Misleading Info from Sellers

[msksann]

Searching for a Wanderlodge usually requires nationwide travel. I made
4 trips before my Bird found me, each trip cost about $1000, with
airfare, car rental, hotel, and meals. I would have loved to travel a
few hundred miles to examine one. Even a wounded Bird is a learning
adventure.

My first trip was to look at an 84 PT with some interior fire damage,
I did know going in that it was a real long shot, and my lack of
important Bluebird knowledge really was appalling throughout my
searches. Still, I had fun in that trip to beautiful Tennessee.

I fought hard against even going to look at the Bird I eventually
bought, (February in Detroit), but I asked the owners family to email
me a hundred high-resolution digital pictures of every part, (inside
and out), looking for a reason not to travel, and they quickly, and
cheerfully, complied. The owner had passed away, so real information
was non-existent. Freezing my spoiled Southern California backside
off, I found a clearly cherished Bird sleeping in a huge,
well-equipped heated garage, (I wish I could have taken the garage
with me as part of the deal). Stored every winter with the heat
blasting, the family had an emotional attachment to this Bird, and
really were not trying hard to advertise it because they gave me lots
of time to think about it, and I returned on April Fool's Day (how
appropriate) to start my ownership.

To shorten this story, I did not make much progress in learning, and
repairing the many things Bluebird ownership requires until I
discovered Ernie's Forum. Quickly discovering every post was full of
Gold, (information); I started at the beginning of the forum postings
and have enjoyed the journey as I have continued to find out how much
I need to learn! Most of my time has been spent it the past, but now I
am trying to keep up in real-time. Not fair that work constantly
interferes with play, though.

My many, many belated thanks to Ernie, the Moderators, and to every
single person, past, present, and future, who has taken the time to
post, and educate, with this absolutely fantastic and necessary
Bluebird Owners Workbook. To the Bluebird Wannabees, do not give up;
do not lose heart, because your Wanderlodge is waiting out there for you!

Michael Kramer
86 PT-40 8V92
San Diego, CA

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Mike Hohnstein"
<MHOHNSTEIN@...> wrote:
>
> Glad to see you learned from the trip, I was in awe.
> My first 'bird' trip was a lone traveler deal, sure am glad. The
'bird' was a hell pile, but the whole experience was very positive.
Wouldn't have been if I had brought company.
> MH
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ryan Wright
> To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 12:32 AM
> Subject: Re: [WanderlodgeForum] Misleading Info from Sellers
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 1:00 PM, Pete Masterson wrote:
> >
> > Sounds like the real error was bringing along the wife and family.
>
> I second that. Of course, had the seller not been a lying scumbag (I'm
> being polite), Hoss's decision would have been fine.
>
> I flew my wife, two kids and my dog all the way down to Texas for my
> coach. Thankfully I was dealing with a reputable seller and the coach
> was in excellent condition, exactly as described and we were all very
> happy. It's a good thing, too: Imagine, for a moment, you get up at
> five in the morning; spend several hours in the air, plus 13 hours
> stuck in the Phoenix airport, with two children, a wife and a dog,
> finally landing in DFW well after midnight. You call every hotel
> imaginable and they're all full, since the tornado that delayed your
> flight also delayed every other and now a whole barrage of aircraft
> have landed at once and weary travelers have packed the hotels.
>
> Finally, you find an available hotel but they don't allow pets. You
> book the room anyway and sneak the dog in, since you don't exactly
> have a choice in the matter. Oh, and the driver who takes you to the
> hotel rips you off, $40 for a 15 minute ride. By the time you get
> checked in, get the kids settled down, etc, it's 3 in the morning and
> you're lucky to get 4 hours of sleep, then it's time to get up, find
> some breakfast, and hook up with your ride.
>
> Now imagine the coach is junk. Oh, and you spent $1,200 on one way
> airfare. And your ride from the airport hotel was the guy selling the
> coach and he's not taking you back to the airport after you argue with
> him over the misrepresentation. So now you all get to figure a way
> home.
>
> Yeah, that's exactly my trip, except the "worst nightmare" last
> paragraph didn't happen. The guy from Mr. Oliver's picked us up from
> the hotel and everything was smooth as butter after that. We settled
> into our new coach and finally were able to relax and enjoy the
> experience and a huge thanks to Mr. Oliver's for their hospitality.
> They turned the experience right around for us. I'll tell you what
> though, the nightmare of that final paragraph was going through my
> head non-stop from the time I made the offer until we saw the coach in
> person. My wife was already just luke-warm on the whole idea to begin
> with, and was ready to go home after the first couple of hours stuck
> in Phoenix. If the last bit had come true she'd have never come along
> on another - ever.
>
> If I were to do this again, I'd definitely go down alone, then fly the
> family down after I checked the coach out. Although all turned out
> well, it could have been a disaster had we been dealing with someone
> else. It also would have been infinitely easier to outfit the coach by
> myself (we went to Costco and Kohls and a few other stores and loaded
> up on bedding, towels, food, toiletries, etc for our two week journey
> home). Also, the dog stays home next time, too. That was probably the
> worst decision of the whole trip. It was hard on both him and us.
>
> -Ryan
> '86 PT-40 8V92
>