Moving, and the new shop is not large enough.  Time to let it go.

[Tnghost]

I'll give u a dollar and 1 good nut sorry it's all I got

[Cary and Don]

I happened across this in a blogger I follow.  It might not be considered a "real" bus, but it sounds like it has been very well taken care of. Other than what is in this article, I don't know anything about it or the owners.

http://wheelingit.us/2015/08/01/drool-worthy-announcements/

Cary

[Scott & Heather]

That's a real bus. Every bit of a real bus. Wanderlodges are built like tanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TedCalvert]

Hans,

Are you wanting "Sympathy" lol?  That's a great introduction line; I've used it myself a few times. Sir Mick can sure write a lyric. "You Can't Always Get What You Want"; words to live by.  Saw them a few weeks ago.  Amazing that a person can move like that at 71.  "Moves Like Jagger"!

Anyway, I digress.  GMCs seem to be durable as hell.  There's a lot of them still around and not real expensive.  But not very practical to re-power or change tranny as they are V-drive. It's been done, but do you want the bus to have something to work on or do you want to use it?

I've seen older Prevost shells and conversions for reasonable prices.  It all depends on your budget, abilities and desires.  It's a balancing act.

Anyway, welcome to the wonderful world of bus insanity.  And good luck.

Ted.

[TomC]

Welcome. I converted an AMGeneral mainly because I could not afford anything else (bought it for $4,000 in 1993). The bus is 102" wide with 6'10" interior height. It has 21" of under floor height-sufficient to mount all that was needed for a motorhome conversion. I have spent many thousands to bring the bus up to mechanical snuff. Overhauled and rebuilt virtually everything in the engine compartment including turboing and air to air intercooling my 8V-71 (which REALLY wakes it up), replaced all air suspension bags, switched the mechanical air assisted steering to full Sheppard integral power steering, etc.
My point is, buy a bus with the power train and the bus that you want already to go. If I were buying a bus today (I am converting my Kenworth cabover into a motorhome), I would buy a MCI D3 40ft'r. It is 102"wide, 40ft (many RV parks that don't allow over 40ft, and [at least in Calif] you don't need a special license for a 40ft'r plus no restrictions on where you can drive it) 6'10" of headroom, big windows plus the most important, most came with a Detroit Series 60 engine. The old 2 stroke Detroits are great engines, sound wonderful, but plainly don't get the fuel mileage of the Series 60 and it's getting harder and harder to find mechanics to work on them. Parts are still handled by MTU. The 8V-92TA, 8V-71TA, and 6V-53TI are still being made for military use. Series 60's are not made for road use anymore, but marine and construction version are still being made and parts will be available for a long time. Plus, most any mechanic knows how to work on the S60. Good Luck, TomC

[HansRuys]

Thanks for the feedback (Y'all) 
I have a pretty good idea of what I want and yet I'm flexible enough to compromise,
knowing full and well that "you can't always get what you want"

I think my best choice in my price range would be a 40'x102" Prevost late 80's early 90's,
that's not saying I wouldn't buy an MCI or an Eagle if the right one comes along,

The wife wants me to buy the Wanderlodge that Cary and Don showed us,
that's a very nice and affordable unit, thanks for that.
With something like that we could start traveling now and head out for balloon fest this fall.

But I kinda want something I can work on and shape into "my bus"
Which is another dillema because I don't have the room to do any of the big stuff here.
For a hundred bucks a month "she" will be parked about a half mile from here
and in my neighborhood I can have her on the street in front of my house
on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

That is until I can convince the wife to go fulltiming,
which could very well result in her telling me to "have a nice life"

I guess the best I can do "right now" is keep reading and try to get educated.