Major RV change! What happened that made them make such a radical switch???
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- Опубликовано: 19 окт 2024
- The Transit bus conversion is no more! The CAR WIZARD 🧙♂️ has chosen a different path to camping. What did he get and why? 🎥🧙🏻 Check out @MrsWizardsWays video telling the rest of the Transit Bus story: • The rest of the story ...
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#transitbus #wanderlodge #rv
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Check out Mrs. Wizard's video telling the rest of the Transit Bus story: ruclips.net/video/7cqJjJq8urw/видео.html
Watched it BEFORE this one actually.
I'd check that AC seal where the floor is wavy from a water leak 1st.
Wizard just throwing this out their but you might enjoy yourself allot more renting a cabin or a air b&b. RV are for people that hang out in rv parks in the summer. Anywhere you go with that thing your stuck driving it paying for fuel and trying to find a parking space. Past RV owner
@@papaguche all that and in reality they're super busy with the shop and channels all the time. If they go once or twice a year I will be shocked.
Will do.
Could you do a follow up to 5 cars for teenagers going to college - but tell us if the later versions of those cars are worth buying. Also you said you made a Cadillac a reliable car for your daughter. Could you do a video on how that was done? Thanks.
Anybody got any odds on if Wizard will say the same thing about this bus this time next year?
100% this would've been a bad ass RV conversion, this new monstrosity looks scary :D
They should have just put a few hard days into the bus instead. It doesnt need THAT much work. Now they have this 70s RV that is going to need even more work than the first bus.
Says they don't have time to finish up the conversion of the other RV, then buys a project RV with lots of mysteries.
Makes sense....
The carpet in front of the sofa will help keep road noise down. If you get rid of the carpet maybe you should think about putting some sound deadening under the new floor covering, or even underneath the floor.
Coming from a car audio guy, sound deadening will make a world of a difference in any situation.
Looking forward to more episodes on the Wanderlodge!
With the kind of parts that are missing, it does make me wonder if there's another school bus or Wanderlodge out there that's driving around with the "missing" parts...
That curling is absolutely from water leaking. First thing to check if its staying outside is the roof for leaks.
Bingo! You can see signs in the ceiling of leaks and it all runs down to the floor
^this
Guranteed with an RV.
Especially with that a/c unit directly above that spot
Finishing the Citroën would be a walk in the park compared to restoring the BLUEBIRD. This project is reminding me of the guy that bought Elvis’ (non-flyable) jet plane for $234,000 and is now suggesting he’s going to turn it into an RV. Please Mr. and Mrs. Wizard. Bail out now, before it’s too late. RENT an RV. The USA is chock full of them. Just enjoy your time traveling. Take a rest from being a mechanic and video producer.
I hope you guys find time to enjoy the Bluebird while still entertaining us with RUclips articles. Mrs Wizard found a new medium to demonstrate her interior tour prowess. Have fun.
Congratulations on your latest purchase. If it accelerates how fast you and Mrs. Wizard can be going on a well deserved vacation, then its a smart purchase… because what you really bought was… time. Thanks for another interesting video. Cheers.
Definitely you are taking a big gamble. At this point you should consider getting a new camper. Good luck 👍
If someone offered to sell this to me for 12k, I would not just walk away, I would run!!! But good for you for having the bravery to take on this project. When you are done you will be rewarded with a clunky driving RV that is loud, rattles and breaks every time you take it out and gets 3 mpg. 😉🤗😘
They are quiet, reliable and ride very nicely actually, and we get 8 to 10 with ours.
It will be for sale soon
YOU KNOW NORHING OF THE WANDER LODGE MOROR HOMES, YOU ONLY POINT OF REFERENCE WOULD BE IN AN RV of junk quality. The W/L is known for getting around 10 mpg on average. I bet you drovea junk RV then stopped at a gas station along the highway and put in a whole $20 in fuel, then you went for 15 miles and had to atop and put in another $20 in fuel. Did it get old or did it take you10,000 miles to get a clue.
3 mpg? You should do your homework before making such statements. I've owned several FC Wanderlodges over the past 40+years an never get below 6mpg even when I push them hard. 7-9 is typical.
Yep. Has no intention of finishing. Just content then a video for sale call Heavy D 👎🏻👎🏻
My parents bought an RV in the late 90s. After many trips, they now wish they had rented one when they wanted to travel. The maintenance alone is a lot of work.
Always a good idea to rent one and even different models to see drivability, preference and try different styles.
That's why I fix 90% of my 2003 Holiday rambler diesel myself with the help of youtube and forum boards
@@safffff1000give it to me for free
Good thing the wizard can do the maintenance and them some, as well as a inside space for inclement weather.
