Is he stretching the truth?

[Busted Knuckle]

OK the Mans I've seen were 2 different colors one was a "cummins tan" and the other is a grayish color.
Back in the mid to late 90's Cummin's came out with thier big horse electronics with either a red head (475-525 hp I think if I remember right nicknamed as "red headed cum apart") or the whole thing painted red which was a 600 hp "cum a part" before that all the cummins I ever dealt with were tan.

Dr. Dave,
Had they (all were/are owned by different owners!) been giving those coaches away I'd have them sitting here stealing stuff of them, or even converting one. (provided I could get it to be reliable on the rd!) But as it is they were suckered into one of those just like a SETRA or VAN DROOL European Coaches at a lot le$$ $ales pitche$! And, well they paid way too much for them and they are trying to recooperate way too much back out off them! I had one guy tell me "I should've had it brought it to your place, for you to look at it then it'd be your problem!!" Then I asked him "well why don't ya tell me I can have it, and I'll get it towed" (and too this day I ain't figured out how or what he was thinking from the 2 different statements!) his response was "Oh I could never do that! I got too much $ in it to give it away!"
Ahh, if it was at my place and it was my problem. Wouldn't that be like giving it to me? I mean maybe he doesn't look at that way but I do! After all sooner or later he'd have to either pay me for the time spent on it, or abandon it on me (which is what I feel like he was implying), or I'd have to just file for a lein on it, which again boils down to giving it to me the way I see it! But who knows!
It is a shame that all 3 of these poor individuals were taken advantage of, but had they done there homework/research they might not have bought a pig in a poke either!

As an interesting note had an older gent stop by this AM looking for a bus to convert. I told him about the board, to which he replied that he & his wife didn't have a computer and wouldn't know what to do with it if they did! Then he went on to telling me he really wanted something like the bus in the middle (our 102A3) I told him it might be for sale at the right price, when he asked what that might be I told him I wasn't sure but probably $15-20,000. He told me oh that's way too much for my budget. So I asked what he was looking to spend, he told me he was looking in the $2-3,000 range. I pointed out the "fishbowl" of Mike Hills that is here and told him it was about that area, and already converted. He said ya but that's too small, I want a 40'er or bigger & want the big storage spaces underneath! Like the one that is started being converted over there (Mike Hill's 9). I told him I was sure Mike had about $10,000 in it since he bought it, not including the purchase price! He said "IT AIN'T EVEN DONE YET! I plan on having less than that in it when I'm done. I told him I wished him luck, but I didn't know of any over the road coaches in that price range. He said "I've found some, but one looked like it was just out of WW3, and one was a 1966 model, one is at a salvage yard and he was asking $4,000 for it but has come down to $3,000 but doesn't have a title for it, so they are out there!" Well I wish ya luck fella is all I can say!
FWIW   BK 

[tekebird]

LOL,

That will be one of those buy a POS have a POS for years sinking money into it...then try to sell a POS for what they put in it.

[Charles Seaton]

if $15,-20,000 is too much to pay for a sound, reliable over-the-road coach, how much does this guy figure to pay for diesel?  "Oh, now I see.  "$3.60 per gallon?   Sounds like a lot.  How about $2.50?  I can handle that."

[Dallas]

Interesting answers have come up here.

So far in the last 6 years, we've put 58,000 miles on our bus. We paid $1 for it.

if $15,-20,000 is too much to pay for a sound, reliable over-the-road coach, how much does this guy figure to pay for diesel?  "Oh, now I see.  "$3.60 per gallon?   Sounds like a lot.  How about $2.50?  I can handle that."

We bought fuel a couple of days ago for $3.809/gallon.. Now, where we are is $3.999 /gallon. We would love to buy fuel like in the olden days... $1.599/gal, but it ain't gonna happen.

Lot's of the lookers want to buy a bus because it's cheap, within their means and gives them a chance to see what their skills really are. Personally, I've learned that using a circular saw is not the way to build cabinets. That's why I'll have my boss, Phil Hendrix or Capt. Ron or even the Guy from Michigan do my interior!

It doesn't matter what you can pay for your bus/coach or how much money you can sink into the conversion. What matters is your love of buses and the love of the hobby.
We have members here that think nothing of sinking 90 or 100K in a transit. We also have members that go from day to day on SSDI or even SS making a go of it.

Too many on this board have decided that having a Skoolie or an old GMC or a Brill or a Leyland or a transit are less than desirable. Personally I think that those people are just like the ones that want to run the HOA's.

If it ain't a Prevost or at least a Liberty conversion it ain't worth crap.

If you can't afford a Xantrex or Outback or Sunnyboy inverter, it ain't worth having.

If you can't afford a Dick Wright Generator or an Onan or a Honda or even a Generac,, you shouldn't be here.

The coaches that most of us buy are in the 1 million to 3 million mile range (yeah Right)........ It ain't like your fathers Oldsmobile

Good Luck to you all!

LOL,

That will be one of those buy a POS have a POS for years sinking money into it...then try to sell a POS for what they put in it.

It's interesting that the guys and girls that advocate not using a MAN engine, or a Renk Transmission know all about either one, since they have no experience with either. The MAN engine was used in many of the transit coaches ( It was also used in the Panzer), and is still used in many trucks in the EU, AU, NZ, NL, Africa, Asia, and lower fumbuck.

Renk Transmissions have been used around the world in everything from aircraft to parking lot sweepers.

Yes, they are all hard to get parts for in the US, but the name of the game is longevity, not making some bus converter happy. Some of the Renk transmissions in Transit service have served well over one million miles with no problems.

