Dunno where to post this...A 1:1 "recovery" mission.

[TimKustom]

I guess one of the things around that is taking up all of my time is my latest obsession with "classic" motorhomes.

The wife and I have had so much fun with our '82 Transtar. Here I am looking like a dork at the FL state line...

Since getting it, I've been trying to gather as much info as possible about our "Rig" and any other similar units. Then I stumbled across an Eldorado Starfire. I sent the pics of one to my wife who is a Linclon Nut, and she pretty much said "we must have one."

Most people have never heard of these so here's a little info about them:

They are fairly rare as only 300 were made from '86-'88 by Eldorado Motor Coach and they came in two lengths 27ft & 31ft-that has a tag rear axle (rumor has it only 117 were the 27ft models). Several floorplans were offered in each. It is unique due to what they call "solid fiberglass unibody" construction, meaning the roof, sides and floor are all one piece. I'm not aware of any other motorhome that has been constructed this way. This is then mounted to Ford E-350 chassis with a 460 engine and C6 transmission. The styling was some joint venture with Ford as the grille and headlights are from a Lincoln Mark 7, complete with the "continental" on the rear.

What does all this mean? Well, we had this 27ft version practically fall in our laps.

I love the above pic as it sorta has the sad "rescue me" look to it. This one looks a bit better..

As you can see it needs a little TLC but the current owners say it is fit to drive and they haven't given me any reason to doubt them. So we are beginning a 1000 mile trek up to Cheboygan, MI this coming weekend to retrieve what we are calling the "Woolly Mammoth." Wish us luck...Shoot me an email at timkustom(at)aol.com if you wish if you're around our expected route (I-75 S to Cincinnati, I-71 to Louisville, I-65 back to Bham) I'm sure I'll have a good story about this one once we get back...

[Dragon7665]

Wow Kool Collection your getting started there So is it going to be a His and Hers Pair(The first yours, and the new one your Wife's)??

Definately nice when your wife shares your passion Personally I have always wanted one of the Large Old GMC Motorhomes, or even one of your newest addition. My Girlfriend actually said that she would approve of a GMC in the Future

Good Luck with your new addition, and get it back to Prestine condition again! I remember seeing and falling for one that a Seattle Blood Bank had back in the mid/late '90's, it was a Great Looking Graphite Gray Metallic(Same color that was on a '89 Mark VII that I was tring to buy a Month earlier!).

[TimKustom]

Here's the follow-up of our trip to pick up the "Wooly Mammoth." You might have seen the first post about 2 weeks ago that we were going to Cheboygan, MI to pick up this "Rare & Unusual RV". Here's how we faired:

The good.

Even though it wasn't in a barn (it WAS in front of one), I'd call it a "barn find." The previous owners owned it since '03 and put a whopping 25 miles on it. It hadn't been tagged since '99. The interior is just mostly dusty and besides the headliner falling down and kinda old carpet (which we knew about) it is in real good shape. It has every book, receipt, and document from when it was first titled in '90. The "window" sticker was over $75K, we paid MUCH less than that! It drives great, considering...and got 10 mpg without any sort of a tuneup. Bed sleeps well, fridge works on AC so does the microwave. We got to see Mackinaw City during the 50th anniversary of the bridge and I got the shirt that says "Hell No, I didn't walk the bridge." Got to see many other sights on the 1100 mile journey home.

The bad.

When we pulled up and first saw it, it looked much better (and bigger) than we anticipated. But as soon as I got close, I smelled gasoline. A quick look under the hood showed the Holley carb leaking at the accelerator pump. "That MUST be fixed" went though my mind. Once the papers were signed he gave me a receipt for a battery he had bought the day before, "You might need this" he said, good sign eh?

The day after the Labor Day bridge walk/sight see thing the auto parts stores were open, found an accelerator pump rebuild kit and installed that at the campsite (we brought tools) the battery receipt paid for itself as the alternator wasn't working, the rain was coming down and we found out there were sunny skies in Detroit. "I'll fix the alternator when I get to Detroit."

We have family in Detroit, so we hung out with them for the day and got up early the next morning to extract the alternator. Just two plugs to disconnect and a couple of easy to access bolts and the alternator would be out "so I thought." Someone in Eldorado's design staff decided to locate the radiator about 1/4 of an inch closer to the engine than in the standard E-350 van. The long (it's about 6" long) pivot bolt could not be removed without taking out the radiator. OK, time for "plan B." Bought another battery at AutoZone, that should get us to our next stop south of Cincinatti. Once in and around Cinci, we started to see Wal-Mart. "Plan B" got in full affect, as we walked out of Wal-Mart with four new batteries. That should get us home.

The ugly.

Not too much to report here other than waking up Tuesday to the rain falling in Cheboygan, the previous owners were very adamant that it did not leak any water, well it does. Every cooler, bucket, and container we had on hand was used to catch it while I was rebuilding the carb. I believe they were somewhat right as it could have been how it was sitting in the campsite. We got more rain camping in Kentucky and only saw a few drips come in.

It was real windy just north of Lexington, KY and while traveling on I-75 I hear a pretty loud "BANG". I look in the rear-view mirror to see if something fell over inside, then Shelley radios "the antennae is gone". The wind caught the boomerang style TV antennae and it disintegrated as it hit the side of the road. Shelley thought it was kinda funny, but was worried what could fly off it next, luckily that was it.

Due to the questionable tires, brakes, belts, etc, I kept it at about 55mph just to be safe, it was good to have the "chase" vehicle behind with hazard lights on to warn the other drivers. We must have been passed over a thousand times. The "chase" vehicle was a rented Impala LTZ, we weren't really impressed with it, I think the Starfire handled better.

Despite all the "issues" that came up along the way, we are real happy with it. Once fixed up (lots of nickle & dime things really) it's going to be something special. The kid at the gas station got it, some might not. But as he observed, it IS a Lincoln Coach.

On to the pics...

Leaving the "Tundra" of Cheboygan:

Passing the old Ford Wixom plant (where the Lincolns were made that inspired the Stafire):

The "Culprit"

Needed this guy:

Camping in Kentucky:

A weary driver home:

That brings a close to "Chapter 1" of this saga, I'm sure there will be many more.

Hope you enjoy!

TK