Well, we did it: Rescued another GMC. Last Saturday John Beaver and I
went to Hinesville, GA to look at a GMC which his son had found online a
couple of weeks ago. A young fellow had bought it for storage fees due
from a lot near Ft. Stewart, GA a couple of years ago. The '73 Canyonlands
really looked sad outside, with the original paint showing lots of mildew,
and the air bags and tires flat. While in storage, someone backed into the
right front, breaking up (but not displacing) the fiberglass, and rendering
the high beam of the halogen headlight inoperative. But the interior
looked great: Clean gray carpet in the cockpit, plank floors elsewhere.
Two cockpit seats, a sofa, and two captain's chairs at the dining table all
very clean and in a matching gray. Near-perfect formica cabinets, new
kitchen counter, and FRP headliner. VERY nice. Especially considering the
fact that it's the 219th one built!
At one time, the coach belonged to someone who really took care of it.
It's loaded with just about everything Ragusa ever made: Transmission &
final drive pans, bumper steps, flag holder, entry step, screen door, a
couple of loose items I can't identify, and probably some I don't
remember. It came with a couple of spare air bags, jack hook, and jack.
The owner had reported that they were able to run the engine only by
pouring gas into the carb; they realized that the gas lines were shot.
But, the day before we visited, we got a report that they had been able to
run it for 20 minutes. They ran it for a few minutes before we arrived
Saturday. So it wasn't much of a surprise when it fired right off for us.
But then I spotted the gas pouring out on the ground forward of the Aux
tank, so we shut it down.
I'd prepared a jerry can with a to-the-bottom pickup tube, so we strapped
that on the front bumper and ran the engine for a while from that -- it
really ran NICE. Having checked the engine oil and found it at FULL and
very clean, despite having just been run, we decided against the planned
oil change. All the tires were VERY old, and the right middle one had
shedded 1/2 of its tread while they were towing the coach 10 miles from the
storage lot. So, John and the owner replaced those with the Alcoas & new
tires from John's GMC. We filled the radiator and overflow tank, which
were a little low.
With good rubber in the ground, we tried to go for a test drive. Ooops!
Transmission no workee... Since there was no ATF showing on the dipstick,
we put a couple of quarts in and tried again. Still, coach no moveee...
Maybe it's cause those front wheels keep spinning like that.
After
years of settling into the mud, the new tires were in about 5" pits, and
that area of GA has about 12" of rain a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately,
we were at a farm, so the tractor drug the GMC onto fresh ground.
The test drive was great! The coach was quiet, drove good, and had good
brakes. So, John closed the deal, gave the young fellow a roll of $100
bills, took the bill-of-sale (no title required in GA for a vehicle that
old), and we headed home.
The trip was relatively uneventful, aside from the frequent stops to refill
the jerry can from the extra cans we had in John's pickup. The mileage was
terrible -- maybe 5 mpg, so we had to make 3 gas stops to refill our 2
spare cans before completing the 160 mile trip home.
John's an avid deer hunter, so I had to tell him "looks like you could skip
bagging a deer for this one weekend." Yep, about 50 miles from home, he
hit a deer. Fortunately, it hit the left front instead of the right front
where the jerry can was mounted -- except that now BOTH front corners
require body work. We didn't recover the carcass.
On Sunday, John brought the coach to my service rack and dropped the main
tank to replace the fuel lines; yesterday he got the Aux down but had to
hunt parts today to finish the job this evening. While he was working on
those, I went through the box of old documentation he received. There's
pretty good coverage of 1997 until 2006, but nothing before or after.
During those years it was based in York, PA, so I wasn't surprised to find
a stack of invoices from Ken Frey. Seems like know-nothings worked on the
"73 Chevrolet Motorhome", then Ken got to straighten out their screw-ups.
We are pretty sure that the odometer's 12,xxx miles really is only the 2nd
time around. I also found that a new engine was installed at 79,807 and a
new transmission at 86,192, so its good performance makes sense.
The coach will clean up very nicely; the paint, while faded and having
repainted stripes, should respond well to buffing. With a little attention
and new wheels and tires, it will make someone a great coach.
I'll be updating the Registry later today.
Ken H.