I always figured they sat in your driveway 98% of the time unless you’re retired and traveling coast to coast and it’s now a lifestyle thing. And there’s no real in-between. Renting makes a lot more sense.
I've been RV"ing, and have had every single different kind over 50+ years. Congrats, the Wander Lodge has an excellent reputation! It is also a "complex" unit. When everything is working fine they are a joy to own. I can tell with this one you have a lot of work ahead of you! Was it kept by the coast? There is quite a layer of rust on the frame, and the aluminum parts have that white, chalky type of corrosion, both consistent with living near the ocean. First thing though is "elbow grease", and lots of it!! LOL Done correctly, I'd guess 2-3 weeks of every day cleaning, scrubbing, polishing. But, you will have a lot of "sweat equity" when you finish! I've done several, now I'm just too old for it! LOL Wishing you the very best luck!! 8) --gary
Part of the fun of watching your videos is the prediction of when you are going to let something go.. I always place a wager with myself as to when you are going to sell a project or vehicle. We all have different limits in losing interest. There is nothing wrong with that.... Life wouldn't be fun if we didn't keep searching for new interests.
Thats not part of the fun for me.. I enjoy seeing a project finished.. Not watching it disappear and never knowing the outcome with it
I thought for sure they would have kept the yacht nope bought the other bus without researching how long it would take
@@Morpheen999 You missed my point.
@@edwoll I get the point it just has 0 relevance for me.. I don't like when people start a project and then not finish it..
If I wanted to see that I'd just go to a trailer park and drive around or something
@@Morpheen999 WTF? What do trailer parks have to do with the price of tea in China? Apparently, we are on polar opposite intellect levels. Please don't try to respond because i'm done with you.
Hey Wizard...you guys may be familiar with them, in the event you are not, Mark and Trish "Keep Your Daydream" on RUclips have an entire season in a Bluebird Wanderlodge traversing the nation on Route 66. They then placed the bus on display in the RV Hall of Fame and Museum in Elkhart, IN. You guys might find some interesting info on their season's blog or the museum's website.
The sleeping area should have a panel or two that makes the two beds one. The ledges are there, and the back rests would be used to fill in to make the mattress. The table in the front might actually be the filter piece for the rear beds.
Imagine this with the Citroen on a trailer behind. A brick towing a spaceship! I would love to see that!
12:37 -- waves usually mean water damage. You could have a broken water pipe spraying up onto the bottom of the floor; you might have a leak in your water tank, bathtub/shower, or you might have a leak in the roof. Check around your skylights, rooftop A/C unit; anything that goes through the roof.
13:29 -- Musty smell is another telltale sign of water damage. You could have rot/mold somewhere.
17:55 -- Ah, so that's what your camera (and cameraman) looks like. 😜🤣
18:30 -- That's probably where the water is coming in. In that location, it's likely going down into the walls, which could mean your wall boards are rotting from the insides. (That would explain the $15k bill from the previous shop. Tearing out the walls in an RV is no small task, since everything is stacked on everything else when they're built. It's not like a house where you can just move a table out of the way to access a 4x8 plywood wall panel. In an RV, your wall panel could be covered by a countertop, a bench, and part of the bathroom, with a wall in the middle of the plywood sheet. It's like a 3D jigsaw puzzle built by a crackhead and designed by Ringo Starr on an LSD trip.
22:33 -- There it is. Water's coming in, probably through the A/C unit or skylight in the roof. It's then running down the interior ceiling. It was likely dripping through where the previous owner put the silicone, and when they "fixed" that, it started running down inside the walls. From there, it likely pooled between the flooring and subfloor, and likely froze, causing the warped/wavy floor.
There are definitely water or at least moisture issues, it's an old thing, many missing parts, many things to refurbish, fix and/or update... Yeah, apparently it's called "Money Bucket" and that's probably for a reason.
Don't get me wrong, I love the videos you're putting out, from buyers guides (although they're rarely applicable for me as a European), car tours, videos about repairs, stories, the yachts, the bus... but I truly believe you won't be saving a lot of time or money fixing this one up over continuing the conversion of the other bus that has a great drivetrain, suspension, frame, body... I guess we'll see in a year, I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid this one will either take just as long to complete as the bus or it'll be also moved on to be replaced by another project.
I wonder if it wouldn't have been a better idea to just get a smaller ready-to-travel RV, maybe even a tow camper for a few years while continuing the bus conversion.
