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Message |
ED Hackenbruch (Shadowman) (162.42.168.38)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 9:09 pm: | |
Ok, about a year or so ago i spotted an old bus in the back of a mini-storage place and took a closer look. It is an old Flxible (1953) and is pretty cool looking but needs some work. At that time i had no money and was thinking that when i did get money i was going to get a Barth motorhome. Well lo and behold a few months ago i finally got my money and was looking at any and all Barths for sale when i stumbled across a pretty nice MCI-5A for sale on ebay. Now mamma had said no twin beds, no front door and she didn't want to be sitting farther back than me when we were going down the road...said she didn't want to look at the back of my head for the next 20 years! Hey i don't know what the problem is, i still have some hair back there!! Anyway i kept coming back and looking at this bus everyday and watching the bidding on it and finally had her look at it for a few days. I told her that the beds could maybe be changed to a queen and that the seat could maybe be moved up some but there was nothing i could do about the door and what did she think about it? Well we emailed the seller and got more info and more pictures and to make a long story shorter we bid on the bus and got it. I flew to Dallas from Phoenix by way of Denver??? ( Straight line? hell, you have to go twice as far just to get there at the time you want! ) Anyway i spent the rest of that day and part of the next going over the bus with the seller who is a small dealer by the way and had taken it in on trade, and then left for an almost 1100 mile trip home. Did i mention that i had never driven a bus before? Ya gotta start somewhere tho right? I wasn't too worried tho since i am a heavy equipment operator by trade and am used to running big machines in very tight places. The trip went very well and i was completely comfortable with the bus after 100 miles or so. I got home the first part of oct. and we have been busy making a few small changes on the interior to make it suitable for us. I also did some looking around on the inernet and found this and a couple of other boards and have been spending a LOT of time going thru the past posts and getting an education on a lot of things that i had questions about and in the process have come to feel that i know a lot of you even tho we have never met. I wish to thank All of you for the information and the opinions you have put here and elsewhere you have no idea how much it has helped me. Now to the point! Hey i had to go to Denver to get to Dallas, you had to go thru all this to get here LOL !!!! Anyway i was reading about Randy's trials and tribulations(Hope you find your bus!) and something about your Tennessee bus caught my eye, ie; that your brake lights when lit up said stop! At least i think it was that story, after all i have read lately it kind of blurs together....oh wait it gets a lot clearer if i put my reading glasses on. Amazing how that works! Anyway today i remembered about that old Flxible and that it had brakes lights that said stop so i went and took another look at it. As luck would have it the owner is the owner of the storeage area and he happened to be there so i asked if he would mind if i looked at his bus lights and measure them. He gave me a funny look and said sure go ahead so i did but right away saw that they were not round like i had thought so will not work on my MC-5A. I asked him what he was going to do with it since he had bought a plastic rv a few years ago and had just been letting this one sit. He said that he had kinda been saving it for his kids but didn't think they would ever do anything with it so i asked if he had thought about selling and he said yes but he is too busy to mess with it so i told him i would tell all of you about it in case anyone is interested (Randy?) It is as i said a 1953 Flxible with a 4-71 and a 5 speed manual. Had a complete overhaul 6-7 years ago with a new head and bigger injectors. Has a solid oak interior, everything was built fullsize...sink, stove, fridge, which is a Dometic as is the 1350 rotary a/c. 100 gal fresh and 110 gal holding tank. Has a 15kw gas generator (thought it was a Wisconsin ) Tires are low miles but are about 10 years old, brakes are supposed to be good, has some extra parts, says that it ran at 65 all day and that he thought it would hit 70, no power steering, right windshield has about a 10 inch crack in the upper inside corner and the right rear window is cracked but all of the rest of the glass is fine. Says it gets 10 mpg, all of the lights are there and none of them are hanging by a wire,haha. The interior has a bunch of junk in it but could be cleaned out in an hour or two, headliner is in good shape, woodwork looks pretty good. Couch is small but it and the chairs are in fair shape. Body looks pretty decent only saw 2 small dents up high on the curve of the roof... has an older paint job,doesn't look too bad from a distance, also an awning that needs replacing. Now for the history... he is the second owner, the first was Fred Harvey of the Grand Canyon Company who also built the restuarants with the famous Harvey Girls. He said that they originaly had buick straight 8's in them but Fred Harvey had GM put in the 6-71's. Now the part you have all been waiting for...how much? He first told me i could sell it for whatever i wanted as long as he got 7000 out of it. Even tho i am flat broke after buying my bus and my wife and i both haven't worked since aug. 18th and she is going in for an angioplasty (spelling?) in the brain in two days i don't care about getting anything out of this, i would just like to see it back on the road with somebody taking care of it and enjoying it. Now i realize that this may not be the best bus and motor etc. for a lot of people but this might be just right for the right person. At the end of my talking to the guy he did say he might come down on the price some but did not say how much. If interested somebody should take a good look at it and make an offer, who knows what might happen! He is going to be leaving for the winter soon but will be back and forth once every month. I will be happy to act as a go between as i know how to get in touch with him and can show the bus to anyone that wants to look. Randy don't you need another for your collection???? |
Richard Bowyer (Drivingmisslazy) (24.196.191.70)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 9:53 pm: | |
I took the liberty of breaking Ed's post up a little bit to make it a little more readable. Hope you do not mind.
