| Author | Message | ||
| Brian Brown (Fishbowlbrian)
Rating: N/A |
Hi Guys: First off, this is not intended as a sly way to get someone to buy my bus. It’s clear to me that it’s not worth what I paid for it. And I really don’t think it would sell if I bought an ad here because of its condition. As many of you have followed our saga(s), I purchased the bus on ePlace last August for a family RV. It’s a partially-converted Fishbowl. I since came to realize that I don’t have the time to finish the conversion and that transits don’t make for ideal conversions. A few months ago I purchased a complete conversion, a GMC PD4106 (I found the ad right here on BNO). In order to add some upgrades to the '06 (inverter, tires, etc.), I need to get some of my $5000+ investment from the Fishbowl back. This week I put the bus back up on the ePlace, and it didn’t hit anywhere near my reserve price of $3500. I’m now faced with a dilemma AND these questions: Aluminum is worth about $0.48US/ pound now. Anyone hazard a guess on how much aluminum is on a Fishbowl? Scrap metal is maybe $80/ ton. The bus now weighs 26,000 pounds, but I don’t know how much of it is what metal. Tranny is rebuilt VS2-8 and should be worth something. Engine is a rather tired 8v71 w/ Jakes. The Jakes should be worth something, and maybe the DD is a rebuildable core. Would I make more $ trying to sell the body panels and other parts vs. scrapping it all, and would this be worth all the time it’d take to part out. I could also try to get it back down to a drivable shell and get maybe $1500 for it, but I still think the sum of its parts might be worth more than the whole. You can read all about the bus here: http://www.beeriodic.com/ebay/auction.htm I’d hate for this bus to end up on the scrap heap, but it’s not worth anything to a restorer and it’s not worth much as an RV, either. Thanks for any and all advice. And, yes, many of you once said: “I told you so.” And "Phil Dumpster" will not be very happy about this... filling of the dumpster with one of his beloved Seattle 'Bowls. Livin' and learnin' (slowly), Brian Brown Longmont, CO USA T8H-5305-021 PD4106-1175 | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
Rating: N/A |
it's probably worth more in 'parts'...than altogether...BUT.....will they allow you to part it out where you have it stored...& do you have 'time' to take it apart...I'd like to have the A/C & the converter if priced reasonable,maybe the elec. water heater & other stuff...Glad you got a real bus....you can store it on my property if you want... | ||
| Geoff (Geoff)
Rating: N/A |
You have no idea what labor it takes to strip a bus down and cut it up for scrap, or you wouldn't even consider it! I say sell it as is, locally or on eBay, for $5,000 or best offer. --Geoff '82 RTS CA | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
Rating: N/A |
think about listing it with I@N | ||
| Stan Rating: N/A |
Before you make a decision to sell for scrap confirm the scrap metal prices for the exact type of scrap you have. A lot of recyclers quote a price based on clean metal such as comes from a manufacturing facility. When you arrive with painted or rusted metal they cut the price. I guess they have a ready market for the alloy in pop cans because they usually pay more for them than for clean structural aluminum. | ||
| Richard Bowyer (Drivingmisslazy)
Rating: N/A |
"And I really don’t think it would sell if I bought an ad here because of its condition” How do you know who might be reading the boards? And is it really fair to I@N to put all this sale information here without at least the courtesy of placing an ad? Richard BTW, scrap automobiles with ther tires and gas tank removed is currently selling here for $140 per ton. | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
Rating: N/A |
unless I'm mistakeing...I@N charges about the same as "E" place & the ad runs till it sells.. | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
Rating: N/A |
I might know of a buyer for the genset & AC and other whatnot. Let us know what you decide. 'bout time you pared down your stable! Another thought - a one week listing on eBay does not a successful bus liquidation make. It might take six months or longer with ads in various places, but it *will* sell at some point. Heck look at the ads here. Some were there when I first started looking almost two years ago! Of course many of those hangers-on are ridiculously overpriced. Not to say that's a better choice than parting out, but you might want to consider various ads and give it a deadline, say three mohths and then make a decision. | ||
| PAUL COLLYER (Paso_1)
Rating: N/A |
Brian how far are you from Kingman Az. I maybe interested I would have to check if my storage place in Kingman is available. I was only kidding when I suggested making one Fishbowl out of two but it might be something I should consider. I'm sure I'll spend what your asking I'm up in Canada so unless I can drive it here cheaper. maybe e'mail me off list so we don't bore people. | ||
