This guy has been trying to sell his motorhome on EBAY, bids never reach his reserve. He says he has $12,000 in recent repairs so he wants at least $8500 out of it.(go figure?). I am thinking of buying it privately from him. I want to run it on WVO as I have a truck and a 300tdt running WVO.

Any thoughts?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=4620641839&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT

I really like the motorhome, but I just don't see how a 4 cyl with auto tranny can push that thing around. 60mph must be with a tailwind!
It has a huge cool factor...

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

It looks like an investment to fix up the living quarters....
Wouldn't want to send a health inspector back there.

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

I agree that it looks like it needs a renovation. I renovate apartments for a living, this would be easy. Rip up the carpet, remove what looks like wallpaper?, paint, maybe new counter-tops, taps,knobs. Cheap and easy and would make it look brand new.

How about the price? I guess it is hard to put a price on it when there are so few around.

Don't buy a vehicle sight unseen on eBay. Go see it or find a trusted friend to do that for you.

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

I have only owned a few travel trailers. I will say the "tweaking" of the refrigerator to me means it really needs to be replaced. If the door is not tightly sealed these things have enough trouble keeping food cold with a very tight sealing door. A new 2 or 3-way fridge is around $850 or more. I would really want to look at this camper in person. Smell for mold inside the coach and look for signs of water stains and old and new water leaks on the walls, interior roof areas (is the headliner stained?), and around the shower area floor etc. Removing interior walls to fix mold and rot problems gets very costly like it does owning a boat. The "minor oil leaks in the engine" might be easy to fix in a car, but in a motorhome you usually have a bear of a time to R&R the engines for fixing leaking rear main seals. If you want MPG then scrounge for a used Vixen motorhome. They had a 26' model with a turbo diesel engine option and got much better MPG than this one with much better performance. Too bad they did not slip a turbo diesel into this motorhome. This beastie must be a real dog on any hills. A lot of folks like to pull their cars on a dolly, or trailer them behind their buses. No towing with this anemic 4 cylinder.. Just merging this turtle onto the highway will be dangerous the way people drive today. Not having a car along with you while driving a bus conversioncan be a real PITA at times. I actually want an older diesel bus conversion someday. To me the best ones (That I will ever be able to afford) are the 35 or 40 foot GMC aluminum skin ones like the 4106 and the older 4104 models. They will never rust and are built just like an airplane with strong construction (monocoque construction). I want a 35' foot bus as they are easier to get into more parks than the 40' beasts. The MPG is only 12 to 15 tops driving them very easily. That is a 35 foot bus with a 4 speed standard trans. The automatics get ~12 mpg. If you can get this one for around 7K tops and it does not need more than 3K in work it might be OK. It does not have the interior room, or huge basement storage areas that the 35' and 40' buses by GMC have. You will find there is never enough storage for extended camping on the motorhomes without basement storage for me at least. I am not talking about the newer GM transit buses with no baggage storage areas like the over the road buses have. The UK motorhomes (caravans?) are much smaller than ours are. Then again fuel is much more expensive on the more Socialist side of the pond. Over 25 years ago I was a parts and service manager for a small bus company. The worst thing you can do is to only drive these mtorhomes a few times a year. If you buy this or any bus conversion you will want to read up on how to properly maintain them. A lot of "bus freaks" who buy buses for fun drive them, and run them weekly. Here is a link for an example of a 35' GMC with 4-spd. There was one gmc 4104 for ~$8K in FL with neat custom paint and very nice large tile kitchen area, and a human sized bathroom with a shower. Good luck! John

http://adcache.rvtraderonline.com/3/8/7/83459187.htm

If they wasted money replacing a good IP, what else did the van not need?

That thing has an engine bigger than any of our cars, its an OM314, 3.8 liters Naturally Aspirated direct injection, I'd imagine that engine cranks out quite a bit of torque and power with 3.8 liters, thats nearly a liter per cylinder!

I'd want that motor home, it looks neat, I'd gut the interior and redo it though, don't want to live in peoples germs.

Then again, I'd rather get a retired 40ft tour bus with a 400+hp detroit or caterpillar diesel in the back with an expansive interior all empty and waiting for me to turn it into a mobile palace. Air brakes....12 tons of steel....400hp......*drool.....

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

It's the refrigerators, heaters, water systems, toilets, and gensets that nickle and dime you to death.
It's the mysterious leaks that drive you nuts.

There is ALWAYS something needing fixing on motorhomes. They're like boats.

Without a turbo that diesel will putt over mountain peaks at maybe 15 mph, gasping for air

If it's so great why isn't it sold already?

made excellent points.

i used to want a bus conversion too. i came close to buying one about 12 years ago. it was a 3406 i think. a road bus with gmc 671 and a four speed. those busses are well made pieces. as noted by jp they were aluminum monocoque design. while in college i drove a 47 gmc transit with two speed automatic. (in about 1970). they were pretty quick empty but when full of kids they were like a heavily loaded 220d. lovely manual steering with good feel (about 18 turns lock to lock), air brakes (push now and slow down in about five seconds).

but in the end i stayed with trailers. i now have a 35' airstream (97) and my 03 dodge with six speed and cummins. if the trailer gets tiresome i can sell it off. if bought with some age you can pretty well buy and sell airstreams or the real avions for no loss or little loss. and when the tow vehicle gets tired or you get tired of it you can sell it off and renew. when you get to the campground you unhook and can drive the truck into town to do whatever it is you do.

the repairs to a bus vehicle can be pretty intimidating and the cost of a rebuild of any major component can about break you. just think about changing the inside dual tire on the road. 12 -1.5" lugs to get off (aprox).

i liked the image of cruising down the highway with a cool benz behind for my town driving, but in the end i decided that the oil leaking from the jimmy would be no fun to clean off my benz.

driving a trailer combo allows you to actually back your rig into places. with a bus and towing a car you cant back up unless you have it up on a trailer, and then what you going to do with that at a campground?

there are a lot of unfinished bus camper conversions out there. it is a huge task to carry off.

with a 3.8 liter diesel you should be able to cruise fine, unless it carrys too low a rear ratio. and finding parts for a benz bus beast would prob be problematic here too. you might check with kerry edwards on that, he had one i think.

if you drive by while i am out i will admire your benz bus, but i wont be buying any busses.

good luck

tom w

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

You'll never get the bug out of your system until you buy one/it....this would be a good RV if it only had a little more power...but then again, people love the 64 hp Vanagon diesel Westies too.

But, whilst checking on the power plant...I did come across this...gotta get me one o' these.......http://www.danialcar.com/bus3.htm



.

__________________
[http://languageandgrammar.com/2008/01/14/youve-got-problems-not-issues/ ]

"A liberal is someone who feels they owe a great debt to their fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."

pretty cool.

with a bigger motor it would make an excellent tow vehicle!

tom w

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I would ride n one of these too....
http://www.danialcar.com/bus2.htm

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

i like them too.

tom w

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

http://denver.craigslist.org/car/149371573.html

__________________
Owen

87 300TD 603 I-6
94 Jeep XJ I-6 4.0 (see the pattern)
89 750il
seventy-two hundred feet above sea level (kinda cold up here)