“RUSTLESS MONEY PIT, 1973 05 EAGLE, POST #20
Busport for the bus and day we bought our Eagle
A really long post, view photos first!
April 2, 2002, we purchased our 1973 Eagle, I was so excited I almost peed my pants, in fact I probably did. Well needless to say this was the last day of the smiles we shared together about our bus. From there on everything went downhill it seems.
When I bought this eagle and brought it home, I had already had the busport for it built and erected, concrete floor just for the Eagle done only at this time. Well, I brought the Eagle home, for a couple of days just sat there and admired my one Eagle. A few days later I pressure washed the entire undercarriage and then reality set in. I told my wife after getting composure as I just took out $50,000 out of my 401K so I had $30,000 to pay cash for our Eagle. I know I had tears in my eyes as I told my wife what at that time I had found after pressure washing. Her comment was, “You know how to fix stuff like that so fix it”!! Jesus, she did not get pissed like me or nothing, but ask her now if that would be her same comment today, hahahaha. So I knew I got f’d. Of course you buy these things “AS IS” and end up bending over and grabbing your ankles as you sign the paperwork. The previous owner told us, “Gary, This bus is ready to go to California”. Little did I know he meant California street only 4 miles from where he lived!!! Well you all know by now from the previous 18 posts what I really got.
Now look at the photos of her when we first saw her, wasn’t she pretty in a way? I was so freaking stoked it was not funny, remember now, this was all 20 years ago, when the internet was just getting going and information on purchasing Eagles or any bus was not very popular then, maybe for a reason. Anyhow she did not have any back visual windows and this struck me as odd at the time but it went right over my head. Now looking at other photos of the bus as it sat there at the sellers house she looked so good. When I looked at this bus, I had good clothes on, no flash light, no awl or hammer to strike a frame with, (didn’t know to do this anyhow), and a seller that could not wait to dump that bus on a naive buyer, and here to hell I was!!!!! I did not have “THIS BUS INSPECTED BY ANYONE OTHER THAN ME, WHAT IN HELL DID I KNOW, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, ZILCH” Why pay someone a couple of hundred dollars to inspect something I could do myself, hahahaha, yea right.
The bus had been quickly converted by the seller with products from HD etc. but the inside was liveable and going to be ok for us. We are not hard to please, well not at that time anyhow. She had cupboards, counters, refer etc, hell what more could I want. Ceiling fans, Ceiling lights, Corian counters, huge tv, just what else could a couple want.
After finding the mess of filth under my undercarriage, I drove the bus back to the bus port. I went to a saw mill and got about 20 12” square blocks to jack the bus up on and that is where she still sits again today, 20 years later. I started gathering tools I had I thought I would need, but wow, this was a learning curve also. I didn’t have crap to work with that was hardly useful, I started spending money like crazy to buy tools and welder and everything I could think of at the time was not very much. One day before getting involved with tearing into the bus, I practiced music with (My 714ce Taylor Guitar) (I had this guitar autographed by Merle Haggard in 2006), this is one of my major personal priceless items in my life. Anyhow, me and a friend of the family played and sang but I was really working in my mind on my bus. I cannot even express just how many sleepless nights I have had over this bus, problems after problems just kept coming. My motto is always to (Never Give Up) but that was tested so many times over the years.
I had 10 yards of concrete poured in the busport and I spread this whole thing all by myself, I kept hosing down the concrete pile that was left after the driver of the mixer tried his best to spread the concrete with his chute. Oh my God this wore my ass down that day, I hurt so bad for days, I would just sit there and watch this crap dry day after day. I quit when I was so exhausted I could not move any more and said, whatever this concrete dries is is it. But it came out fairly good. I did the rest of the driveway as well this same way, about 5 yards or so at a time, in the month of August and it never got any easier to do. I took photos of my nice new busport before I cluttered it up with a 40 ft. bus and it looked nice 20 years ago.
Anyhow, The moto of this story is:
- Do not buy a bus with your heart first
- Do not buy a bus without thorough inspection from a professional mechanic that knows buses
- Do not go look at a bus with nice clothes on for YOUR inspection, work clothes and carpet to lay on the ground with
- Look under the bus before going inside to the “Pretty Stuff” that can sway your thinking as well.
- Do not trust anything the seller tells you if you see something that is out of place in your mind or something just does not look right.
- Bring tools with you, (Sharp Awl, ball peen hammer, screwdriver to punch a hole with, good flashlight,
- Camera to take photos of areas in question to other bus nuts and even the inspector you have that may have missed something you caught.
- Never, ever be in a hurry to investigate and inspect.
- Be sure all amenities all work as they should.
- Have the seller hook up water to the bus and test the water holding system and plumbing.
- Bring a clipboard with a check off inspection list with you at first viewing of the bus because as you fall in love with this bus your mind gets cloudy and more cloudy and you forget things you have seen. Immediately sit down and watch your videos or still shots on your computer with your wife and get feedback from her as well.
- I have compiled an inspection list for this and have it on my CD’s I sold, I will try to get it off the CD and place it here in the very near future. Now this will pertain mostly to Eagles but can definitely be used on most buses, especially older prevost.
- Do a road test, if it has no plates, you are throwing your dice. Be suspicious of no plates, this is all up to you.
- I felt my front end going from one side to the other, I had to overcorrect the steering of my testing, the seller said it was the hump in the road. Yea, right. Be leary of those answers and those road driving conditions no matter if it is a Eagle or anything you like. If it feels wrong, it is wrong, there is a problem no matter what BS you are given. You seen how bad my front end steering wheel king pins were, do you remember!! That was no hump in the road, that was me being humped!!
- Look and shop around, buses will be for sale here in the future real fast and again, I personally advise if you HAVE to do this, then get the newest one you can afford and still have it thoroughly inspected and dicker. Not many will be buying buses in this economy and the picking will be yours to benefit from.
- Buses from Arizona i would say are really worth looking at or these areas, and definitely not the bottom of the Atlantic like I am positive mine spent some time in. But you know I kicked its ass, it has cost me dearly, time, sickness, money, vacations, patience, but I never quit YET!
Well now let’s look at some more photos, and enjoy. This above is just food for thought to newbies in particular, I will post that inspection guide sheet in a couple of days. I have to find it on the CD.