Happy Thanksgiving Jim & Grace K.:
And - Thank you for all you efforts on our (GMCers) behalf - Supplier wise and I do wise - you are the Best!
Enjoy the Day!
Mike/The Corvair a holic
Sent from my iPhone
>
> Grace and I have tons of experience since 1980 in our coach without young
> sons.
> Grace has been so cool about the unlimited experience all across the USA.
> She just loves to tell people of all our experiences.
> It seem like we spend lot of our time explaining to people how to repair
> problems on the road and many times telling them to shut up and do as I
> say. Never had anyone hang up on me.
> There are times I have reached out to other GMC shops to gather better
> thoughts. Many times calling them late evenings and Sunday.
> Our parts business has grown from a hobby to a Major GMC MH supplier over
> the World.
> We tell people to keep our phone # and call us for assistance.
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 7:26 PM Douglas Smith via Gmclist <
>
>> Gary,
>> We’d love to get together. In a perfect world we’d have hookups at the
>> house and a full beer fridge. Unfortunately we’re right in town on a
>> standard lot and only able to provide the beer fridge. But Lincoln, NE has
>> about a dozen small lakes/reservoirs with camping close by. In years past
>> I’d park the coach in the Lied Center for Performing Arts loading dock and
>> wait for Va to finish up with her rehearsal. I’d hand her a glass of wine
>> upon entering the coach and within the hour we’d be set up on one of the
>> lakes close by, still debriefing her evening. I back in, level, and
>> plug-in. I’ve see people in a Casita spend more time setting up than we do.
>> We’ll be roaming around all over Texas this winter. Maybe we could slide
>> over to Reno.
>>
>> Douglas & Virginia Smith
>> dsmithy18 at gmail
>> Lincoln Nebraska
>> ’73 “Canyonlands” since ‘95: “Wanabizo”, Anishinabe Indian for “He gets
>> lost driving” Yes, really.
>> Quadrabag/6 wheel disks/3;70 final/Paterson QuadraJet/Thorley’s/Sundry
>> other
>> P&W PT6, no wait, that's the wish list...
>>
>>> On Nov 27, 2019, at 2:50 PM, Gary via Gmclist
>>>
>>> Doug,
>>> You and your wife sound like amazing people. Our son in laws parents
>> live in Henderson. Would love to connect with you on a future visit to your
>> area.
>>> Gary and Terry Coaster
>>>
>>> Gary Coaster / Reno, NV
>>> 1977 GMC Eleganza ll
>>> GMC RV Day Night Shade Sales
>>> GMCShades
>>>
www.GMCMotorhomemarketplace.com/GMC_Shades/
>>>
>>> Begin forwarded message:
>>>
>>>> From: Douglas Smith via Gmclist
>>>> Date: November 27, 2019 at 12:25:46 PM PST
>>>> To: gmclist
>>>> Cc: Douglas Smith
>>>> Subject: Re: [GMCnet] Road Trip
>>>> Reply-To: gmclist
>>>>
>>>> Bruce,
>>>> I love your story. This thing I’m posting is probably too long for
>> this forum and everyone feel free to tell me not to do it again, but when
>> we bought our GMC in 1995, Steve and Kathy Galovic published “GMC Motorhome
>> Marketplace” magazine and printed the bulk of this piece. Rediscovering it,
>> I was surprised with how relevant the message remains and how much it bears
>> repeating.
>>>> 8/11/95, The GMC Adventure Begins
>>>> I should start by saying I'm new to this. Motorhomes I mean. A summer
>> spent in a friend's backyard in a school bus conversion does not prepare
>> one for the joys, or the trials, of high-mileage and high-fun motorhome
>> living. But, armed with a small legacy from my father's passing and a large
>> basketful of ignorance, I went shopping and came up with a '73 GMC 26
>> footer. You know the one, it's a lot like yours. Cosmetically pretty nice
>> but checkered maintenance history, drives pretty good, but you wonder about
>> the bearings, etc. etc. I knew nothing about the GMC, it's history, lore,
>> "family" or anything else, except a vague feeling that this old dog held
>> kind of a special place in the motorhome world. Boy, was I in for a
>> surprise.
