What Moron Pays This MUCH For Buses???

[EastCoastCB]

Public Surplus: Auction #1816109

Ok, so low mileage... But a 2003 with a Cat is currently at 17 grand???

[Scooternj]

Exporters...

[EastCoastCB]

Yeah there are those guys. If not them, its gota be some hot to trot tiny house guy/gal who just watched some HGTV and YouTube and is ready to travel the world lol.

[Njsurf73]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Yeah there are those guys. If not them, its gota be some hot to trot tiny house guy/gal who just watched some HGTV and YouTube and is ready to travel the world lol.

I have noticed a trend... And I have a feeling there will be a LOT of half converted messes for sale in the next year or 2.
I say messes because I don't feel some of them have any concept of what they are getting into​. Those half hour shows that make it look so easy and quick to go from kid hauler to off grid tiny home are not doing anyone any good.

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[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Njsurf73

I have noticed a trend... And I have a feeling there will be a LOT of half converted messes for sale in the next year or 2.
I say messes because I don't feel some of them have any concept of what they are getting into​. Those half hour shows that make it look so easy and quick to go from kid hauler to off grid tiny home are not doing anyone any good.

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I think we see that trend... look how many people come here to the forum... "look at my new bus! I got the seats out.. im ready to rock!".. and then we hear nothing more of them... ever...
-Christopher

[Njsurf73]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

I think we see that trend... look how many people come here to the forum... "look at my new bus! I got the seats out.. im ready to rock!".. and then we hear nothing more of them... ever...
-Christopher

True, and the few I have seen on Craigslist "partial conversion"... Seats out and the only thing inside is a sink or a bed... I am under no illusions. This isn't going to be easy. I have set a realistic goal of 1 year to get my bus usable (not finished, they never seem to be finished lol) fo me it is more of a project, not a home.

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[tobeamiss]

There will be alot of them on Craigslist in the coming year or two. And the fools who overspent will be highly disappointed when they don't get a return on their money.
I had a vision, a dream.... It's turned into an awesome Hobby that I'll be proud of when I'm finished. Sure it's taking me longer than I thought it would and I'm still in demo stage but I see the light at the end of the tunnel. If they did a TV show of my conversion, it would run many Seasons lol. Now THAT would be a reality show. Blood, sweat and tears....

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[cadillackid]

I look at my busses also as a hobby... for years it was restoring or resto-modding cars... i only ever Made money on one car that I sold.. simply because i bought a car that a guy didnt know what he had (nor did I)... turned out to be a really rare 1 of 100 type thing...

ive simply switched to school busses.. i wont make money on them and I probably wont keep any one bus forever... I'll end up doing what I always do.. buy them drive them build them then see something else and want it.. and sell one..
-Christopher

[jonnichols]

Originally Posted by Njsurf73

I have noticed a trend... And I have a feeling there will be a LOT of half converted messes for sale in the next year or 2.
I say messes because I don't feel some of them have any concept of what they are getting into​.

This is why I'm hopefully avoiding being part of that trend by looking into this and doing my research now for a project that probably won't be started for 4-5 years. If I spend my time doing research here, what is needed for this and that, costs of this and that. I hope that when I do actually start I'll be much more knowledgeable and will be able to break out of that stall-zone and finish my bus.

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by jonnichols

This is why I'm hopefully avoiding being part of that trend by looking into this and doing my research now for a project that probably won't be started for 4-5 years. If I spend my time doing research here, what is needed for this and that, costs of this and that. I hope that when I do actually start I'll be much more knowledgeable and will be able to break out of that stall-zone and finish my bus.

theres a lot to be said for planning indeed, but theres also in my opinion going too far and talking oneself out of a project... one you may want to do.. 4-5 years is a long long pre-plan time.. way too long for me, though it may suit you fine, only you know yourself...

one thing about busses.. 4-5 years from now there will be a lot of advanced-emission-control busses on the market... the ones that are extremely costly to fix and have fragile engines due to all the Clean-disel technologies.. one botched Regen cycle can ruin an engine in extreme..

clean-diesel tech is very hard if not impossible to remove or bypass and still retain good MPG and driveability..

so an opinion of mine is many people realize this and are buying busses now.. while you can still get non-emission units.. this drives up the prices of course as there is more demand for busses..

there are also the planners, off-gridders, conspiracy theorists etc that want ot find ways to live off-grid now.. as these believe the "grid" as we know it will soon be destroyed or defunct... school busses are solid and stout - thus making for good long-lasting shelter in what they believe to be a coming crisis.. another up-driver of prices...