| Brian Brown (Fishbowlbrian)
Rating: N/A |
Again, I posted this with no intent to sell it as a bus. I, too, have seen the ads that have been up for a LOOONG time, and don't have the luxury of that. The place I'm keeping it (for free) wants it out by June 1 and I either have to find a place to park it while I scrap it, or an entirely different place to part it out. It absolutely blows that a drivable bus is worth this little, but I only have myself to blame. If I wait out a buyer at $40-$50/month in storage fees, I'm up against the laws of diminishing returns. It sounds like scrapping it it too labor intensive. If I mine it for usable parts, I could then pay a hauler to come get what's left, and they would reap most of the cost of the raw materials. My time is worth something, so I guess that's OK. Thanks for the advice. And if I@n feels my post is at all disingenuous, he's free to remove it. BB | ||
| Ernest Overton (Blackexpress)
Rating: N/A |
Hi Brian Glad I sold mine on the E place Lost some but in all did not come out that bad. I think I'm going to follow your lead and get a fully converted Coach with bays. Good luck Ernest | ||
| Brian Brown (Fishbowlbrian)
Rating: N/A |
Glad to hear it, Ernest. Yours was much nicer than mine. Shame it didn't go higher, but it's a buyer's market seems. You should browse the ads here on BNO for your new one. I'm partial to GM's, and there's some nice '04s there for not much $, also an '06. Dunno what your budget is, but in many cases there's no way you could convert a shell for less $. Keep us posted, BB | ||
| Ian Giffin (Admin)
Rating: N/A |
Nice. You've got $5,000. invested in this bus? Where on this web site does it say time after time NOT to spend that kind of money on a Fishbowl? The #1 reason that a bus ad stays on this site for such a "LOOONG" time is because the vendor believes his tin can is worth it's weight in gold... just like you. Truth is, people buy Fishbowls every day of the week for one to two grand without first having had your mitts all over it. Why, then, would you not get your reserve? Well, son, I have no fear of you trying to sell your bus on THE BOARD. (By the way, no one's an idiot here - seems you went to a lot of trouble making a beautiful web page about a bus you don't want to sell). Don't even pass along the courtesy of putting it in WoBN's The Flea Market. Say it's on eBay all you want right here, no sweat. But if by chance P.T. was right, don't forget - I accept PayPal too. Ian www.busnut.com | ||
| Brian Brown (Fishbowlbrian)
Rating: N/A |
"seems you went to a lot of trouble making a beautiful web page about a bus you don't want to sell" Did I make myself unclear? The bus was on eBay and it didn't sell, past tense, beautiful Website and all... obviously because it was overpriced. It's no longer up there, and I have no intentions of putting it back up there. I have to part it out or scrap it. Because, yes, I am an idiot. Like I said earlier, the "told you so's" have it. I own up to all my mistakes here on the Boards, and hope others can learn from them. Had I spent more time reading about busses than I did horsetradin' 'em, I likely wouldn't be in this mess. Anyone else want to rub my nose it it, fine. BTDT. Doesn't bother me. And I've said it before, Ian. Put up a PayPal donate button and I'll happily contribute regularly. Good content and forums are worth paying for. I was asking for advice and got it. If you want me to buy an ad here, for any impropriety, I'll do that too. BB | ||
| Jason Whitaker (Jeepme)
Rating: N/A |
To make you feel better I probably paid $5000 too much for mine. I started with one that was a complete but old conversion. They had covered anything and everything with carpet. Old smelly, moldy carpet. Probably should have cut my losses but I couldn't find one that would better fit my family of six. Spent a LOT of time gutting and rebuilding so far. You could strip out anything of value and liquidate the shell. Put the good stuff in storage and sell as you get buyers. I'd probably be interested in some. Lots of work for you though. If you end up loosing $2000 on the fishbowl just chalk it up to the cost of the 4106, maybe it ends up not being a screaming deal but still a fair price for a good bus. Plus think of all the experience you've gained. ;-) Jason Whitaker 4104 | ||
| PAUL COLLYER (Paso_1)
Rating: N/A |
Brian I sent you a e'mail ---@arch---.com is that still a good e'mail?? | ||
| Ian Giffin (Admin)
Rating: N/A |
Ok, ok, I hereby waive the $50. Throw me an ad and I'll put it in the For Sale section. Let's see if we can sell this beauty. Now Brian, don't be messing with the price... somebody will buy it for about $2,500. plus or minus. That'll make a pretty good downpayment on a new Prevost... or the beautiful 4905 shell I'm going to put online this weekend. Deal? Ian www.busnut.com | ||