True but they have kids.. they need to make it work for the whole family @@goodday126
I think it depends how you take it. The mechanical issues of this one I have no doubt that the car wizard can fix it if he has the parts. After that it will be more or less usable as it is even with everything that still has to be fixed. The bus on the other end, there is a huuuuuuge amount of work to do before it's remotely usable, and I think they would never have the level of finishing this one has.
@@uleertel I think Wizard's estimates are correct. It will take about a year to get the Blue Bird up and running. The other bus will take about 5 years.
@@senseofstileif he fix all issues in this old bus, will take more time than to make one from zero.
@@oliverroedel1111
You severely underestimate the work and expense required in designing all those systems from scratch....
Most school bus conversions don't even anywhere near complexity of a commercially produced motorhome for that reason, and I assume theirs' would have been the same.
But the luxuries of a fully featured motorhome are nice, especially when they come already made.
Even if literally every system on that bus had 5-20 things wrong with it, that would still be less than 10% of the work to fix it all compared to starting from nothing and attempting to achieve the same level of fit and finish.
I lived in a RV for 4 years, travelled and had fun. I won’t do it again! The maintenance was a nightmare and while I did all the work myself, it was still $$$$! Good luck to you guys!
I would strongly suggest getting the motor running before spending any money on it, nothing worse then spending a ton of money putting something together and it turns out to be bad.
Transmission and driveshaft too
Mrs W. I think there should be a table between your beds that folds down between the benches/beds and make it to at least a queen size, if not a king size bed. It's a functional area where it is two sofas and a table during day time and a bed at night. The mold could come from a leaky window, leaking between the body and the vinyl.
We did that in our camper. Could seat 8 for meals and could sleep 4 if necessary. We also had two upper bunks.
Wonder lodges are well made. That it’s still here speaks to that. Go find a 70’s Winnebago, Fleetwood, etc and see what condition it’s in. It will be interesting to follow your repairs. Can’t wait to see a before and after video!
Good luck Mr.and Mrs Wizzard
It's a nice bus. Enjoy it
I used to sell them and that vehicle is built like a tank. You should have two heating systems in the coach. (Furnace & engine radiator.) I used the engine heater to actually cool a hot radiator while climbing out of the Imperial Valley over the mountain to San Diego. In 1977 the Wanderlodge was about the best you could get.
It has the right name on the front,Money Bucket!Will be an endless money pit.
I have seen the Wonder Lodges with the rear engines. They are very nice and they seem to hold up very well. Not like all the other rattle traps that just fall apart driving down the road.
I'd yo get a chance look for video's of the construction of school busses, they are made like Tanks
Straight from the frying pan...into the FIRE !!! 🙂
You guys are amazing! I applaud your ambition. My bet is you will lose interest long before you are done with it; any takers? You have too much going on to see this project thru. My suggestion is to get all the mechanicals completed and flip it. Then rent one when you actually want to go somewhere. At least you got the yachts on the water.
I grew up with the kids of the CEO of Blue Bird. The Wanderlodge plant was across the street from the BB plant. Always wanted one.
By the looks of both trucks the first one is better. You bought the second one because it would be less wor? Looks to me it needs a lot of work, at least or more than the other one. I don't know......
I see a Scott Crosby crossover video in your future. If you can climb Bus Grease Mountain, you can get your running gear put into tiptop shape, if nothing else.
That thing needs massive work, it will be a never ending project. I highly doubt they will ever go anywhere in that bus.
Agreed 100%....2 Boats, 2 Busses....Now what?....2 Airplanes?
@@TK-ny5ibActually was three boats. They had one smaller as well.
Either buying or renting an ozone generator to get rid of the smells for stuff that don’t readily come out of the bus
I was going to suggest that too! Those things are amazing!
The Bluebird Wanderlodge manufacturing and parts warehouse (Ft Valley, GA) is just a concrete slab now. Hopefully, you can find all the parts you need. Good luck!
Congratulations on your purchase. Are you sure there's less work on the second one?
Wanderlodge buses in the late ‘70s to early ‘80s are terrific Motor Coaches! Can’t wait to follow your progress in getting it up and running! This is exciting!
Mrs. Wizard is gonna hook up the interior!!! Can't wait to see what she ends up doing!!
Congratz on the purchase, hope y'all get to enjoy it much sooner. I wasn't alive yet when this thing was built, but I probably live right down the road from where it was built.
So he's getting rid of the 5 year project and taking on a 4 year project?
That Bluebird clock is amazing!
after the yacht now the same game for a landyacht - looks like the fastlane and lot easier to refurbish it like you had refurbished the yacht. Will work out for sure.
