Honestly, not sure if this is my first post or not. I went to register and found out I had already registered. I typically hang out on the Facebook groups.
I'm the owner of a 76 Palm Beach. How did I get here?
I went to school for engineering, and ended up a Design Engineer - my first job, was for Angola Coach, designing floor plans for million dollar Prevost coaches back in 1999-2000 time frame. I loved that job, but it was a mom and pop shop that sold to investors. The investors sucked it dry of money and a year or so after I left - it folded. I had the opportunity to Design some famous people's coaches, NASCAR, country music artists, but mostly full timer retirees.
I went into manufacturing fields after that. Wire forming, foil die stamping (cup cake pans, turkey roaster pans, pie pans, etc.) then into sheet metal - making retaining walls for inground swimming pools, tool holding fixtures for CNC machining, then to an RV supplier - Urethane foam products, and fiberglass. The chemicals caused some health issues and then I ended up at a major RV manufacturer for about 5 years - until Covid shut down the industry. Faced with layoffs, and having commuted an hour each way to work for 10 years... I decided to find something local. I now work for my local county government surveyor office, doing drainage and GIS type work.
I grew up the son of an ASE Certified Master Mechanic. He worked over 40+ years at the same GM dealership since he was 16. It sold, and he eventually moved on to other roles - still turning wrenches. At 75, he may actually retire this year. I think I was 9 when I rebuilt a carburetor just to see how it worked. Between my dad and I - his chassis knowledge and my RV systems knowledge. I hope to keep my GMC on the road a while.
I always had a love for camping as a kid. We tent camped - and I'd see these rigs drive in, class C, Class A, a few buses from time to time, and always wanted to "upgrade" someday. Then I saw the movie Stripes. lol. later - Twister, etc. From a design perspective - they are sharp looking even today, and still way ahead of their time. Believe me, having seen how some of the modern RVs are built - I'd either build my own skoolie, or buy a GMC. In fact, a friend from high school was building a school bus conversion when he found out my profession. I ended up helping him with ideas, suggestions, and a 17" roof raise. He kept trying to get me to build my own offering to help, but my supportive wife kept reminding me how I'd be better off finding one already complete. little did she know, I'd take hers seriously. Browsing FB marketplace one day I came across one in/near Kalmazoo Michigan. It's about 1-1.5 hrs from my home. so I got dad and said let's go look at it. Needless to say - I went back with cash.
It wasn't without troubles tho and experienced buyer's remorse on the drive home. It had the dynamic efi system - GM's ECM and throttle body injection with a USB programmable memory. It ran great - when it ran. about 7 miles from home I was coasting to a stop on the side of the road. no fuel. Doing some quick field diagnostics, was able to jiggle some wires, got it fired up and drove home. The next few weekends, were spent trying to get rid of the gut punch feeling I had, and figure out the issue. The wiring on the fuel injection was poor to say the least. Long story short, none of the splices were weather sealed, and if it had a heat shrink connector it wasn't even heat shrunk. weather had gotten in a corroded a bunch of connections, the ECM wasn't grounded. the only way it ran, was the metal case of the ECM was resting against the metal seat base. every bump or sharp corner made it lose ground and die. Once we fixed all of that - it runs like a sewing machine.
This post is getting long but I'll wrap it up with a brief about the coach. It came from Missouri. The owner I purchased from claimed to have used it all the time, however, he also had a pull behind trailer they used most. I think it had this issue and he didn't know where to look and parted ways with it. It's been repainted a pearl white.
The interior has been redone - (by 2nd PO, this po did nothing)... new carpet, new ceiling liner, rear AC has been replaced at some point. front appears to be original and works. it has vents for gas fridge but is 110/12v compressor style fridge which also appears to be original. metal mini blinds - most of which are broke. I'm looking to go back to curtains, as they open the same direction as the windows - as opposed to blinds going up and down and windows left to right. It has rectangular headlight scoops, with driving lights below - turn signals added to grill. front fender flares, full rear flare - t-skirts. eagle wheels. rear spare cover, regusa folding step, regusa cold air intake in grill. shar gills ofcourse. tv antenna removed, no ladder, no roof rails, storage, or awnings. it also has a macerator, and original air compressor for the bags. central vac has been removed. cabinet is a spice rack. essentially. I joined the great lakers, and last summer put in a Dave Lenzi steering shaft. future projects include, fixing exhaust leaks, swollen mufflers from backfiring during wiring issues, and rusted section of pipe by bogeys. led roof marker lights, rusted and leaking. a different radio - the aftermarket pioneer has no working backlight so you can't see the station. I've already gone through rear bearings and brakes, they weren't working. need to inspect front end. 6k generator works, dual roof air. water system was working and winterized - has not been flushed for 2 seasons now. other than that, hope to use it and tweak as I go. oh and I want to fix the cruise - it wasn't connected. I have newer electronic version to go in that's also GM - just need to install. will work with ECM. I'll try to post a few pics and hope to see everyone out there. from Northeast Indiana - Troy
I'm the owner of a 76 Palm Beach. How did I get here?
