Question for Sean

[cody]

Sean, when I got home from my doctor run I had a call on my phone thing that pretty much filled my old answering tape (yep, I said tape lol).  I'm posting the questions here for greater responses and highly regard your opinions, yep its true lol.  A guy wants to know the pros and cons of doing a conversion on a bus like yours, he said he is going to be getting his dads neo now that his father has passed away, (the guy isn't a kid, he's in his late 50's).  He said that his dad had bought one and what he described sounds like yours with the low drivers position and the upper living area, his dad backed it into a pole barn on their farm and tinkered with it but basically just gutted the interior, said it drives out great but was concerned with things like parts availablity, didn't say it it was from europe or not, the conversion part of it isn't a problem for me to answer for him but the parts availabilty and general information I don't have a clue about, I will be passing on the information to him about the board here and encouraging him to join up here but haven't been able to talk to him yet.

[Sean]

First off, let me say that these are great coaches, with superior ride and handling, and very roomy bays.  We love our bus.

That said, there are many challenges.  You mentioned parts, but a bigger issue, frankly, is service:  very few technicians have ever worked on these buses.  We've gotten to the point of having to be our own experts on everything chassis-related, and we have to watch technicians like a hawk -- a tire shop once bent our tag axle wishbone by putting one jack in the wrong spot, and an alignment shop bashed the front bodywork into the ground.  We try to stay out of shops that won't let us watch them work (I know, I know, the price goes up if you watch, and even more if you help).

It makes a big difference to the parts availability issue whether the coach was built in Germany or in Colorado.  If it's a 45' coach, it was built in Colorado; if it's a 40', it might have been either.  If he can send me the VIN we can look it up.

Whether the bus was made here or there, all the glass and most of the body panels come from Europe.  The US parts distributor no longer stocks most of these, but can still get them.  But a window might take 3 weeks or 3 months...

If the coach was built in Germany, the running gear (brakes, hubs, bearings, king pins, steering gear, tie rods, etc. etc. etc.) all have to come from Europe.  The US distributor can no longer get most of these, but I have a source in England who can send them.  They are spendy, being mostly Mercedes items.  Brake linings cost me over $400 with shipping; if they were standard US parts it would have been a tenth that.  However, if the bus was built in Colorado, it will have US-spec parts like Meritor axles, Bendix brakes, etc. and parts are widely available.

Those of us still running these coaches in the US have formed a fairly close community and we try to help each other whenever we can.

What I tell anyone looking at buying one of these is: don't spend a lot of money, because you'll have plenty of opportunity to part with your cash as you get into the project.  But for the right price (which sounds like "free" in this case), it can be worth it.

Oh, also, don't get a Spaceliner if you want to travel around in stealth.  These coaches attract a lot of attention no matter what.  We can sometimes use that to our advantage -- I think we've been allowed to park some places where an RV would have been given the boot -- but mostly it's a nuisance.  FWIW.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[cody]

I left a message and gave the website here, I'm thinking that having him ask directly on the board is the best way for him to get all the information he needs, I'm not sure if it is a 40 or 45, but I think the 'free' price is probably what is happening.

[kyle4501]

Ain't no such thing as a "free" bus 

[NEO/Russ]

As Sean knows I had one of these beauties and made the mistake of biting off too big a project with too few years for what I was intending to do. 

But I wanted to pass along a couple notes of caution.   Back in the early '00's there was a sell off of the Skyliners used at the Kennedy Space Center.  I bought one for parts, but I know several scattered around the country.  As I recall those were 48' long and while they used common parts, if that is what he had I would stay away.  First, being used in the county that is know as having the highest rate of vehicle corrosion meant they rusted badly from the top down.  Second, the length is illegal in all states except for a few commercial users.  There also were some Skyliners built for the '84 worlds fair and used in LA for passengers afterwards.  They had 6V-92 and were 14'4" tall.  Finally to sell some they took them to NYC, cut the tops off and were used for open top sightseeing since anything over 13' 6" violates federal laws. 

However as Sean said; if built in Colorado that may be worth the effort.

Russ