Richard
Ok, about a year or so ago I spotted an old bus in the back of a mini-storage place and took a closer look. It is an old Flxible (1953) and is pretty cool looking but needs some work.
At that time I had no money and was thinking that when I did get money I was going to get a Barth motor home.
Well lo and behold a few months ago I finally got my money and was looking at any and all Barth’s for sale when I stumbled across a pretty nice MCI-5A for sale on eBay.
Now mamma had said no twin beds, no front door and she didn't want to be sitting farther back than me when we were going down the road...said she didn't want to look at the back of my head for the next 20 years! Hey I don't know what the problem is; I still have some hair back there!!
Anyway I kept coming back and looking at this bus everyday and watching the bidding on it and finally had her look at it for a few days. I told her that the beds could maybe be changed to a queen and that the seat could maybe be moved up some but there was nothing I could do about the door and what did she think about it?
Well we emailed the seller and got more info and more pictures and to make a long story shorter we bid on the bus and got it. I flew to Dallas from Phoenix by way of Denver??? (Straight line? hell, you have to go twice as far just to get there at the time you want!)
Anyway I spent the rest of that day and part of the next going over the bus with the seller who is a small dealer by the way and had taken it in on trade, and then left for an almost 1100 mile trip home. Did I mention that I had never driven a bus before? Ya gotta start somewhere tho right?
I wasn't too worried tho since I am a heavy equipment operator by trade and am used to running big machines in very tight places. The trip went very well and I was completely comfortable with the bus after 100 miles or so.
I got home the first part of Oct. and we have been busy making a few small changes on the interior to make it suitable for us.
I also did some looking around on the internet and found this and a couple of other boards and have been spending a LOT of time going thru the past posts and getting an education on a lot of things that I had questions about and in the process have come to feel that I know a lot of you even tho we have never met. I wish to thank All of you for the information and the opinions you have put here and elsewhere you have no idea how much it has helped me.
Now to the point! Hey I had to go to Denver to get to Dallas, you had to go thru all this to get here LOL!!!! Anyway I was reading about Randy's trials and tribulations (Hope you find your bus!) and something about your Tennessee bus caught my eye, i.e.; that your brake lights when lit up said stop! At least I think it was that story, after all I have read lately it kind of blurs together....oh wait it gets a lot clearer if I put my reading glasses on. Amazing how that works!
Anyway today I remembered about that old Flxible and that it had brakes lights that said stop so i went and took another look at it. As luck would have it the owner is the owner of the storage area and he happened to be there so I asked if he would mind if I looked at his bus lights and measure them. He gave me a funny look and said sure go ahead so I did but right away saw that they were not round like i had thought so will not work on my MC-5A.
I asked him what he was going to do with it since he had bought a plastic RV a few years ago and had just been letting this one sit. He said that he had kind of been saving it for his kids but didn't think they would ever do anything with it so I asked if he had thought about selling and he said yes but he is too busy to mess with it so I told him I would tell all of you about it in case anyone is interested (Randy?)
It is as I said a 1953 Flxible with a 4-71 and a 5 speed manual. Had a complete overhaul 6-7 years ago with a new head and bigger injectors.
Has a solid oak interior, everything was built full-size...sink, stove, fridge, which is a Dometic as is the 1350 rotary a/c. 100 gal fresh and 110 gal holding tank.
Has a 15kw gas generator (thought it was a Wisconsin) Tires are low miles but are about 10 years old, brakes are supposed to be good, has some extra parts.
Says that it ran at 65 all day and that he thought it would hit 70, no power steering, right windshield has about a 10 inch crack in the upper inside corner and the right rear window is cracked but all of the rest of the glass is fine.
Says it gets 10 mpg, all of the lights are there and none of them are hanging by a wire, haha.
The interior has a bunch of junk in it but could be cleaned out in an hour or two, headliner is in good shape, and woodwork looks pretty good. Couch is small but it and the chairs are in fair shape.