>>>> With equal parts of ignorance and optimism, Virginia and I decided to
>> launch our motorhome ownership with a one month, 3200 mile journey in honor
>> of my parents and hit all the old family waypoints, from the Twin Cities
>> through North and South Dakota, back through northern Minnesota, the EAA
>> airshow in Oshkosh, and home to Chicago. We weren't completely ignorant, we
>> managed to find Alex Birch and buy a screen door; and we bought some stuff
>> for the holding tank so it wouldn't smell. Just about the same preparation
>> you do for your GMC, right?...
>>>> Well, this isn't a horror story; it's a story about family, and how a
>> piece of machinery with a bit of magic can connect people in strange and
>> wonderful ways. I won't bore you with the ordinary stuff. Everyone has
>> their tales of the perfect campsite, a fabulous meal or the lucky chance
>> that leads down the most beautiful of all possible roads, and we have more
>> than our share. We were, for example, pleasantly surprised to see camping
>> in almost every small town city park and to learn that one does not have to
>> stand on their head and hold their breath to take a shower in an RV. Talk
>> about a journey of discovery.
>>>> On a Sunday, late afternoon, after a gas stop and phone call, we
>> pulled out eager to begin the next chapter and found, with no preamble
>> whatsoever, that we had no third gear. And no speedometer either... but
>> then, who cares when the machine strains noisily just to go down the road!
>> Like any good pilot would, I turned 180 degrees, noted the Oldsmobile
>> dealer on the left and went back into town in search of the city park.
>>>> The human mind is an amazing thing; and my ability to invent, list,
>> sort and agonize over horrible outcomes amazes me to this day. Not to
>> mention punishing myself on what an ass I was to buy a 23 year old vehicle
>> in the first place. We found the park (lovely), bought a bottle of wine
>> (lovely) and while at the liquor store called every one of the fourteen
>> employees of the Olds dealer (none available). Later in the park, we sat in
>> the relative comfort of our new "towable" RV thinking that Langdon, ND may
>> well be the most expensive town we'd ever seen and surely the end of the
>> good times we'd been having.
>>>> Now comes the magic. Among the sundry spare parts legacy from the
>> previous owner was a great wad of printed material, including, but not
>> limited to: Onan book, GMCMM mags, Xeroxed manual (wrong year), Fridge
>> instructions, GMC International newsletters, parts receipts (omygod!),
>> tune-up specs, etc. If I were a better writer I might be able to convey the
>> horrible despair of being stranded in a strange town, in a strange vehicle,
>> crushed by the thought of another thousand dollars on an already straining
>> credit card, suffering with my family in an awful, sticky heat and reduced
>> to rummaging through old magazines for any scrap of information.
>>>> The wine and my wife were my only comfort until the idea slowly began
>> to emerge from all the stuff that there was a large, vigorous group of
>> people who, united by an affection for the GMC design, freely shared ideas,
>> information, sources, destinations and a remarkable group of merchants
>> dedicated to a 23 year old design. Hopeful again, I walked over to the
>> phone booth and called Darrel Winterfelt in Longmont, CO. I did not get
>> voicemail; he did not ask "why are you calling at 7:30 on a Sunday
>> evening"; he did not regard me as another profit opportunity to be
>> squeezed, he solved my problem. "Pop the spring clip, pull the transmission
>> governor and replace the little plastic gear at the bottom. And don't
>> forget to replace the rolled pin retainer". I love phone booths. They keep
>> you standing when the feather tries to push you over.
>>>> The rest is history. The Olds dealer was very helpful even though the
>> Service Manager was still in diapers in '73. They didn't have the part but
>> found it for me and lent me a car. The cost was $6.50 (I bought two). The
>> lesson, however, was priceless; that GMC owners and vendors have created a
>> tradition of helpfulness and shared knowledge that's available whenever the
>> need arises and that it comes, magically, with the GMC when you buy it. I
>> see it now as a sort of hidden "accessory package" and wonder whenever a
>> shiny new diesel pusher passes how that fellow will fare when the
>> unexpected hits. I am also keenly aware that as my relationship with our
>> GMC grows deeper, my affection for the machine is inseparable with my
>> affection for the community of people so eager to help and share in the
>> joys of our journey. So, if you see us rolling along in "Wanibizo", that’s
>> Anisinabe Indian for "...he gets lost while driving", say hello, ...it
>> seems like we know you already.
