I'm a sick puppy

[Elliot Naess]

I'm a sick puppy.
I'm bidding on a mid engine Gillig that is for sale near my house. Don't you guys bid
against me now!

If I get it, I'll round up all the tools and parts and Peter and one other helper and
RAISE THE ROOF AND SKIN IT IN ONE THREE-DAY WEEKEND. And then decide
what to do with it.

I simply cannot help myself.

Now I'm going outside to finish skinning Millicent.

[Demonknight]

good lord Elliot, if you have the skining bug I know of at least two up here in wa you can raise and skin...should be easy since they are sitting next to each other :P

[Elliot Naess]

Yes, I am considering a "National Tour" of roof raisings. There is Les near Seattle and
Kevin in Spokane. And several others have inquired all over this forum. I just have to
figure out how to afford such an extravagant "vacation"! Ought to be a heck of a lot
of fun, though. I'd bring a couple of Kinetic Kontraptions and hit all the parades and
county fairs and other events along the way. And at least one Kinetic Sculpture Race.
Spring 2008 looks good -- KSR first weekend of May in Baltimore.

I should probably start a list of roofs that need raising and plot them on a map from
here to Baltimore. Input is welcome.

[crazycal]

Me first! I'm probably closest. Just a couple of hours away.

[dlor1]

Elliot, your gonna be in Baltimore this may or next? I'm gonna be there in May.

[Elliot Naess]

Baltimore Maryland first weekend of May 2008 -- ...eight.

This year I will possibly go to Boulder Colorado that weekend.

The Kinetic Sculpture Races in those two towns are on the same weekend every year.
I'll work my way east one race / one year at the time.

All subject to change on a moment's notice!

[pete c]

ya know, elliot, I was thinking that the wife's villager could use a little more headroom. whataya think?

[pete c]

the more I look at pics of millicent, the more I think that you need to be horse whipped if you do that to one of them purty gilligs. That is, if the gillig is what I think it is. Does it look like one of the old crowns?

[Demonknight]

Well as I hit my head in both buses that Les has/had/will have had?????
I think its safe to say either/both could use a bit of loveing from you

I'm working on buying S-caper from Les, at least the layout of buying it has been layed.... I'm also picking up a 18.5 travel trailer to strip out for free, talk about falling into a **** house and comeing out smelling like a rose. well at least it seems that way now...couple of days i'll know for sure.

[Elliot Naess]

Pete said:

ya know, elliot, I was thinking that the wife's villager could use
a little more headroom. whataya think?

Naw. Just get a shorter wife.

About the Gillig - yes it's a Crown clone. Now, THAT ONE could use those 1959 Cadillac
tail fins we talked about somewhere around here a while back! Most likely I won't
get it. Will know in a few days.

[Les Lampman]

Originally Posted by Elliot Naess

I'm a sick puppy.
I'm bidding on a mid engine Gillig that is for sale near my house. Don't you guys bid
against me now!

If I get it, I'll round up all the tools and parts and Peter and one other helper and
RAISE THE ROOF AND SKIN IT IN ONE THREE-DAY WEEKEND. And then decide
what to do with it.

I simply cannot help myself.

Now I'm going outside to finish skinning Millicent.

And...

Yes, I am considering a "National Tour" of roof raisings. There is Les near Seattle and
Kevin in Spokane. And several others have inquired all over this forum. I just have to
figure out how to afford such an extravagant "vacation"! Ought to be a heck of a lot
of fun, though. I'd bring a couple of Kinetic Kontraptions and hit all the parades and
county fairs and other events along the way. And at least one Kinetic Sculpture Race.
Spring 2008 looks good -- KSR first weekend of May in Baltimore.

I should probably start a list of roofs that need raising and plot them on a map from
here to Baltimore. Input is welcome.

Aw shucks, you don't even have to do a tour...at least not for the first couple.

If you really *have* to do one over a three day weekend (choppin', poppin' and skinnin' is in your blood now) I'd drive to you!

[pete c]

yeah, an old crown done up with 59 caddy tailfins in black with a few acres of chrome. that would be badass.

[the_experience03]

Originally Posted by pete c

a few acres of chrome

[Elliot Naess]

All right, I'm not so sick anymore.

This is the bus:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...ME:B:BCB:MT:11

I went and looked at it this morning. And I spoke with the driver.

It is listed as being 43 feet long, originally carrying up to 97 kids. This is wrong.
I figured it wasn't more than 40', but it is only 36'.

So I'm not buying it. I have more room in Millicent.

Now. This may not be a bad bus for someone else. It IS a mid-engine with
Cummins 855 and a BIG Allison.

To my surprise, there are some rust bubbles on the roof. Turns out, this bus
used to live in the San Francisco area, where ocean salt wafts in on the fog.
Consequently, there is some minor rust elsewhere also, but nothing like the
road-salt rust some of you have.

The driver claims the tranny and rear end were gone thru recently. The engine
is iffier. He wasn't sure if he remembered correctly that the engine was fresh
when his district bought it about 100.000 miles ago. So that's a solid "maybe".

The batteries were flat, so we did not start it. It has been sitting for a year.

What a relief! I really don't need any more projects!

[the_experience03]

[quote="Elliot Naess"]All right, I'm not so sick anymore.

The batteries were flat, so we did not start it. It has been sitting for a year.
quote]

Bring $300 worth of your own batteries if you want it to start. Batteries that have been sitting discharged that long aren't coming back.

[Elliot Naess]

I second that notion. Life is too short to waste any of it while you struggle with bald
tires, rotten windshield wiper blades, weak batteries and such. It's worth it to make
those things high priority -- and live on beans for a week if you have to. When I
brought Millicent home, the first thing I did was buy three new group 31s. I don't
remember the price, but it was less than $100 each -- maybe 80. NAPA.

Anyway, somebody just outbid me on the Gillig. Great relief. End of love affair. :P
.
.
.
.
.

Killer power-train though! 14 liter pancake Cummins and HT740 Allison (I think)!
Wonder if I could fit that under Millicent and get rid of the dog house up front?
Oh no -- here we go again!

[the_experience03]

Originally Posted by Elliot Naess

and live on beans for a week if you have to

But what if you're a poor starving college student and beans are for those weeks when you have a spare quarter or two?

Just out of curiousity...were your 31's screw on post or camp on post and do they each have separate wires from the alternator or is there one set of power and ground with jumpers to put stuff in parallel?

[Elliot Naess]

Mmmmm.... It's dark out there. And raining.

(thinking)

I believe they have vertical threaded studs with tall hex cap nuts. Color coded nuts.
And there are jumpers between the batteries, yes. Just two cables out of the box.

[oldog12]

Elliot,

During Millicent's and your first US tour, if you're in the Rockford, IL area,
actually a little west of Rockford, feel free to stop by and we'll go out for
some Giordano's Pizza... It's like the best pizza around here. By around
here, I mean the Chicago metropolitan area .... In MY opinion, it's the best
anywhere except for this one mom & pop place that for the life of me I
haven't been able to find again... Now that I'm sober....
(Insert "Twilight Zone" theme music in the background here)

[pete c]

Oldog,

Just get yourself good and liquored up. It will come back to you.