Americus, GA
'76 X-Birchaven w/Cad500/Howell EFI & EBL,
Manny Brakes & 1-Ton, etc., etc., etc.
www.gmcwipersetc.com
went to Hinesville, GA to look at a GMC which his son had found online a
couple of weeks ago. A young fellow had bought it for storage fees due
from a lot near Ft. Stewart, GA a couple of years ago. The '73 Canyonlands
really looked sad outside, with the original paint showing lots of mildew,
and the air bags and tires flat. While in storage, someone backed into the
right front, breaking up (but not displacing) the fiberglass, and rendering
the high beam of the halogen headlight inoperative. But the interior
looked great: Clean gray carpet in the cockpit, plank floors elsewhere.
Two cockpit seats, a sofa, and two captain's chairs at the dining table all
very clean and in a matching gray. Near-perfect formica cabinets, new
kitchen counter, and FRP headliner. VERY nice. Especially considering the
fact that it's the 219th one built!
At one time, the coach belonged to someone who really took care of it.
It's loaded with just about everything Ragusa ever made: Transmission &
final drive pans, bumper steps, flag holder, entry step, screen door, a
couple of loose items I can't identify, and probably some I don't
remember. It came with a couple of spare air bags, jack hook, and jack.
The owner had reported that they were able to run the engine only by
pouring gas into the carb; they realized that the gas lines were shot.
But, the day before we visited, we got a report that they had been able to
run it for 20 minutes. They ran it for a few minutes before we arrived
Saturday. So it wasn't much of a surprise when it fired right off for us.
But then I spotted the gas pouring out on the ground forward of the Aux
tank, so we shut it down.
I'd prepared a jerry can with a to-the-bottom pickup tube, so we strapped
that on the front bumper and ran the engine for a while from that -- it
really ran NICE. Having checked the engine oil and found it at FULL and
very clean, despite having just been run, we decided against the planned
oil change. All the tires were VERY old, and the right middle one had
shedded 1/2 of its tread while they were towing the coach 10 miles from the
storage lot. So, John and the owner replaced those with the Alcoas & new
tires from John's GMC. We filled the radiator and overflow tank, which
were a little low.
With good rubber in the ground, we tried to go for a test drive. Ooops!
Transmission no workee... Since there was no ATF showing on the dipstick,
we put a couple of quarts in and tried again. Still, coach no moveee...
Maybe it's cause those front wheels keep spinning like that.
Afteryears of settling into the mud, the new tires were in about 5" pits, and
that area of GA has about 12" of rain a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately,
we were at a farm, so the tractor drug the GMC onto fresh ground.
The test drive was great! The coach was quiet, drove good, and had good
brakes. So, John closed the deal, gave the young fellow a roll of $100
bills, took the bill-of-sale (no title required in GA for a vehicle that
old), and we headed home.
The trip was relatively uneventful, aside from the frequent stops to refill
the jerry can from the extra cans we had in John's pickup. The mileage was
terrible -- maybe 5 mpg, so we had to make 3 gas stops to refill our 2
spare cans before completing the 160 mile trip home.
John's an avid deer hunter, so I had to tell him "looks like you could skip
bagging a deer for this one weekend." Yep, about 50 miles from home, he
hit a deer. Fortunately, it hit the left front instead of the right front
where the jerry can was mounted -- except that now BOTH front corners
require body work. We didn't recover the carcass.
On Sunday, John brought the coach to my service rack and dropped the main
tank to replace the fuel lines; yesterday he got the Aux down but had to
hunt parts today to finish the job this evening. While he was working on
those, I went through the box of old documentation he received. There's
pretty good coverage of 1997 until 2006, but nothing before or after.
During those years it was based in York, PA, so I wasn't surprised to find
a stack of invoices from Ken Frey. Seems like know-nothings worked on the
"73 Chevrolet Motorhome", then Ken got to straighten out their screw-ups.
We are pretty sure that the odometer's 12,xxx miles really is only the 2nd
time around. I also found that a new engine was installed at 79,807 and a
new transmission at 86,192, so its good performance makes sense.
The coach will clean up very nicely; the paint, while faded and having
repainted stripes, should respond well to buffing. With a little attention
and new wheels and tires, it will make someone a great coach.
I'll be updating the Registry later today.
Ken H.
Americus, GA
'76 X-Birchaven w/Cad500/Howell EFI & EBL,
Manny Brakes & 1-Ton, etc., etc., etc.
www.gmcwipersetc.com
