Liberty Info Please

[MangoMike]

Anyone who would like a side by side comparison is invited down to my bus barn in Alexandria, Va.

Bring cash.


mm

[Steve Bennett]

Boy, this is like the old Chevy VS Ford debate. I own a Marathon, but have been involved with Marathon, Liberty, Vantare/Featherlite, Country Coach, Angola, Vision, Royale, Legendary, Thompson Coach, Parliament, Pacific, American Carriage, American Coach, & Millennium. I think in most people's opinion Marathon, and Liberty are the 2 premier volume converters. Both build excellent coaches, and offer very good customer support. I think what ever converter one decides on, you need to find a coach that is the best compromise for your given taste, budget, and use. There is no such thing as the perfect coach. These machines are to complex a varied to ever be perfect. Even people without a budget, designing their own coach from scratch will have compromises. I will give a short PERSONAL opinion of each coach. These are my opinions, and my opinions only.

Marathon: Great customer support, excellent fit & finish, largest service network, perhaps a little less flash than Liberty. Tech-Link (95 & newer coaches) is proprietary, and can be challenging to repair. Typically do not have OTR A/C. Excellent resale.

Liberty: Great customer support, excellent fit & finish, best adherence to weight & balance. 2 choices with the Lady Classic (simple to maintain & operate, very reliable) Elegant Lady ( just that, very elegant, some may feel over the top, and more complex) Typically equipped with OTR A/C & Long range fuel. Also excellent resale.

Country Coach: Great styling & finishes, good fit & finish, proprietary circuit boards & wiring that can be challenging to repair. Converter built OTR on older coaches can be expensive to maintain. Only average support, poor on older conversions do to heavy work force turn over. Fair resale.

Vantare/Featherlite: Good fit & finish, one of the first w/slides & can be a great value. Simple systems, Vitracor can crack & be expensive to repair, reasonable support, currently they have a dealer network that may help maintenance. Reasonable resale.

American Carriage: One of the nicest coaches out there. Unfortunately Mark closed down this last winter. Very custom, excellent build quality, fair resale do to now being an orphan.

Millennium: Good fit & finish, plus very light weight. Early coaches had some challenges do to very innovative features (roof top genset radiator, big engine driven generator). Small company with very accessible owners. The company appears to be very conservative financially, that should keep them in business for a long time. Fair resale.

Royale: Average fit & finish, many like the wood interiors. Good reliable systems, reasonable resale because of the warmth of their interiors. The wood cabinetry also does not fall out of style as quickly as some of the unusual laminates. Still limited support from Monaco.

Legendary: Kind of a flash in the pan story. A nice conversion that can be a tremendous value for a buyer that does not place as much importance on customer support.

Thompson Coach: Rick Thompson is a great guy, and builds an exceptional electrical system in his coaches. Average fit & finish, fair resale, the ability to really customize, and a terrific value.

Many of the other converters build excellent products. Typically the value will be higher on a coach that still has factory support.

[lewpopp]

You failed to mention Parliament. Wazamatter wid you. Are u the master expert?

[garyde]

You guys don't have anything better to do? This conversation Loops every three months. The biggest difference is the character behind the steering wheel!