Body looks pretty decent only saw 2 small dents up high on the curve of the roof... has an older paint job, doesn’t look too bad from a distance, also an awning that needs replacing.
Now for the history... he is the second owner, the first was Fred Harvey of the Grand Canyon Company who also built the restaurants with the famous Harvey Girls.
He said that they originally had Buick straight 8's in them but Fred Harvey had GM put in the 6-71's.
Now the part you have all been waiting for...how much? He first told me I could sell it for whatever I wanted as long as he got 7000 out of it. Even tho I am flat broke after buying my bus and my wife and I both haven't worked since Aug. 18th and she is going in for an angioplasty (spelling?) in the brain in two days I don't care about getting anything out of this, i would just like to see it back on the road with somebody taking care of it and enjoying it.
Now I realize that this may not be the best bus and motor etc. for a lot of people but this might be just right for the right person. At the end of my talking to the guy he did say he might come down on the price some but did not say how much.
If interested somebody should take a good look at it and make an offer, who knows what might happen! He is going to be leaving for the winter soon but will be back and forth once every month. I will be happy to act as a go between as I know how to get in touch with him and can show the bus to anyone that wants to look. Randy don't you need another for your collection???? |
ED Hackenbruch (Shadowman) (162.42.168.38)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 10:23 pm: | |
No Richard i do not mind a bit...looks and reads a lot better, thanks. I am a computer novice in many ways....started late in life. How do i do that in the future, just scroll down some between paragraphs or what? |
ED Hackenbruch (Shadowman) (162.42.168.38)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2003 - 10:25 pm: | |
P.S. Sorry about your bus |
R TERRY (198.81.26.38)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2003 - 2:33 am: | |
For the past several years, there has never been a time when I didn't think I needed another bus! Hence my oddball collection.
For some sad reason, I never took RJ's advice, ridding myself of a lot of ratty old heaps and buying one nice, complete, easy-to-be-proud-of coach. Instead, I have a random assortment of relics --more buses than anyone could ever need-- that bewilders most everyone.
It was my ex-wife, I think, who asked, "Why do you need two motorcycles? You can't ride them both at the same time...right?" I never could make her comprehend that it wasn't about trying to ride two motorcycles at one time (although I did see that on a stunt program once), it was about pride of ownership. This is what Jay Leno has with his hundreds of vehicles, pride of ownership. Unfortunately, there's a mighty big difference between his multi-million dollar pride of ownership and my multi-hundred dollar pride of whatever it is. Boo, hoo!
But the point of all this is... I need another bus like I need a hole in the... Wait. Ok, I could use another bus...
As a matter of fact, I already own a Flxible sitting in the middle of a field in Oregon, I just need to go get it. Last January, I had a fellow up there put in new batteries and take it for a drive. He reported back that it was set to go, ran fine, and already had an RV plate on it.
It's a long, miserable story why it's still in Oregon and not in San Simon, AZ, keeping all my other buses (except the one in Tennessee) company. For all I know, by now it could have been towed away to a junk yard, vandalized and possibly destroyed, or sold as an abandoned vehicle to someone else. It's probably not a good idea to leave your buses laying around all over the place. Who knows, some wacked-out woman might have it chopped up!!
Anyway, thanks for keeping me in mind when you find an old bus that deserves a new home. Old dogs and old buses are always welcome at my place. Of course the difference here is, an old dog will join you for free; I have yet to find an old bus that will do that.
Good luck!
R TERRY |
Richard Bowyer (Drivingmisslazy) (24.196.191.70)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2003 - 8:19 am: | |
You're welcome Ed.
What I did was copy your post and then paste it into a word document. Word then automatically highlighted all the spelling and typographical errors which I then corrected.
I then broke it up into readable type paragraphs based on the subject matters you were discussing.
I then copied the word document and pasted it back into the response box.
Really, I was just sitting here at the computer, contemplating my navel and thinking about DML and this was something to divert my thoughts to something useful. LOL
Richard |
ED Hackenbruch (Shadowman) (162.42.168.14)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2003 - 11:53 am: | |
By the way i have some pictures of this bus if somebody wants to take a look...just tell me where and how to post them...actually my better half will do that, like i said i am a novice on a lot of this computer stuff. |
ChuckMC9 (Chucks) (69.3.74.65)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2003 - 10:09 pm: | |
Hey Ed, are you the guy with the Blue Beauty who bought from Paul D.? I introduced myself to you on another board if this is you. Story sounds familiar. |
ED Hackenbruch (Shadowman) (162.42.168.83)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 22, 2003 - 10:36 pm: | |
Yeah Chuck thats me alright. |
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