I have had Gatsbys Cruiser over 10 maybe 15 years.
BUYING a coach is really a flip of the coin. Only you can decided if you see a good deal. By all means if you can take someone with you who knows
the GMC coach. Someone that knows what to look for.
If you are a new purchaser the first thing I can say is take the advice of the GMC owners here on the forum concerning the GMC coach.
IF you see any negatives about the coach that the owner/seller DOES NOT MENTION, become very weiry of the coach and ask a lot of questions, look at
everything.
If the OWNER talks like he does not know much about the coach, he may be a "FLIPPER" which is what my PO was. I was too new to GMCs at the time to
know better.
If the coach seems too good to be true, it probably is, look extra close at everything and try not to decide to buy on the spot, take a day or two to
decide and absolutely look at other coaches. It helps bring the perspective between coach offerings. The bad ones will stick out in your mind.
In my purchase, the PO "CLAIMED" to have used it on trips, had all these cute stories of trips with family, he really piled it on.
What I thought odd and should have taken as red flags, was there were certain things that didn't work and he didn't know anything about them, and some
where simple things.
He had redone the interior with light Oak veneer and some attractive wall paneling. new couch and had taken out the seating in the rear for his
version of a bed. He REMOVED ALL OVERHEAD STORAGE and lighting and put in crumby aircraft type spot lighting. I changed out to florescent strip
lights and recently have changed out to LED lights which are attractive and use very little power. a great addition.
The exterior was a not so great blue metallic that had been repainted by previous POs at least twice. The original color was Glacier Sky Blue. Now
down the road the POs blue paint is beginning to peel and causing some interesting problems with the exterior paint and finding ways to fix it.
and in my case, ALL THE INTERIOR WORK THIS OWNER (PO) DID HAS HAD TO BE REDONE AS I FIND THE PROBLEMS.
One of his upgrades was attractive OAK over the Wire Ways over the windows. He used wood screws THROUGH THE WIRE WAYS. I was lucky he didn't hit any
of the wiring but those sharp screw edges were rubbing the wires. That was redone.
The rear bed was on a platform he built with NO ACCESS to the water pump, water tank or anything else under it. I finally redid this, and I had to
disassemble all his work to get it square so I could resize the bed frame and hinge it so it would lift. I was able to add storage under the bed with
removable trays which was a big plus.
The coach had no heat, and he didnt know anything about why it had no heat. turned out to be a bad mechanical cable to the dash controls, I replaced
that cable.
The coach had no AC, again "HE HAD NO IDEA".
I was numb to the red flags that were popping up, I have had repairs done to cars and thought it would be no big concern but his interior upgrade was
nothing but problematic.
During his up grade he disconnected the 12vdc wiring system. When he put it back together, he loosely connected the negative to the ground stud.
This is located behind the kitchen cabinet and is very difficult to get to when the coach interior is installed. My lights would flicker or go out
and I never knew why till I found the bad ground. I ended up having to make a new DC cable connection to the ground chasis.
The PO had all these nice stories about travel in the GMC and all the great times.
He told me it was just tuned up for the next trip. WEll about that tune up........... After I bit the bullet and the papers were signed, as I was
driving home she began to run badly, missing. we made it to a GMC dealer where they said it was never tuned up because the rotor shaft was so badly
worn it could not be set for timing. The rotor shaft was replaced and it ran good all the way home.
AS a new buyer I suggest looking at the coaches on the web, MORE THAN ONE and go see them in person and don't just buy the first one you see. Look at
others and if you still like the first one, go back and buy it.
You want to compare between the coaches and sorry to say, if they just finished upgrading the interior, be very weiry as this may be a flip project
like mine seems to have been.
The other side of the PURCHASE is have an idea where you can have the GMC worked on.
The local GMC dealers do not want to work on your coach. They no longer have the technology or the equipment to do the work, you have to rely on
dedicated GMC shops and if you can find a local mechanic that is willing to take it on, even better.
When I had one of the GMC shops drop the tanks to change out the old leaking fuel lines, after they put it back together I had engine power problems.
Just to note here, the GMC ran fine with the leaking gas lines. They only leaked when filling the tanks up. The GMC ran fine down the road and I had
driven it for at least 1000 miles in that condition. After the fuel lines were replaced, I Couldn't get over 35 mph..
Instead of looking at a possible pinched fuel line, they changed out the carb, the rotor and other things. They got it to run better, sort of, but
they never admitted to causing the problem and the GMC sat for many years while we were trying to find the problem causing the engine power loss.
With the great help of the GMC forum users, ( I will always be it your debt for all the help offered ) and a lot of money, we finally found the source
of the problem, and it goes right back to the fuel lines, before the fuel tank solenoid. Lesson here, find a good shop to work on your coach. But
sometimes you won't have a choice if on the road like I was. The shop that did the work is a popular shop to the GMC community.
Good luck in your search but make a good decision and go for the better of what you find. Heed the red flags, and research the shops the best you
can.
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