Howdy,
I purchased my 3rd bus yesterday at an auction. It's been a while since I had a coach/bus and technology has come a long ways, which is a good thing.
The coach is a Neoplan Spaceliner based unit that was converted when new and seems to have all the basics well covered. Cosmetically it needs a gust of fresh air (carpet, furniture, etc).
My last coach was a GMC New Look fishbowl from circa 1969 that had given up 7 of it's 9 cat lives. It was a fun adventure, but I wound up parting with the shell before I got into the conversion. Life circumstances.
My first bus was a 70's era Skoolie that I turned into a tailgate/party bus when I was in college. It was alot of fun, but basically a giant tent on wheels with an upstairs deck.
That bus had given up 10 of it's 9 cat lives, but it served me well and my crazy landlord bought it as a Y2K fortress. lol.
So here is what I'm looking for help with and suggestions:
- This is a tall rig, what do you use to avoid clearance issues etc? I checked out Rand McNally's RVGPS app for the iPad but it has some bad reviews and they don't seem to take it seriously... it's $99. I downloaded Trucker Path Pro... it's free and does GPS nav and truck related things like fuel, rest areas, truck stops, wifi rest areas, clearance issues etc. I'm anticipating that this rig is 13.5 tall. I really won't know until I have physical posession of it in the next couple of weeks.
- Are there any other NeoPlan coach owners that might have any sort of manuals etc they could share? There are a bunch of things on the dash that I don't know what they do. I don't recognize the symbols on the buttons. etc. I've googled and can't find anything. I bought this via an auction, so the seller isn't there to hand hold me on how to TLC this coach. (Not that the last two did either...lol)
- What do you use to find campgrounds etc and figure out if they are 40' friendly, allow coaches etc etc etc?
What I am not looking for (please refrain from posting these types of comments):
- Ridicule, criticism, negative Nancy, Debbie downer, the OMG I could never do that song, etc etc. I'm comfortable with the research I did on this unit and I'm confident that I can safely get it home.
- I understand that Neoplan USA went poof a few years ago.. but I also understand that they used off the shelf chassis and drive gear. I'm not worried about being able to get a replacement engraved lens cover. I'll figure it out. I promise that a 1984 unit will not be worse than a 1969 GMC, 1970's Airstream or any of the other butterflies I've had the privilege of owning.
What is the coach and what I know it needs:
- It is a 1984 Pegasus Motorhome that used a Neoplan Spaceliner Coach chassis. It is equipped with an Automagic transmission and 8v92 engine, has a genset, and nice floor layout. It looks to be an all electric coach with 3 roof units and all the fun interior toys. It appears to have a 3x3 tile shower with a skylight and someone had the good sense to put a white shower faucet in saving me the joy of removing one fake brass faucet.
- At some point in it's recent history someone tried to liberate the battery cables from it along with all of the precious 1980's electronics inside. It was since made operational again and runs and drives well, but the house electrical needs to be evaluated.
- It is missing some premium 1984 blue carpet, has a ripped couch cushion, a couple of observation seats, some more premium white carpet, and a 1984 BackKiller mattress and accompanying bedframe.
- It's got some love marks on the curb side near the rear and the rear engine cover looks like something tried to escape from it. lol. It's back a bit in pictures... no telling what is going on there but nothing that enchanted bailing wire won't hold still.
Yes, I'm a bit sarcastic....I would have ripped out the mattress and carpet anyway. So where most people see a challenge I see an opportunity and a very lightly used coach that I can re-convert. With the stupidity at Insurance.com (pick the carrier) having it "from the factory" as a motorhome sidesteps all the BS about discriminating against busses.
It was poorly merchandised at auction, but some digging on Google found a YouTube video of it running with commentary about what is going on with it, and a current for-sale listing had some more information on it. I guess someone got sick of it and sent it to auction. I got an extremely good deal on it and I'll deal with whatever comes up.
The only thing I am truly terrified of breaking is the upper front windshield. Other than that, I'll deal with everything else should I need to.