Just a heads up (from someone who works an industry involved with mold and indoor air quality). Musty means moldy. You can try and cover up musty smells, but they'll come back. Make no mistake. The cause of that musty odor is mold.
That, coupled with the warped (probably water damaged) wood floor...I'd pull that stuff up and look there right away. It's nothing to panic about, but trying to cover up the smell won't solve the problem in the long term.
Since blue byrd busses are so common, finding replacement parts for the drive train should be easy. It might not be exactly what you want for the interior, but it will at least get you on the road much sooner.
Not for anything that old!
I LOVE BlueBird! So happy you purchased this beauty!
I love the bathroom. I've seen new RVs and trailers with far worse designs that take up 2-3x the space. The new designs could learn something from these old RVs where slide-outs were not an option.
That's a lovely camping bus, this will be a awesome series fixing that thing.
Best of luck with this ,it will save both of you a great deal of hard work,still going to have to put in a lot of time ,looking forward to seeing how this turns out.
Damn car wizard was right. RV projects get to this point with the seats removed and then nothing!
Wow. $12k for the Bluebird missing all that? I bought my 78 FC31 for $2500. It was rough but complete. Will be interested to see what you do with it.
Very VERY COOL BUY! Bluebirds run forever and what you have is super cool! I look forward to see it's progress.
You're never going to get it fully operational. You might get it running and will put it up for sale.
I used to work at Blue Bird in the school bus division from 1997-2010 when they closed down my plant. The floor under the wood should be a steel floor. If you find water damage from the roof inspect the rivets around the seams on top. Love the project. If you decide you don't want that Blue Bird clock I would love to have it if you take it out. Love ua lls videos.
There are two folks on RUclips I would trust to get this bus up and running safely and reliably. You are one of them, Wizard. Scott Crosby, the Bus Grease Monkey in Tennessee is the other one.
Scott has a ton of Wonderlodge experience!
@@1982MCI Time for a cross pollination video!
@@admranger thing is Scott mainly deals with the old 2 cycle Detroit busses not the more modern 4 cycle diesel busses so i dont know how helpful he'd be
Alright, your 3208 will have a nice rumble and growl when running. And when they are cold, can smoke quite a lot until the piston skirts warm up and expand to fit the cylinder. This is normal, owned a 3208 n.a. in a small dump truck and ran many other machines that smoked up when cold. Lack of HP will be a complaint, Maybe add a turbo?
Love RVing. Now, for a heads up---- a lot of your RV parks restrict campers and buses to no more than 10 years of age. I travel a lot and have a 12 year old Eagle Custom motorhome and have been turned away at one KOA campground and one National Park. My RV is in mint condition inside and out. Their excuse was simply no units over 10 years old. So call ahead and check before you head out. Good luck with the Blue Duck and happy travels.
Retro is Always In At The Campgrounds!! Just needs a little fixing, just make sure about the HVAC is running smooth as silk. Just love the throw back to times past!! Great Video Thank You 🙏
Glad you went a different direction, nothing against the last project, just wayyy to many windows and a huge retrofit in the last one. This one just needs to be repaired. Congrats! Its awesome!
I gutted and renovated a smaller camper trailer and it was a crazy amount of time. Its been at 80% complete for a couple of years but its usable at least lol. I absolutely LOVE your new bus style camper!!! 😍
Whoever owned this originally was loaded, Wanderlodges were really top of the line, extremely well built, every single one was custom built to order for each owner. New, this was well over $300,000 (inflation adjusted) - AND the guy sent it back to the factory a little over a decade later to have it rebuilt to the current model spec, which certainly couldn't have been cheap, either
How much was it unadjusted 😆 🤣 😂 😹
@@weirdmatter About $3.50.
I've always considered myself to be mechanically inclined, I've never been afraid of working on my own cars and trucks. When my wife and I were young I didn't have money to pay a mechanic to fix our vehicles, so I had to fix our vehicles myself. These days we have more money than we did when we were young. Fortunately I have a really good mechanic, he watches your videos all the time and he's the one who who kept sending me the links to your videos and really enjoy watching them. Now having said all that, there's no way I could ever feel comfortable driving that 77 cross country, I'm a bit ADHD lol so driving that thing even across town. We have rented them before and I love driving them. Car wizard your videos are really awesome even though I'm not a mechanic, I learn a whole lot from them. I have a 2009 Lincoln MKX, have you ever had to change out a water pump on one? It's a real treat you have to take the engine apart to get to it. Other than that it's been an Amazing vehicle
Only four years for this one. :-)
Its been a fun ride. But this Bus is my stop.
Have a good one MR and Mrs. wizard.
