Cat 3208-powered FCs - which tranny was stock?

[Jim March]

Tom Warner wrote:

> OK now I get it. My next door neighbor just bought a new Freightliner
> with
> some kind of camper do dad on the back. Its actually a long wheel base
> diesel cab and the front half is living quarters and the rear is for his
> two motorcycles and a snowmobile, with a ramp to drive them in on.
> That to
> me would seem like a better choice since the freightliner would always be
> sellable. I suppose you could use any long wheel base diesel truck for
> it.
> If you are thinking about the schoolies then there are literally 1000s of
> them for sale every year. But then have you thought of a used Greyhound
> bus or a transit to start with?
>
> tom
> 1982 FC35
> Vernon Center,NY


Tom,

I can score the "Blue Critter" for $13k. Garage extension adding 6' to
bus length (taking it to 35' will run $7k. Inverter, $1,500. New
fridge, $1,200 if I go with a Danfoss-based high efficiency DC unit. A
grand for a washer/dryer unit to go into the garage. And let's say I
drop $4k into a new 643 tranny.

I plan to run major solar as well with a serious battery bank, but we
won't factor that for now as I'd be adding that to anything (need
hardcore drycamping ability).

So I'm at $27,700. Call it $28k even with the tach fixed.

You telling me I can get a "garage model" Freightliner conversion for
anything like that?

I've done some searching in that field. Some guy back east has a
Volvo-based critter with a very large garage (20ft) and hence a pretty
minimal living area for $50k. That is THE absolute cheapest semi-based
solution I've seen yet. It's 38' long and even if I put a wall up in
the garage at the halfway point and turned the forward half into more
living space, I still won't have the space available in the "Blue
Critter" once it's finished.

Now. I can find "skoolies" for dirt cheap, yeah. UNconverted. Diesel
flatnose in good shape, less common. Adult-height interior, less common
yet.

I've been looking for a while now. This thing is NOT common at all, the
conversion appears to be good quality (and yeah, probably a homebrew,
not necessarily a bad thing...).

IF it checks out...then screw resale value.

Jim