My wife and I have recently started looking at getting a bus to convert and live in full time in NW Montana. I've been lurking the forums to familiarize myself with the types of buses out there and decided today to go to a local used bus dealer to see what they had. I found a few that alright but one really stood out to me:
It's a full size 2004 Bluebird All American Rear Engine with a Cummins 8.3 paired to an Allison MD-3060 transmission with air brakes. Exact mileage unknown, the instrument panel was replaced in 2016 and currently reads 22k. The last mileage log before that is 63k in 2013. Interior was probably the nicest on the lot that was more than a few years old, didn't see any leaks (inside or out, it had just rained), a lot of rubber on the tires, they were retreads and I spaced on checking the DOT date.
There were a few issues with it, the undercarriage and the bumpers have some rust, the body (and in particular the storage doors) has some cosmetic damage. There is an L bracket that has become partially disconnected and is bent (visible in third picture peaking out). Additionally it has the grossest harmonic balancer I've ever seen, although the rest of the engine itself seemed fine. Is this a sign of a leak or other issue?
They're asking $8500 for it and I had a few questions about it:
1) Is this worth the asking price? If not what would you pay?
2) Is there anything here that should be a deal breaker? Body damage, surface rust? Is any of this really out of the ordinary for a 17 year old steel body government vehicle?
It had just showed up on the lot that day, I know this is a rare configuration so I thought I would ask for opinions here. Drove it for around half hour, city and highway and it seemed to run great.