Seen on the way to the Socal Mini Rally

[Petervs]

We spent a night at Marathon in Coburg, Oregon on our way south to the Mini Rally near San Diego. Since most Poggers live far east and south of Marathon, I thought I would post a few pictures of what I saw on their lot while we were there. We got there after business hours so I spoke to no one.

I will post just one pic with each listing because I am on a very slow and unreliable server.
This first one is an H3-45 shell as it arrives at Marathon. 4 slides! Could not tell if Prevost or some other company installed the slides. When looking in from the windshield, it was apparent that the bedroom is very cramped with the slides closed. We spend a lot of nights in places where opening slides would not be sensible, so maybe slides are not for us. N

Notice too all the stainless steel. I think the H boys should be required to remove some fenders while at POG rallies to show off their polishing prowess.

[Petervs]

Here is a coach in for some service work. The designer apparently used some left over windows from the Titanic.

Everyone is allowed to do what they like. We do not all need to think it is a good idea.

[Petervs]

Here is a fairly late model with some really cool fenders. They reminded me of something out of Star Wars. Perhaps one could install JATO bottles in there to provide some extra power to get up the steep hills pulling a stacker trailer?

[Petervs]

Here is a coach that is equipped with the VORAD radar cruise control, which adjusts your speed to the traffic ahead. I have a similar system on my Mercedes and it is truly incredible, but I think this installation makes the bumper not qualified to bump much, unless you want to replace the $5000 radar frequently.

[Ray Davis]

Very cool stuff Peter. I think that last issue of Marathon magazine introduced the 4 slide H-45 coach. I don't have it here so I can't verify that.

Ray

[Loc]

Peter,

I think the XL with the port holes belongs to Bruce and Pam.

Loc

[jack14r]

Marathon on their H conversions uses Valid slides,on their XLII conversions they are all Prevost.I have heard that Kevin Harvick's new 4 slide Marathon which has the stairwell where the passenger seat would normally be,no one can get to the salon unless the front slide on the curb side is opened.Does anyone know how far the 4 slides extend?From the pictures in the marathon magazine and pictures on line it does not appear that the slides extend more than 20-24 inches.

[Petervs]

Here is an older Marathon conversion of a Neoplan. I have seen this coach here before, I think it is for sale, but not sure.

The front door goes to the passenger seat, there is an identical one on the drivers side. The second door goes to a spiral staircase right to the top floor. You can also access the drivers and passengers seats from the second door or the staircase while driving . Interestingly, there are 3 seats in that lower drivers compartment, which is too low to stand up, crouch at best. The upstairs though has a front window view that can't be beat while going down the road, but you have to have total trust in the driver!

Not to mention the cool wheel covers! This coach looked to be 40 feet, perhaps even 38.

Windshield wipers hang down from above, and the right side mirror is set way back compared to Prevost. The drivers seat is too low to the ground for my taste.

[Petervs]

Here is a picture taken of the first four slide bus picture I posted on this thread. This is the area just above the rear wheels, but below the floor. It shows the pneumatic plumbing for the air bags, brakes, level low, who knows what it is all for. It was hard to get a good picture showing just what a rats nest it looked like to me.

I think the original Prevost install was probably neat and tidy, but the parts were moved when the slide was installed. This is my guess. I was not impressed with the final install on all these hoses.

[Petervs]

Here is another new shell, this one has the front slide out.

It looks like there would be room to build a stairway to the main level and have room to get up there with the slide in.

Might be hard to get the steps built in there because you would need to allow for the front wheel well, but it might be possible.

I always thought it would be nice to have my copilot close by, rather than all the way across to the right side of the bus. But she might end up looking right at the windshield divider?

This is my last interesting picture.

By the way, on the subject of tires. All the new coaches have 365/70R22.5 tires all around.