83FC + Ebay = $50,100

[Tom Warner]

Mike as I said previously I saw the coach at the birds nest and it
was an exceptional coach to look at, beautiful, beautiful outside
condition. It was very apparent that Tom took exceptional care of the
outside of the coach and took exceptional pride in keeping it that
way. It stood out in the birds nest for sure. . Mechanically I cant
say what the condition was.

Hype is a rather strong word describing it however. I have looked at
the pictures of the coach on Ebay and compared them to the ones I
took at the birds nest 2 years ago and I still contend that parts of
the coach have been repainted. Does it matter ..not to me it doesnt
for the work is very good. Its just an observation and since the
seller said it was garaged for 13 years I would wonder how the paint
was kept in such beautiful shape being outside for the other 10
years? Is the coach worth what the final bidder paid for it? Only
he can tell. But in my opinion...and that is all it is however its
the opinion that I would have given anyone that called me and asked
about the condition of the coach they had intended buying....dont put
to much emphasis on the paint of the coach or how well it is waxed
and shined. Thats nice and does count for a lot IF the condition of
the mechanics support it and I believe that is what Mike Hohnstein
was getting at. I would have advised anyone serious about buying the
coach to have the seller agree that you could have the entire coach
checked out before you pay one dime on it and items that did not meet
the descriptions or omissions of the sale would be subtracted from
the sale price. I believe that is what any member of this forum would
have done and agreed to.

Other things that set off a red light for me. Nothing was said about
the DOT numbers on the rear tires, just described as 90%? What does
that mean? No pictures or descriptions of the battery banks, nothing
was said about the condition of the generator both big buck items. No
pictures of either the generator or the engine, no upgrades to the
charger, no inverter upgrade etc. Except for the Norcold refrigerator
no visible upgrades inside.

I also looked at the Ebay bidding and its rather strange. Why were
the names of the bidders surpressed and only given numbers? Why was
the bidding stopped early when the top bidders were all very high
positive bidders over 90%? And why did the bidding jump so quickly
for the last 2 bidders? Why was Crusademan selling the coach? He had
been a member since 2004 but had neither sold or bought anything?

I recently sold my 1982 FC35 that I had spent over 3 years restoring.
The paint was not as nice as the 1983 sold on Ebay but has been
repainted since selling it, in a beautiful Imron burnished gold
paint. I sold my coach for $35,000 and believe it was worth more, but
to me that was a fair price and that is the price I set before I
advertised it. You can see it at compare the 1983 FC35 sold on ebay
with the pictures of my coach that was recently
sold. http://tinyurl.com/ka2ep I sold my coach within an hour of
putting it on vintage birds and received other calls from members of
this forum offering me more money for it. The man that bought it
lives within 70 miles from me and is an old friend, called me on the
phone and immediately bought it sight on seen. He knew how I work and
restored the 1976 GMC Palmbeach that I had previously. He is exactly
the kind of man that I wanted to have it, someone that would
appreciate what has been done to it and will keep it in that
condition. I am happy that he got it since I am close enough to help
him with anything he needs to work on. He is a neatnick like me and
constantly works on it. He received with my coach a very extensive
set of factory drawings, and technical information on every part of
the coach to include factory manuals for the Cat 3208, and Allison
transmission, Rockwell rear end etc. Spare parts, belts, hoses,
starter, alternator, special tools. Almost everything in the coach is
new including new bumpers, front alcoa wheels and michelin tires,
Heart 2500,Link 1000, custom TV cabinets and TV, complete fresh water
system, new drivers windshield, Interstate deep cycle batteries, New
Dometic refrigerator, cables, OEM cable coverings, swing radiator,
hoses, belts, starter,alternator etc, etc.were new except for the
carpeting. I would not have sold it except for the 1985 PT 40 that
came available at Mrolivers by Paul Davis. It was unexpected and I
bought it instantly after carefully looking over the many pictures
Paul Davis had on his site and talking to him about it. Its a one
owner coach always stored inside and with 73,000 miles on it.

In summation was the 1983 FC35 on Ebay a good buy..time will tell. Am
I saying that something was wrong with the selling of the coach?
Absolutely not. Maybe its just another way of selling a coach by
people a lot more experienced then me. But then when the seller got
$50,100 for the coach sounds shrewd to me. Lots of nice PT 40s in
that money area. But then again maybe that tells us something that I
totally agree with. The FC models in my opinion are the nicest
coaches Bluebird built from the perspective of maintaining them, cost
of running them, and ease of accessing everything. Try and work on my
hotwater heater for instance in the 1985 PT 40 and then work on the
1982 FC35 and you will instantly see. Its torture working on the PT
water heater.

tom warner
vernon center,ny
1985 PT 40






Crusademan...member since Jan 2004 has neither bought or sold
anything during that time.



At 01:57 PM 12/25/2006, you wrote:
>What a incredible Christmas present for that seller. That certainly
>is top of the market. Hope the money shows up.
>
>At that price it sure makes my prior 83PT40 (Stagecoach) seem
>incredibly cheap at the current owner's asking price of $43,000.
>hmmmmm...... hype pays off, I guess.
>
>Since they just joined the forum last week to promote the sale, now we
>get to see if the seller 'Ole Tom' and the marketer 'Crusademan' stick
>around to participate on the forum, or unsubscribe now that the sale
>is done.......... Hopefully, they will stick around and share some of
>Ole Tom's repair and upkeep tips.
>
>Mike Bulriss
>1991 WB40 "Texas Minivan"
>San Antonio, TX (currently on South Padre Island)
>
>--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "dthollis1961"
>wrote:
> >
> > Merry Christmas!!!
> >
> > David Hollis 84 FC35 Springfield,IL
> >
>
>
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>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
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>