I went to school for engineering, and ended up a Design Engineer - my first job, was for Angola Coach, designing floor plans for million dollar Prevost coaches back in 1999-2000 time frame. I loved that job, but it was a mom and pop shop that sold to investors. The investors sucked it dry of money and a year or so after I left - it folded. I had the opportunity to Design some famous people's coaches, NASCAR, country music artists, but mostly full timer retirees.
I went into manufacturing fields after that. Wire forming, foil die stamping (cup cake pans, turkey roaster pans, pie pans, etc.) then into sheet metal - making retaining walls for inground swimming pools, tool holding fixtures for CNC machining, then to an RV supplier - Urethane foam products, and fiberglass. The chemicals caused some health issues and then I ended up at a major RV manufacturer for about 5 years - until Covid shut down the industry. Faced with layoffs, and having commuted an hour each way to work for 10 years... I decided to find something local. I now work for my local county government surveyor office, doing drainage and GIS type work.
I grew up the son of an ASE Certified Master Mechanic. He worked over 40+ years at the same GM dealership since he was 16. It sold, and he eventually moved on to other roles - still turning wrenches. At 75, he may actually retire this year. I think I was 9 when I rebuilt a carburetor just to see how it worked. Between my dad and I - his chassis knowledge and my RV systems knowledge. I hope to keep my GMC on the road a while.
I always had a love for camping as a kid. We tent camped - and I'd see these rigs drive in, class C, Class A, a few buses from time to time, and always wanted to "upgrade" someday. Then I saw the movie Stripes. lol. later - Twister, etc. From a design perspective - they are sharp looking even today, and still way ahead of their time. Believe me, having seen how some of the modern RVs are built - I'd either build my own skoolie, or buy a GMC. In fact, a friend from high school was building a school bus conversion when he found out my profession. I ended up helping him with ideas, suggestions, and a 17" roof raise. He kept trying to get me to build my own offering to help, but my supportive wife kept reminding me how I'd be better off finding one already complete. little did she know, I'd take hers seriously. Browsing FB marketplace one day I came across one in/near Kalmazoo Michigan. It's about 1-1.5 hrs from my home. so I got dad and said let's go look at it. Needless to say - I went back with cash.
It wasn't without troubles tho and experienced buyer's remorse on the drive home. It had the dynamic efi system - GM's ECM and throttle body injection with a USB programmable memory. It ran great - when it ran. about 7 miles from home I was coasting to a stop on the side of the road. no fuel. Doing some quick field diagnostics, was able to jiggle some wires, got it fired up and drove home. The next few weekends, were spent trying to get rid of the gut punch feeling I had, and figure out the issue. The wiring on the fuel injection was poor to say the least. Long story short, none of the splices were weather sealed, and if it had a heat shrink connector it wasn't even heat shrunk. weather had gotten in a corroded a bunch of connections, the ECM wasn't grounded. the only way it ran, was the metal case of the ECM was resting against the metal seat base. every bump or sharp corner made it lose ground and die. Once we fixed all of that - it runs like a sewing machine.
This post is getting long but I'll wrap it up with a brief about the coach. It came from Missouri. The owner I purchased from claimed to have used it all the time, however, he also had a pull behind trailer they used most. I think it had this issue and he didn't know where to look and parted ways with it. It's been repainted a pearl white.
The interior has been redone - (by 2nd PO, this po did nothing)... new carpet, new ceiling liner, rear AC has been replaced at some point. front appears to be original and works. it has vents for gas fridge but is 110/12v compressor style fridge which also appears to be original. metal mini blinds - most of which are broke. I'm looking to go back to curtains, as they open the same direction as the windows - as opposed to blinds going up and down and windows left to right. It has rectangular headlight scoops, with driving lights below - turn signals added to grill. front fender flares, full rear flare - t-skirts. eagle wheels. rear spare cover, regusa folding step, regusa cold air intake in grill. shar gills ofcourse. tv antenna removed, no ladder, no roof rails, storage, or awnings. it also has a macerator, and original air compressor for the bags. central vac has been removed. cabinet is a spice rack. essentially. I joined the great lakers, and last summer put in a Dave Lenzi steering shaft. future projects include, fixing exhaust leaks, swollen mufflers from backfiring during wiring issues, and rusted section of pipe by bogeys. led roof marker lights, rusted and leaking. a different radio - the aftermarket pioneer has no working backlight so you can't see the station. I've already gone through rear bearings and brakes, they weren't working. need to inspect front end. 6k generator works, dual roof air. water system was working and winterized - has not been flushed for 2 seasons now. other than that, hope to use it and tweak as I go. oh and I want to fix the cruise - it wasn't connected. I have newer electronic version to go in that's also GM - just need to install. will work with ECM. I'll try to post a few pics and hope to see everyone out there. from Northeast Indiana - Troy
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