Are You Kidding Me?

I am always looking and daydreaming about a different RV, but I can't find one anywhere near as comfortable as mine, so I am in no rush. The more I see of other rigs I don't like... the more I spend adding comforts to mine. Life is goof!

Anyhow, some of the folks on Craigslist really give me pause for the cause... I wish they offered a button that read "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" so we could click the button for fun.

Here is today's "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

Check out these pics...

The ad reads
2004 Alfa see ya gold class a motorhome. Only has 14,000 miles. 400hp Cummins engine. 4 slides, 2 on each side, 2 awnings,1 on each side. This is a great project rv or a investment deal. The inside was damaged by fire but everything else is in great condition. Runs and drives. Slides come out great. Florida rebuildable tittle. Needs work but will be well worth it. Nada low value for one of these (without putting in all the specs it has, like slides) is $66,000 for low retail. If the inside will be renewed it will be worth much more than that. Come Check it out make an offer. Thank you.

Note... even though Craigslist offers up 24 free pics for display, they chose to only post 4. Here are 2 of them. Oh and what's that about "investment deal"?  When did RV's become an "investment deal"? I think they meant "investment steal". Let this RV steal your money... don't cha just love that melted burned out dash? I am sure that is gonna be super easy to repair...  ;D

I don't mind a little project, but if you want to end up in the loony bin, this kind of project might be your ticket.

Here's the original link, though it might be gone after a few days, cause we all know this will sell quickly!
https://jacksonville.craigslist.org/rvs/5265796678.html

Only $13000.00 and you haven't jumped on it yet!!!  It' going to be gone in a few days. 

heh... Must be a typo.
They accidentally added three zeros to the price.....

Just parting out that rig could bring well over the asking price. The engine alone is a $10,000 plus item...

C'mon Dutch... It's a perfect fixer-upper... ;D

That guy that wants to build his own RV... he should get this as the shell...

BinaryBob said:

C'mon Dutch... It's a perfect fixer-upper... ;D

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Actually, I do think it could be a great project at that price. Without more details about the interior conditions, it's hard to say if it would be cost effective though.

The word investment doesn't mean only a financial investment with a potential return on the investment. An Rv is basically a combination of an entertainment investment and emotional investment. Salesmen, for example, thrive off people's vested emotions.

As to its fixer up merits, the best person to determine that is not most RV owners, but someone who has a lot of rebuilding experience and a facility with the tools and equipment. There are many stories of people who picked up a destroyed RV and have rebuilt it.

I met an owner of a Newmar Mountain Aire that had been heavily destroyed by fire. The insurance wanted to total the RV, but the owner was able to convince Newmar to rebuild it for him. The before and after pictures were amazing.

And, there have been a couple of people on this forum who figured buying, what I would think is a piece of junk, to in their eye of the beholder a great opportunity. If they find such a beholder, competent and capable, or not, they may work a deal.

I'm with Dutch and Mermaid, and price is negotiable and only stops when there is a meeting of the minds.

Interior looks completely destroyed.
Even if it were free, I would think cost of replacement parts would make this a pricey endeavor to eventually get something useable.
But as you say, it's all in the eye of the beholder...

I am try to figure out what kind of fire that was (generator?) that did no more damage than that (or so it appears). The fact that is runs and drives interests me. Hmmm...

As an ex-auto mechanic, I have done quite a few insurance jobs involving interior fires. Interiors was my specialty. Back in the day, it didn't bother me to stand on my head to work under dash boards. And it was usually clean work compared to being under the vehicle.
That being said, I would have to look at it very carefully. Where did the fire originate from? Amount of damage behind the dash? Amount of damage throughout the RV? Was the engine compartment compromised?

I have to admit. If that Craigslist post was local to me, I would have checked it out. You never know. Yes, the pics look nasty to most people. But if you know what your looking at, how deep to look for value, and you have the know-how, you could rebuild yourself a nice RV. If you have the time, space, and resources to do so.

I was living on the Olympic Peninsula when Western Recreational Vehicles went bankrupt, and one of my neighbors went to the bankruptcy auction in Yakima to bid on a slideout to install in his own custom RV.  Before he left town the next day, the auctioneer called and asked if he was interested in the rest of the coach.  They didn't know the slide he bought was supposed to go into one of the units still on the production line, and without the slide no one bid on the rest of the rig.

After some negotiation, he bought the rest of the diesel pusher for $12000, after paying $3000 for the slide.

He went back to the factory, borrowed a forklift to transfer the slide from the back of his truck to the hole in the side of the motorhome, strapped it in place so it wouldn't fall out, got temporary tags from the state and drove the partially finished RV home.

Then he spent the next year scrounging parts (including a dash) from surplus dealers and wound up with a nice looking RV when he was done.

Considering how many problems crop up in brand new RVs I cannot imagine the headaches this one would give you.

In this case, the only person to blame after it was rebuilt would be you! 

I was going to be snarky and say probably not many more than a typical new Class A.  8)

I think the people who are able to accomplish these kinds of recovery rebuilds deserve a lot of respect. Very different that those who buy new and cry about all kinds of little things. The U.S. has really trended towards a culture of being elitist, and playing the baby tears victim and looking for sympathy whenever just about anything goes awry, as well as a tendency to avoid self-reliance.

Lou Schneider said:

I was going to be snarky and say probably not many more than a typical new Class A.  8)

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I just spewed my soda out of my nose and all over my monitor!

RodgerS provides yet another well worn tired, elitist, whining, crybaby post.
Completely off topic as usual.......

Please, let's practice civility.  ;D

Once apon a time I bought projects. Nevermore I will do that Nevermore. There are enough projects with a good coach to keep you busy.
Bill