I always seem to get to 80% finished on a project and lose interest. Well this bus is not any different. I got really bummed after driving the bus on the Highway for the first time and realizing I really hate how it drives. It drives like a bus, lol. The steering is still a tad lose, I think. It only does about 60-65 thanks to the AT545 transmission. I really hate being passed by semi’s. The tires on the rear are from 2006 and 2010, so they need to go and they feel like they have some flat spots. I’ve had my eye on a set of 4 at Fleet Farm for months, Priced at about $1500 installed. Well I finally go to make the appt and the price went up a bunch. A set of 4 is now $2200. I really don’t want to put anymore money in to it and still have it drive like a bus. So I started browsing Facebook Marketplace and well….. I bought this 1971 Holiday Rambler.
It had been sitting at a campground for over 30 years and used as a permanent site camper. It had a deck and a roof built over it so the interior stayed in pretty good shape. Nearly everything was original with the exception of the plumbing. They had removed the tank and plumbed it direct to the shore water connection. Since the tires were also 30 years old it was time to say goodbye to those as well. I had brought a bottle jack and a floor jack but was only able to get one side off the ground at a time so I grabbed 2 of the tires and threw them in the Jeep. I also looked it over for anything else I’d need for the return trip to bring it home. The owners were gracious enough to let me keep it there for a couple weeks until I could come back down with tires and pull it home. I found I needed to repack bearings, there were in perfect shape but the grease had broken down into tar. The trailer lights were the old style 6 pin and was in terrible shape. I’ll need to swap that to the newer 7 pin style. It also had a factory weight distribution hitch but that was nowhere to be found. So after making a list I headed home with the 2 tires and a plan.