help... buying a coach

[Jon Wehrenberg]

AJ, I will echo what Ray said, but with a caveat. If the bunk beds are important to you a slightly higher than market price can be ignored because there are few quality coaches out there with bunks.

But....The flip side to that is that when you are done with the coach it is not going to be easy to sell because of the bunks.

Buying a Prevost is not for the faint of heart. These are very good vehicles built for heavy duty commercial service. As these coaches age however, the lower price is offset by a need for increased repairs or maintenance. Once a coach is brought up to reliable standards however they are unmatched. A conventional RV of this vintage will not offer the safety, durability or years of service a Prevost will provide.

You do need to get someone familiar with these coaches to do a very comprehensive inspection of the coach, and you definitely need to educate yourself about what other coaches are out there in your price range, their condition, systems and features.

Almost all of this on this site bought coaches that were used when purchased. There is a lot to the purchase and the pitfalls can be very expensive. But if you can buy a coach that meets your needs for a price that satisfies you, and it has been well maintained and needs little or nothing, it is possible you could have a long period of trouble free service.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

AJ, Thoroughly check out the mechanicals. Evidently the amenities ,ie. livability aspect of the coach meet your needs or you wouldn't be asking about it. You have not told us enough about yourself for anyone to offer an opinion as to the suitability for your adventure. That would be how large a family and the age range and where you plan to travel.
If the trip is one of a lifetime and for an extended time period, you may justify the the cost of the buss, amortizing it over the time of use. The sale price at the end may be totaly justifiable to you to wright off most of the purchase price and not be concerned that you will have a difficult time reselling it. I guess what I am trying to say is when you are done with it sell it cheap and easy.
If you plan to stay in the US and travel the interstates and stay in Deluxe RV Parks requires one kind of coach.
If you are planing on Mexico, Canada, Alaska, or boondocking around the back roads of rural America requires something completely different.
Regardless of where or what you do, because of your admitted lack of knowledge on the subject have someone thoroughly qualified perform a PDI for you prior to purchasing anything.
FYI another site with a similar unit is:http://www.thebusman.com/buses-details.aspx?BusNo=63
Educate yourself and make a wise decision and life will be good.
JIM

[dalej]

AJ, here's one, I did a search on google for a 1987 Prevost.

http://www.rvsearch.com/findrv/index...61/vid-185826/

Jerry Winchester might be able to check it out for you, or someone else in that area. There will be a lot of us close next week.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Nice find Dale, great price.

That's one bus I don't think will be for sale for long.

[garyde]

AJ. The following is what I have learned in regard to purchasing any Prevost:
1. Is there Paperwork regarding maintenace on the;
a. Engine
b. Transmission
c. Axles, Brakes, bearings, Seals
d. Air Systems
e. Generator , Batteries, Inverters, Transfer Switch
2. What is the age and status of:
a. Refer, Stove, Oven,
B. Holding Tanks
c, A/C units, Dash A/C
d. Water Pump
3. does everthing on the Dashboard function?
4. What condition is the Audio/Video & T.V's

Check all interior and exterior lights, Check all exhaust fans, etc.

Get up on the roof and see if it is properly Waterproofed.

How new are all the tires?

This is but an outline, and I am sure you can find more questions to ask. If you can not get verification on the Mechanical Maintenance , Keep looking. There are plenty of Prevosts out there. Gary

[Just Plain Jeff]

It is easy to fall into the trap of categorizing an entire class of coaches based on just one example. Since most Prevost conversions are unique, especially after 20 years with upgrades, modifications, it is tough to make blanket statements about ALL 1987 coaches.

In this thread there was a VanHool as an example in comparison. A Van Hool from Belgium is a junk coach, so that example is out of the running.

One thing you can say is that a 1987 is likely a 1986 chassis with mechanical fuel injection, not DDEC and some diesel techs like them because they can be adjusted with what we call tools and not electronic stuff: But you have to find the guys who know how to work on them. You'll get a little less mpg with a mechanical fuel injection system.

In my little experience with looking at buses, there are very few coaches, especially vintage coaches which have comprehensive maintenance records. Usually owners either lose interest in keeping same or they get lost somewhere along the way.

As a rule of thumb, if a coach has been used for private purposes, figure about 10K miles a year. A lot more than that would raise an eyebrow with some. Far less would suggest way too much storage, which means a hard look at fittings, bags, valves, tires and so on.

A family or sleeper coach is a specialty within a specialty. For someone looking for one, it's a premium. For everyone else it is a turn off. There was a 97 Liberty with two bunks I saw recently and the owner flipped it for a quick profit to another guy who was looking for same. Suspect he was lucky as the market would be thin for such a coach.

CMI is a company with deep experience in Prevost, MCI and other platforms. They have built many executive conversions from new and prior use coaches, most recently an MCI for CSPAN to use for the 2008 elections. Some of their people had worked at Executive and Custom Coach (the last generation of good quality coaches) and I would think they could do a competent and able PDI on a 1987 to the satisfaction of most people. In that year period, both companies built some pretty neat, high quality coaches, so they know what they are doing.

As to price, you are on your own. The value of such a coach comes down to what a buyer is willing to pay and what the seller is willing to take. That being said, without a complete PDI, a buyer could get themselves into a deep pothole very quickly and without the safety net of a MangoBanCard, may be enough to get the buyer's attention very quickly.

Many of us say, that if you buy a Prevost, keep it maintained properly it will last you the rest of your life. Here is a chance for those making such a statement to fess up and see if they meant it.

Here's a 1951 Prevost motorhome, built as such when new: http://www.prevost-stuff.com/oldrigpage.htm. This coach is regularly used by Alan in the summers and they have a lot of fun with it and it is much older than the 1987.

You can keep the change.

Good luck and happy trails!

[Jon Wehrenberg]

One correction to what Jeff said. I suspect the 87 coach in question is a DDEC I coach. That means the shell will be a 1987 shell. The tip off is the square turn signal and tail lights.

To a novice of RV's and Prevosts in particular it means the coach has the Detroit Diesel Electronic Control, and is likely to have ATEC, the Automatic Transmission Electronic Control.

[Just Plain Jeff]

One correction to what Jon said.

It is important to know the chassis year, not the Model Year of the coach in question to answer the issue of mechanical vs. DDEC I/ATEC. This can be found in the engine compartment. That date is the month and year that the engine was installed in the chassis.

In this case it is a bigger deal. Don't go by the cosmetics of a coach to determine year as many owners in the late 80s-early 90s did upgrades with lights and so on.

The hard data is on the plaque in the engine compartment.

Also: If it is indeed a DDEC/ATEC system, you can get a data dump (gosh that sounds nasty) from a DD dealer or franchisee for some LewBucks.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

OK, since JPJ and I are one upping another, the model year designation for the start of DDEC is "H".

Since the DDEC was a running change it was introduced in the later models of that year designation, and was denoted by the change from the round lenses on the tail and turn signal lights to the square ones.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Something seems to be going wrong! Guys are joining and asking questions, but never to be heard from again????????????