>>>>
>>>> Coda: Times change, things move forward. Darrel has passed, some of
>> the GMC Motorhome vendors from 1995 have retired or passed the business on
>> to younger family. Some are unchanged beyond more years of experience. But
>> the essential message of this story is unchanged. Find yourself by the side
>> of the road in a GMC and there is a huge body of friends, some likely quite
>> close by, to help solve whatever problem pulled you over. Many of the major
>> systems in my coach have now been updated and problems from my now 46 year
>> old vehicle are few. The spare gear I bought in 1995 remains in the center
>> console of my coach waiting for its moment, for example.
>>>> Today I drive down the road with a 24 year history of joy and good
>> times in our coach, bolstered by the knowledge that lots of friends I
>> haven’t met yet ride along, ready to help. They completely understand all
>> of this.
>>>>
>>>> Douglas & Virginia Smith
>>>> dsmithy18 at gmail
>>>> Lincoln Nebraska
>>>> ’73 “Canyonlands” since ‘95: “Wanabizo”, Anishinabe Indian for “He gets
>> lost driving” Yes, really.
>>>> Quadrabag/6 wheel disks/3;70 final/Paterson QuadraJet/Thorley’s/Sundry
>> other
>>>> P&W PT6, no wait, that's the wish list...
>>>>
>>>>> On Nov 26, 2019, at 8:08 PM, Bruce Hart via Gmclist <
>>>>>
>>>>> A friend has been wanting to get his coach back from Clarendon, Texas
>> for over a year. He asked for my help last year but one thing after another
>> came
>>>>> up and it got put aside. He approached me again a month ago and I
>> responded that I would be available to go with him on the 23 and 24 of Nov.
>> Well
>>>>> something came up again for him and he couldn't go. I suggest to him
>> that my wife and I would go get the coach ourselves if he wanted. He was
>>>>> delighted in the idea. So we took off 511 miles to get the coach.
>> Once there his grandson tried starting the coach but it wouldn't turn over.
>> We
>>>>> ended up jumping the coach to get it to run. Next both air bags were
>> down and with the flared skirts he has on the coach the shraeder valves
>> were not
>>>>> accessible and the lock off valves were in the closed position. I was
>> able to get my arm up from the bottom and turned the shutoff valve a 1/4
>> turn
>>>>> which allowed some air from the compressor to start inflating the
>> bags. Once the bags got some air in them I was able to use a long flat bar
>> and open
>>>>> the valves completely. Down the road we go. Speed-o doesn't work main
>> fuel tank reads full while aux tank reading less than a quarter. Stopped at
>>>>> gas station to fill up for trip home. Switched to main tank and after
>> 5 minutes engine died for lack of fuel, switched over to aux tank and away
>> we
>>>>> go. 10 miles done the road switch back to main tank and again died for
>> lack of fuel. Left the switch on the aux position for the rest of the trip.
>>>>> Coach running strong and true. Sun going down and its getting chilly
>> so I turned on the heater, well the heat source worked but the temp slide
>> would
>>>>> only go half way. At the next gas stop I was able to force the slide
>> all the way over from under the hood. Got heat but not enough. 900 miles
>> and 19
>>>>> hours later we stopped at a truck stop and rested for 1 1/2 hours and
>> hit the road home for the last 120 miles. Called my friend up the next day
>> to
>>>>> make arrangements for him to get his coach. He asked how it ran for
>> the trip and I told him it ran strong and I drove it like I stole it. He
>> said yea
>>>>> that it will d0 90mph all day long. Good trip other than a few minor
>> problems all went well.
>>>>> --
>>>>> Bruce Hart
>>>>> 1976 Palm Beach
>>>>> Milliken, Co
>>>>>
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>>>>
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>
>
> --
> Jim Kanomata
> Applied/GMC, Newark,CA
> jimk
>
http://www.appliedgmcrvparts.com
> 1-800-752-7502
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