Why we do this !

[Shoprat]

Well ! I think I have finally found proof as to why some of us flail away at resurrecting these ol' Toys. I received a new RV mag today and found that a company is selling, factory direct, 21 foot motorhomes( good for 2 people !) for a lowdown price of $77.777 !

And I thought I was nuts for spending a total of 14 grand for the motorhome plus upgrades !

[Yostfmx]

Yea it sounds like a lot but, say your truck/van its built on is $20k to $30k then your whole home part of your RV has to be built, $20k to $30k, pay workers to work $10k. $50k or to make... Not all that bad really...

If a sunrader in 85 was $33k. Its about the same...

Don't get me wrong, I would never pay $77k for a RV! But then again I would never pay $7k or more for a car! Used is the way to go...

[bufbooth]

Before I purchased my 90 Odyssey, I looked at what was new on the market and the

lowest price I found was $60,000 for one of those VW Realtias (sp) and was not too

impressed with it. I found a company out West that creates a pickup truck Class C,

like our Toyotas but on a Chevy 3500 chassis or a Ford F350, but is a 19 footer that

has a combo stool/shower, much smaller than the bathrooms on the Toyotas, no oven,

and had a price of $75,000. Also, probably single digit highway MPG.

I asked them if they had any plans for creating a Class C on a Chevy 1500 chassis

with the 4.8L V8 in order to get better MPG (my 2002 Chevy 1500 4.8L with the

entire family in it (3 boys, wife and dog) and 500 pounds of gear gets a solid 24 mpg

on the highway cruising in th 70 to 75mph range), and I received back a snotty

reply that they thought that their Class C was perfect just the way it currently

was (6.0L V8, under 10mpg). Oh well, I tried.

The wife and I was recently talking about trying to keep Mrs. Clark (our Toyota)

for the next 10 to 20 years to get us into our retirement age (we are in the 40-45 range),

she is in pretty good shape (inside and out about a 8 out of 10). She has 97,000

miles on her, but even if we have to drop in a new V6 and Transmission in the

upcoming years, the interest on $75,000 would easily pay for it and we get to

keep what we think is the best layed out RV in the 18 to 22 foot size range,

but the nearly double MPG we will be getting.

Dennis...

[motoyhomme]

I actually bought a brand new 1979 Brougham class c motorhome in 1979 from the dealer for $13,000 total. It had everything but roof air and a generator and mounted on a 79 Chevy C30 1 ton chassis with a 350 v8 and auto trans. It was 21 feet long and fun to drive. It slept 5 very comfortably (my wife and I and 3 sons). But it was still sorta bulky and nowhere near the fun as a toyhome, and it's gas mileage averaged about 8 mpg.

Incidentally, when I bought this motorhome I lived in Novato, CA and about 20 miles away in Vallejo, CA was the Gardener/Pacific Plant where they built the Sunrader. I still don't remember ever seeing one back in those days though.

Allen

[bufbooth]

Actually, we almost purchased a 1989 chevy based class C a few years before we found the

our Toyota (found her in 2006) that was a 20 footer with a Chevy 350 with 50,000 miles on her,

but the coach was really beat up. One of the problems with new Class Cs today is I think the

smallest one you can purchase is a 26 footer, and the price is way out of sync from the past

price ratios. I was reading the profit margins on motorhomes is as high as 40%. I have seen

some of this with two dealer selling the same exact motorhome, but one for $10,000 less.

Also, in 1994 I had just started looking at motorhomes and stopped by a dealer that had

three Toyotas on the lot, I decided to look one over. The full retail price was $30,000 but

was marked down to $25,000 and as I was leaving, the dealer stated that they had decided

to not carry any more Toyotas and stated he would sell me any of the three for $19,500.

I did not realize that the dealer was referring to the coach builder and not his dealership

being the one to not carry Toyotas. I left thinking I could purchase a Toyota anytime I

wanted for about $20,000 I did not realized that there would not be anymore, otherwise

I probably would of purchased it.

[futar]

I think that the greed factor is involved with the MH manufacturers. The first Mercedes Sprinter based motor homes weren't too bad in price. Now they extended them to 25' with slide outs and what not. Initially gas mileage was in the 20's now it's down to 16mpg with diesel . No one's interested in making and selling basic motor homes. I remember someone in a local RV club saying "if you can't afford the gas and maintenance then you shouldn't own a motor home". I guess that we're a different breed. I bet no one did marketing to see if they could sell basic economical motor homes.

My first real MH was a 20' 1968 Dreamer which was a class C chassis mount on a Chevy one ton with a granny four speed and the 350 cubic inch. I installed headers, ram air, roof spoiler, etc. I got 11MPG and it hauled. I could spin the rear wheels in first gear. I remember zooming up the mountains passing semis and other RVs. I noticed drivers staring at me. Well, my rear bike rack had broken and I ground the bikes on the road like they had been put on a giant grinding wheel. We couldn't figure out what happened to a bike wheel that was totally gone. We put what was left of the bikes inside and kept going. After a few miles we heard the truckers over the CB calling "watch out for bike wheel in the middle of the road"! This went one for quite a distance. Every time we heard it, we'd crack up laughing.

[keitholivier]

You and I (with no dealer discount), can buy a Dodge Ram 3500 Cab/chassis with the Hemi, 5 speed automatic and SLT package for $27.3k list price. The reality is that a search on autotrader will get one even less brand new. So I would guess that an RV manufacturer may be paying closer to $23k fr the base truck.

The materials that RV's are built of are generally quite cheap. Yes, it is expensive for one of us mere mortals to try to buy some Filon or other siding from an RV manufacturer (duh !!) and we can't afford to buy it on an 800ft roll either when we only need 80ft for the whole RV.

I am considering rebuilding my Toyota coach and have priced out aluminum honeycomb at a cost of about $4k for the entire coach and replacing everything inside that is made of particleboard with the same material. That means the bathroom enclosure, the closet, the couch the overhead lockers, kitchen, the lot. I don't think there is a single RV on the road today made from such a high grade material. Because of my procrastination with my Toyota, I recently bought a different late model truck, a 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 with the 3.7l V6. I got the truck with 36k miles for $9k out the door. It is a much bigger truck than the Toyota with a much bigger frame, wheels and tires. It also came with a nice 6 speed manual transmission. So now I am tempted to build a coach for this Dodge pickup instead of for the Toyota. I can be sure to have years of trouble free service from this truck. I figure that if I include the purchase of the truck, I could still do this project including new appliances for less than $24k. That would be brand new everything and aerospace grade materials. The difference in performance up the mountain passes compared to others who have tons of lumber in their MH's should be a revelation.

My initial thought is to design a coach that fits directly on the bed after removing the truck load body. This way, I could "park" the coach in the off season when I need the truck to haul all kinds of crap. The cab is much more spacious than the Toyota so it would not be such a great sacrifice to lose the ability to get up and walk back inti the RV coach.

I have no doubt that there is scope for someone to get in the market with a more basic specification RV using quality materials that will provide a long service life to the user. I think that the introduction of smaller diesels from 2010 onwards will be just what the markey is hungry for, compared to the gas guzzlers we have today and 250hp diesels with more than 6.0l engine displacement and a price premium of close to $7k. Maybe I have my future vocation mapped out....

[turtle]

Well ! I think I have finally found proof as to why some of us flail away at resurrecting these ol' Toys. I received a new RV mag today and found that a company is selling, factory direct, 21 foot motorhomes( good for 2 people !) for a lowdown price of $77.777 !

I don't quite have that in both of mine yet but I am working on it :-o