| Don/TX
Rating: N/A |
That is what I paid for a used VS2-8 transmission a few years ago, and well worth it. ESPECIALLY to the one that buys the 4905 shell! | ||
| Brian Brown (Fishbowlbrian)
Rating: N/A |
Ian, that's a very generous offer. If I do an ad for the bus, I'd gladly pay for it, though. I'm running the numbers in Excel and it's looking like the parts are worth more than the bus. Go figure. Jakes, VS2-8, DD3 cans, genny, WH. If Don's right about the VS2-8 maybe I should just get in the parts biz... and buy some space here to peddle my parts. I'll keep you all posted, BB | ||
| Ian Giffin (Admin)
Rating: N/A |
Part it out and you can do so, part by part, on WoBN's The Flea Market. And it's free there! Some day, I'll tell you the story about who WoBN is, who started it, where it was originally, why it's here and why it ended up hooked up to a flea market. My offer on the ad stands. Ian www.busnut.com | ||
| Tim Hoskinson (Tdh37514151)
Rating: N/A |
Brian I don't think there are many people right here on this board that haven't had some experience like yours. Some can admit to mistakes and others keep them to them selves. People who are comfortable admitting to mistakes are usually more likely to remember their mistakes. I would have you bring the bus here to dismantle it but I am in ohio. I have a fishbowl here I bought for the new 24.5 tires the last owner had put on it. He was in the same situation as you and had to get it off the property where it was stored. He cotacted me and sold it to me for $500. Its a old 74 with the two speed trans. I couldn't bring myself to junk the thing so we use it here on the farm. We drive it into the hay field and load it with square bailes then feed out of it in the winter. The cows love it it keeps the hay just like the day it was bailed. Best of luck to you . Tim | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
Rating: N/A |
Ol' Don could get into the vs2-8 business | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
Rating: N/A |
HAY TIm! You've got a mobile BUS BARN!  | ||
| g
Rating: N/A |
Brian, contact me. I would like to talk to you about the fishbowl and parts. I have a 61 fish. Thanks Grant | ||
| Jim (Jim_in_california)
Rating: N/A |
You know, storage issues aside, the Fishbowls have an advantage over the Highway buses: head clearance for taller folks. The GMC highway critters have headroom at about 6'2" - 6'3" unless somebody left the "center aisle" in but that leads to "tripping problems" and it still makes for an annoying shower. | ||
| Sean Mormelo (Sventvkg)
Rating: N/A |
This is just flat out sad...A good bus and he can't sell it so he has to scrap it to get his money back....I just put 10K into my MC5C and now it's a perfect shell...but I could never even come close to getting my cash back out of it either..This is the one bummer about bussin that I wish I knew before i bought mine... Well that fact that your bus is not a highway coach may be part of the problem but it still sucks...I feel for ya. | ||
| mel 4104 Rating: N/A |
the bus you have makes a great conversion as it has the head room that other buses do not and it is 102 wide not96 and this 6 inches makes a great difference when converting. so i would say not to scraping it and sell it as a unit, i bought 28 fishbowls last year that were 92 wide and crushed them all if any had been 102 i would have kept them the work that it takes to scrape out a gm is a lot more than you think a lot more. also if you scrape it you have spend a lot of time getting the parts ready to ship. also you will be stuck with some parts that you think will sell but do not such as you will sell the gen set and the jakes snd a few other pieces them you have a mess on your hands that will cost more than you got for the pieces to get rid of the rest. there is very little call for the 8v71s how ever saying all this now that you have a 4106 rember a lot of the parts on them interchange. and as to how hard they are to take apart i finaly used a excavator to rip them apart to put in containors before the scrap guy would take them. so good luck. mel 4104 | ||
| Brian Brown (Fishbowlbrian)
Rating: N/A |
Thanks for the advice and comments, all. I'm now getting plenty of emails regarding bus parts and conversion item availability. I'll have to take a long, hard look at how much I want to get my $ back by taking the time to part it out and what to do with what's left. There's still no guarantee I would even then. I also hear what some of you are saying about it being a shame to tear up a running Fishbowl... simply because I made a mistake and overpaid. If I decide to sell it, I'll get I@n an ad and do it right. If I do part it out, I'll start doing it within the next month or so and start getting usable parts up on the Flea Market. Thanks for everyone's sagely advice, and to I@n for allowing me to wade into these ethically murky waters of selling/buying. I vow not to abuse it. Brian Brown |