| Author | Message | ||
| Gary LaBombard (Garylee)
Rating: N/A |
I am inquiring for a friend who is interested in doing business with (International Coachworks, inc. / Walker coach co. located at the above locations. He is a newbie looking for good information on places to purchase a bus and perhaps have extensive conversion work done. I understand Sam Walker offers (Package Kits) for conversions etc. Any ledgit information would be appreciated for me and him. Everyone wants to do business with reputable businessmen interested in our hobbies / busses used for fulltimers. Thanks ahead of time, Gary. | ||
| Marc Bourget Rating: N/A |
Gary, Search the Archives. We've witnessed enough negative posts about that entre-manure. You'll find plenty of information, enough to possibly make you sorry you ever asked. | ||
| david anderson (Davidanderson)
Rating: N/A |
Gary, On this board, go to the utilities section and click on the search function. Type in "Sam Walker" and you will get all the info you need. Good luck with your project. David | ||
| bruce king
Rating: N/A |
I did that search, and theres not much information other than two messages in 2003 that say that something bad happened in arcadia -- but what, and what resolution, and to whom? | ||
| Gary LaBombard (Garylee)
Rating: N/A |
Mark & David, I did do a search earlier as I thought I remembered that there was some negativity concerning Mr. Walker and his shop. Perhaps there is a procedure for getting into the archieve files I am unaware of as I typed in Mr. Walkers name and then also his bus company name and got nothing?? I was unable to get any archieve feed back such as you suggested in the above post. I want to help my friend and prevent him from getting into a bad situation. If there is warranted negativity if those of you involved could condense or write short warnings than my friend and I will surely heed your warnings. Thanks again for your help. Gary | ||
| mclough
Rating: N/A |
its a short ride from PA to sawyers bus sales in Christianburg VA. nice guy and all sorts of coaches in various stages from seated coaches to to band buses etc. i saw reba's bus there a while back. | ||
| airless in Mississippi (Airless_in_mississippi)
Rating: N/A |
I would vote for sawyers since I purchased mine there. Considering that I met with walker I was much happier where I purchased. | ||
| Dave Brawdy (Dbrawdy)
Rating: N/A |
Last year I bought a bus that had been converted by Sawyers in 1996. As I got farther into it I found many many problems and finally wound up having to completely strip the interior and exterior down to the frame and start over. There was a lot of bondo and, where concealed, most of the welding was amateurish. A lot of silicone sealer and spray foam was used to cover up things that should have been repaired, with very poor workmanship throughout. I sincerely hope that the quality of their work has improved. After this nightmare, my suggestion to anyone having a bus converted is to get references on buses they did that have some miles on them, go look at them, and be present during the conversion process to be sure that the work is done correctly, regardless of who does it. To be really sure of the workmanship, convert it yourself. | ||
| niles steckbauer (Niles500)
Rating: N/A |
Gary - having just been to Arcadia and seeing one of the carcasses left by Walker and talking to people who have done business w/ him - RUN - DO NOT WALK FROM HIM - these kind of people give the bus business a bad name - no search is necessary regarding this post - Niles | ||
| bruce king
Rating: N/A |
This is where a true archive of the posts would be helpful. Ian deletes posts that say derogatory things about his advertisers and others, and to my mind, the negative is as useful as the positive. | ||
| FAST FRED Rating: N/A |
Well POSITIVLY , DOn't deal with Walker! FAST FRED | ||
| Joseph Rating: N/A |
In the several years I've been reading these boards, there are only two individuals I recall as having severely negative feedback. Sam Walker is number one. In all the years, I've yet to hear a positive thing about him or his business dealings. His website is filled with photos which have been lifted from other sites. He has displayed doctored photos to give the impression he has more buses available than he really does. He has held auctions on ebay where he's trying to sell buses that don't exist, and has displayed doctored photos to give the impression that they do. Once, he tried selling a 35 ft MC9 where he supposedly removed a rear axle and shortened a 40 footer. He had a photo showing it, which was obviously faked. He stuck many people in Florida and left under a series of investigations regarding fraud and improper acts with a minor. He swindled the building he's currently in in PA. There was a fellow last year that was having considerable work done. His website is no longer working, and it appears he's no longer converting a bus. No information as to what happened. This is what we know from several years of reading these boards and talking with many busnuts who have talked with Sam Walker or considered doing business with him. The decision is ultimately yours, but if it were me, I'd spend my hard earned money with people who get good reviews from other busnuts, not with someone who's NEVER received a good comment. | ||
| airless in Mississippi (Airless_in_mississippi)
Rating: N/A |
To my understanding Sawyers does not convert buses. They sell them and they ship them out to a third party to convert but that they never have converted. | ||
| Frank Allen Rating: N/A |
Run | ||
| Merlin Moon (Mrmerlin)
Rating: N/A |
Encourage your friend to consider doing his own conversion or at least be "large and in charge" of every phase of it. I, for one, would not be able to sleep at night knowing my bus conversion was totally in the hands of someone else. I've heard of people doing foolish things like up-front payment for conversion work, or just sending the shell to have work done without a FIRM price agreement in place. As to the business or Walker Coach ... I don't know him, but a check with a local Better Business Bureau should give some answers. | ||
| FAST FRED Rating: N/A |
"I don't know him, but a check with a local Better Business Bureau should give some answers." A check for felony time in the pokey might be even more productive. CAVIAT EMPTOR FAST FRED | ||
| DMDave Rating: N/A |
kicks dogs,steals candy from babies,?????? ,not related to Johnny. How does he stay in buisness and get customers? | ||
| Marc Bourget Rating: N/A |
P.T. Barnum had a saying that there was a fool born every minute. Something impresses me that the supply line is still in operation, Onward and Upward | ||
| Jim (Jim_in_california)
Rating: N/A |
His website is pretty impressive. Not quite the direction I'd go but the bits on re-powering with DD60s and relocating the radiator to get an effective 2ft+ stretch out of the back bedroom are pretty damned interesting. Not that I'd touch him having seen THIS thread but if I'd just hit his site and wanted to drop a total of about $80k on an MCI9-based conversion, yeah, he LOOKS good. | ||
| Marc Bourget Rating: N/A |
Only on the website. Skeletons of his efforts still rust away at the site of Bussin'200X. I looked closely in 2002, This time I was still stunned when I saw how this guy approached his task. For instance, large fiberglas sheets to give a smooth side look, but they were attached to the structure from the back side with X strips of resin and cloth about 2-1/2" wide. How much vibration would that method have tolerated before the WHOLE DARN SIDE DROPPED OFF???? Onward and Upward | ||
| Jim (Jim_in_california)
Rating: N/A |
Ug. "Cthulu Special"  . No thanks. | ||
| Been There Rating: N/A |
I believe Sawyer uses Virginia Custom Coach for their conversion work. Read into that what you wish... |