It just depends on what you are looking for........ High dollar and top of the line or stuff that works.... whether it's an Allison and a DD or a MAN engine and a Renk or one of the others like ZF.

[skipn]

Dallas......sure be that way

   I resemble some of those remarks I'm just not sure which ones! LOL
   (note to self no circular saw on the cabinets)
   I did see a ZF in there somewhere  (oh boy)

Take care
   Skip

[tekebird]

Don;t know if Dallas was directing any of his post at me ( I assume because he quoted my POS statement)

I don;t have any iddues with buying a cheap bus and making it go....but the vast majority of people who buy the 1000.00 dollar bus have stars in thier eyes...and the things will never get done or perhaps even be made road leagl and or safe.

Generally speaking, a guy like the one in question will do one of a few things.

1. never buy a bus
2. Buy a POS and never make it run or get it on the road
3. Buy a POS and make it run after putting $$ and time into it only to never do the interior
4  Buy and complete but to nobody's standard but his own....and then try to sell it at one point for 100X what it's market value really is

There are exceptions to the rule.

most of these types are totally in the dark to buses, what they cost to run and operate and maintain to legal standards

then there are those who will take a POS make in run slap a very low end "conversion" in it and be happy tooling down the road bealching smoke looking like a trailer to the next mad max movie with bay doors half ripped off, rusticles hanging from the steel, peeing oil everywhere with just about all the glass cracked

[Dallas]

 

Nope Doug, I wasn't really pointing you out, just that the ideas of a lot of people are that if you don't have 1/2 to 1 1/2 million into it, it ain't worth havin'. amazing that I've had to show more than a few Marathon and Liberty owners how to dump the waste tank... after they called the factory and asked why there was such a crappy smell in the coach.

[NJT5047]

Nope Doug, I wasn't really pointing you out, just that the ideas of a lot of people are that if you don't have 1/2 to 1 1/2 million into it, it ain't worth havin'. amazing that I've had to show more than a few Marathon and Liberty owners how to dump the waste tank... after they called the factory and asked why there was such a crappy smell in the coach.

HUH?  Dump what?  Uh-oh.  

Dallas, when are you and Bubbagal coming up through NC?? 
JR 

[buswarrior]

HEY!

I got some cracked windows!

Even some with a water level between the panes....

Can I come and play?

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[tekebird]

unfortunately I have a coach with a cracked windo and also a thermopane with moisture

[chargePlus]

I don;t have any iddues with buying a cheap bus and making it go....but the vast majority of people who buy the 1000.00 dollar bus have stars in thier eyes...and the things will never get done or perhaps even be made road leagl and or safe.

My wife and I fall into the stars in our eyes category, kinda sorta. We dream of one day having the exterior closer to original than now, especially the lights, mirrors, front and rear trim. We have never driven buses for a living, but we like the look and character of the older ones, although some of the newer buses are pretty sleek, and we both lust over the NeoPlans like Odyssey with the big "living-room" front window upstairs, and they seem like fun and attract attention.

When we bought our 4103 we knew we were buying an older bus. We knew it has issues because we could see them. We bought it because we liked the look of the older buses and we could afford it. We have used it a few times, and we have discovered that there are issues(!) we didn't know about. Want to guess why we didn't know? We didn't have it inspected by anyone knowledgeable. Why not? We knew it wasn't pristine. We knew it was going to have issues. We were new to buses and in general clueless about them. Though we are reasonable car savvy. We figured it would get us home and we could work on it from there.

Well, the baby has been sitting in the driveway for a quite a while now, waiting for me to get going on it. Sound familiar? I have finally managed to take out the rear lounge (where most have the master bedroom) to expose the engine access door. While doing this I discovered some "new" issues. Imagine that. The next steps are to get the bus cleaned out and drivable enough to take over to Dean's Coach to have them go over the important systems to make the bus safe to drive on the roads. Once that is done we can start spending more $$$ to make the bus what we want. It will never show like a brand new S&S or multi-million dollar Prevost. We know that, and that's OK with us.

Our "fun" will be the work we do to fix what we can, and hire out what we can't. We'll enjoy our trips to the racetrack towing (eventually) our racecars, eventually our longer trips to various rallys to meet the people we read about on this and other boards/mailing lists.

- John

[Jeremy]

I agree 100% with Dallas - to me the whole point of this hobby is to 'do your own thing'. Those people who consider it their business to tell a newbie exactly what he should or shouldn't do are potentially doing huge damage to the hobby. The worst thing that could happen to bus converting would be if it became like hot rod or Harley Davidson building, where the only way to earn respect is to slavishly follow every current trend, spend far more much money than you should, and religously incorporate all the 'right' brand names in your vehicle. Lets not go there!

I also take issue with anyone who writes an entire make or model off as a 'POS' - it's just such an ignorant thing to say. There may be good reasons not to choose a particular type of bus (rust-prone, over complex, expensive parts etc), but why not say that rather than blaming the manufacturer or model as somehow sub-standard just because it doesn't happen to lend itself to an application and a market for which it was never designed?

Jeremy

[NJT5047]

Hey...if fuel prices get much higher, we'll all be able to afford an MCI E model.  Gads I'd like that.  Even if I couldn't afford to drive it.   
Anyone that has not been inside one of those things oughta check them out so you'll know what to expect to be driving soon.  Spiral stairs, fancy dash, steerable tags, super smooth sides, big ole windshields....OOOOOOHHH!
O' well...for the time being my POS will have to do.  I've got living proof that a POS will suffice quite nicely.   
I'm going bus'n soon...no matter the cost of fuel.  The season is upon us!   
JR
Happy Irish Day!!!  I'm doing my best to maintain the Irish traditions...drink and make Mary be merry!