-Christopher

[Rameses]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Public Surplus: Auction #1816109

Ok, so low mileage... But a 2003 with a Cat is currently at 17 grand???

There goes my dream of starting a thread to brag about my new bus!

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

theres a lot to be said for planning indeed, but theres also in my opinion going too far and talking oneself out of a project... one you may want to do.. 4-5 years is a long long pre-plan time.. way too long for me, though it may suit you fine, only you know yourself...

one thing about busses.. 4-5 years from now there will be a lot of advanced-emission-control busses on the market... the ones that are extremely costly to fix and have fragile engines due to all the Clean-disel technologies.. one botched Regen cycle can ruin an engine in extreme..

clean-diesel tech is very hard if not impossible to remove or bypass and still retain good MPG and driveability..

so an opinion of mine is many people realize this and are buying busses now.. while you can still get non-emission units.. this drives up the prices of course as there is more demand for busses..

there are also the planners, off-gridders, conspiracy theorists etc that want ot find ways to live off-grid now.. as these believe the "grid" as we know it will soon be destroyed or defunct... school busses are solid and stout - thus making for good long-lasting shelter in what they believe to be a coming crisis.. another up-driver of prices...

-Christopher

LOl yup


My 92 is EMP-proof!

[Versatile]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

LOl yup


My 92 is EMP-proof!

Mine too.

[jonnichols]

Well, but I'd rather talk myself out of something than to jump the gun and buy half of it and try to bail out in the middle. :P

Good point about the newer buses. See, this is good information to know.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by jonnichols

Well, but I'd rather talk myself out of something than to jump the gun and buy half of it and try to bail out in the middle. :P

Good point about the newer buses. See, this is good information to know.

2004 and up is where I draw the line.

[cadillackid]

2007 ands up is the real line....

Pre 1995 / 96 ALL mechanical.. no computers whatsoever for the most part.. (exceptions of course.. - ALL 444E's are electronic, some mechanical DT-466s made it up through 98 / 99

95/96 - 2004 ( or so) - electronic computer program driven fuel injected diesel engines. little to no Emissions equipment.

2004 - 2007 - Tier 1 emissions... EGR, more advanced burn control, hotter running turbos, - still very workable.., many updates available for Navistar VT-365 / ford 6.0 to make them solid.

2008 - Present - Tier 2/3 Emission controls, EGR, DPF (exhaust filter), Urea Injection (DEF fluid), Regen cycles... the stuff that is very expensive to work on and near impossible to remove / disable, against the law to remove / disable.. many states inspect for it...

(Columbus ohio does NOT inspect for emissions..){DMV at great southern looks at bus, says "cool bus" and writes title}.. (I see one of the interested is here in Cbus.. both of my busses are here if you want to see and look around at examples of a full mechanical, and a non emission computer-controlled)


-Christopher

[New2Skool]

Did that say over 26k for a bus?
Granted there are expensive new and this is a newer set of wheels but, seriously 26,000+?
I paid a tenth of that for my bus and I had offers to part it out before I got it home.
I could have abandoned my skoolie long before I got it home and made money on the drivetrain, tires, glass and some body parts.
Thankfully, I did not because I am loving the skoolie and M998 life now!

[Rameses]

Originally Posted by New2Skool

Did that say over 26k for a bus?
Granted there are expensive new and this is a newer set of wheels but, seriously 26,000+?
I paid a tenth of that for my bus and I had offers to part it out before I got it home.
I could have abandoned my skoolie long before I got it home and made money on the drivetrain, tires, glass and some body parts.
Thankfully, I did not because I am loving the skoolie and M998 life now!

M998?

You have a hmmwv?

[serpent]

Late to the game; but I'd pay more than that for a bus if I liked it, a LOT. ...and ouch, I still have a bus that basically only has the seats out. ;)

[serpent]

P.S. Anything later than 1989 is too new for me.