Interesting bus... Too rare?

[thejumpsuitman]

I might go have a look at this tomorrow.  Very cool bus, and clearly lots of quality work has been done.  The posted their progress on the Eagle forum.  I posted there, but it might be awkward for people to express their opinions there since he's a member.  Obviously windshields are an impossibility and would have to be custom made, but what other problems could stem from having such a rare bus?

http://greensboro.craigslist.org/rvs/2158267602.html

[Eagle Andy]

Iam not sure why they are selling there bus. When they first joined the Eagles they were hot to trot over it. I know they had some issues like the windshields and some wiring but they seemed to be working thur them. and then bam they were selling it. they did a lot of work to it maybe they burned out I really don't know. Good luck I hope it's what you want.

[luvrbus]

Marc, those are neat buses windshields are a problem but those can be re framed to make a model 05 work, that is the only Eagle made that has a air bag suspension system,the 6v53 I could live without the previous owner was going to install a 6v92 and a 740 Allison that would have made a good bus just so you know there are several of those in the Eagles Club and the owners love that bus not a 35 ft or 40 ft but a 38 footer.Those were built for Eagle by Jonckheer of Belgium on a DAF chassis and they are still in business and windshields can be bought from them but the price is out of sight
Buying parts for the ZF transmission maybe a problem also but I know of a 04 in Co that John may part out he bought it in MN drove it back to CO and there is not enough parts to make it whole again but the windshields and transmission are good let us know if you go that route and we will try and help  


good luck

[TomC]

That big wrap around windshield would be enough to scare me away.  I can't even imagine how many thousands of dollars it would take to have another custom wrap around windshield made for that if it was shattered!  Good Luck, TomC

[thejumpsuitman]

Well I looked at it.  It is very cool.  A real novelty.  The kind of bus that would attract a crowd at a rally for sure.  It is very different than most other buses.  It's very straight and clean.  

It has an appealing floor plan for the most part, but the ceiling is just 6'0" high, six feet even.  I'm only 5'9" and even I felt like it was coming down on me.  I could probably adjust to that feeling and sense of smallness, but it was a first impression.  The owner's work seems pretty solid.  The strangest thing about the floorplan is the fact that the bathroom is only accessible through the bedroom.  You have to into the bedroom and around the corner to find it since it is a side aisle floor plan.  The bathroom is partially torn out and there is water damage to the exterior wall.  

Another strange thing is that there is no passenger seat.  The couch on the passenger side came right up to the top of the entry.  Things could obviously be moved, but that was odd.  It has two enormous skylights, one in the front lounge area and one in the bedroom.  If you saw the pictures on the Eagle site, you can tell how big they are by the size of the moldings.  Don't really care for that.  Just seems like another place that could leak.  Overall, the interior had a very high end 1980s feel, especially with the white vinyl diamond tuck headboard.

I got the sense that it was a LOT more than he had planned to get into, and if he has even come close to burn-out stage, I can see why he's there.  Personally, I think he should just take a breather then suck it up and finish it.  I don't think he will get close to his asking price if he doesn't, but if he does finish it, he'll probably want to keep it.  

The 6v53 runs fantastic, started up with minimal effort.  Sounds a lot like a 6-71.  He said it was stone cold and it was about 33 degrees when we got there.  There is some rust away at the lower edge of both wheel wells and a little on the edge of at least one of the bays.  It didn't look too serious unless it is an indicator of more.  

It needs tires and the reverse gear in the transmission is bad.  It's also missing a long piece of molding down the side which he says can be found.  And of course there are the cracked windshields.  If it came down to spending a couple thousand dollars, I could think of a couple thousand other things I would rather do with that money.  I would just live with it, but that's just me.

All in all, we came away saying it was neat, but we weren't all that fired up about it.  If it was a little more complete, we might have felt differently.  I don't know what happened with this project.  He really quit at a point where it wouldn't take that much more to get it done.  Perhaps he is stumped as to what do do next?  The work that is left to do seems a lot easier than the work he has already done, that's for sure.  Really, if he finishes the bathroom, it will look 90+% complete.  We left wondering what the real deal was.  Not to imply that he was dishonest, just a real mystery why he threw in the towel at this point.

Anyway, it was fun to go see it.

[artvonne]

  It is a neat Bus, but for someone truly on a budget that wants to travel, I would think something that has more readily available parts that are the least expensive would be a wiser choice.

[Barn Owl]

If you are on a tight budget I would narrow the search to GM. There are lots of good GM conversions out there ready to go for some great prices. As with any conversion, just avoid the butcher jobs that would be more trouble to fix than it's worth. Some are saying parts will become a problem, but I am not seeing that being an issue anytime soon. GM buses are so inexpensive and plentiful now you can buy a complete running bus, and take the part you need off cheaper than you can buy just the part alone for some others makes. Even current manufactures, have in some cases, or will, discontinue support for parts on their vintage bus models as time goes on. The consumable parts that you will need for a GM (and others) are mostly generic stuff that can be found at any truck parts counter (If you need to worry about something, do it over the cost of fuel. That will park all of us sooner than the lack of bus parts. Also a common problem to all makes is finding a mechanic that has ever turned a wrench on a two stroke diesel). GM made the most over engineered bus ever. Just like vintage airplanes, they can be rebuilt forever, as long as you don't screw up the frame. The shear number of 4104s still running around is testament to that. I think that the SS Mci and Prevost buses are old enough to look dated now, so modern looks are no longer the deciding factor for buses of that era. I love all buses equally, but I own a GM mostly because I am also on a tight budget. I own a 4106 w/V730 because I like to go play where the big boys are not allowed to.   My $0.02 worth.

[Bill in KS]

I second the GM idea.  After looking for 4-5 months I noticed a stead stream of GM buses that were being parted or could be bought for the price of a handful of parts so I decided that parts avail was not going to be a problem and prices weren't much over scrap.  Just as an example: I learned of a 4103 that just got pulled into the scrap yard ( bus was rusted up bad ).  I pulled all of the misc stuff off of the bus that I didn't need but knew had value, pulled the complete subframe with engine/trans/radiator w/shutters and after selling a few of the misc parts I have $300 bucks in my spare power plant assembly. 

Find a bus you are dig'n on, pull out a fist full of cash and show'm , tell'm you wanna deal. 

Bill in KS

[thejumpsuitman]

I have decided to remain as flexible as possible.  I am on anything that looks like it could be a deal.  I love the 4104's and 4106's, but would probably gravitate to a 40' Buffalo for the storage area.  I am scouring C-list every day.