I just wanted to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you
DannyM wins the internet! But don’t call him Shirley.
Nice purchase !!! Definitely gets you 90% closer to the finish line. Congratulations and I can’t wait to see the finish product.
Do the Wizards enjoy RVing/boating, or just working on them? Given the limited leisure time available between wrenching and YouTubing, it would seem to make a whole lot more sense from a time and money standpoint to rent a beautiful new RV a couple of times a year.
Pretty sweet but how are you gonna find the time to plan trips? I bet that'll just sit forever. You'll probably go on one trip and never take it out again. Too much truck for you.
Wow! Looking forward to seeing you fix it up.
To me, that thing looks like a nightmare...like I'd take sleeping bags in the other bus over the hodgepodge this looks to be. Best of luck Wizard!
Looks like junk to me!!
Took me 1,5 years on my bus, but I have been working on it full time. 5 years is decent estimate on a full conversion when doing it as a side project. Good luck with the new one!
That 'new' camper 'bus' looks like it is more of a basket case than you realize.
00:15:31 my grandparents had one of these in their house but it never got used and i never saw the pitcher for it! super cool! thanks wizards!
It looks very nice and updated in this RV ,it really does need LOTS OF WORK
…called it!
Hope that you can get it on the road soon. Awhile ago watched a U Tube vidio from a lawyer warning about warranty problems with all new RV'S. First a lot of p!aces take forever to make warranty repairs and the original seller will say the bus frame is under warranty from the company that made it.
honestly that is a pretty sweet rig, and i think you got a solid deal on it. i love finding mechanic's specials because building it before using it is some of the enjoyment i get out of it. that will look awesome going down the highway
Yeah I don't get the hate on it I'm seeing here. It's in good shape for the age and the wonderlonge was an extremely high end RV back in its day. It should clean up nicely.
Just didn't have time to finish it, so I understand the sales video. Hopefully someone who buys it will be able to commit full time to it. Better buy for the new purchase.
From one money pit (a boat) to another (a bus/RV)
More like a boat to a land yacht and/or barge lol
For the missing door into the bedroom area, take a look at a Japanese noren. It is a half to 3/4 length divided curtain that gets used a lot in shop doorways. We use one at home for the bedroom door during the winter. Keeps the warmth in whilst not being a fully shut door.
Going to have to get Tyler to bring in some more hoopty fleet to fund the new bus!
Hi from the Mullins Family,
We lived in Kansas for 14 years. Your mold problem is most likely humidity and condensation.
Good Luck and God Bless
You could design a slide in union so the entire area in the back could be a bed, and get 3 twin mattresses to put together. This way you could have two separate beds or one large bed if you wanted. The union piece could slide under one of the other sides, and the extra mattress could just stack on one of the other mattresses... just an idea.
Wizard I've been working on wanderlodges for 40yrs. A customer once told me that a 77 foreward control cost 77.000.oo in 1977.
I think the Mr and Mrs Wizard must have taken the game plan/timetable of completing this project from either the guys from BOM with project Binky or Robert from Aging Wheels with his bus-to-RV conversion
The Aging Wheels story is slow and sad.
@@markbrown6236 Aging wheels has written more checks than he can cash with that bus he has let his imagination run wild what started out as a simple skoolie conversion has now turned into a crazy all electric car hauler project
Hope all will go well with this bus. I'll give you a heads up about Caterpillar. They stopped making bus motors some years ago because they had a problem honoring their warranty. At the time they had a lot of different school bus makers using their motors and had to honor many warranty issues that gave the company itself issues that they decided not to do bus engines anymore. So giving you a heads up on that situation. You may have problems finding parts for the motor. Hope it doesn't become a headache to you as it can turn you off once you get into it.
Cut to 8 months later when, once again, he doesn't "have the time" even though he keeps looking for big projects. Boat/bus/camper 11.0
Wizard's endgame is obviously to recreate the movie We Bought a Zoo
That’s a smart decision as it is much faster to fix and improve an existing thing than it is to make things from scratch or modify stuff to work well.
Man RUclips money is a curious thing. These Wichita RUclipsr project failures get ever more ambitious and fail midway ever more frequently it seems. I place about 87 percent on this bus/rv adventure never being done before it’s sold either. But nevertheless, I find the progress entertaining and am certainly rooting to see it successfully finished. Still the most practical and favorite of all the Hoovie lineage channels for sure.
You will have a fun time finding a pitman arm for that coach. Better off to get the newer style drag link. Blue Bird will have the parts, but be careful to get the right one. They have several different parts with the same numbers!
An interesting purchase that will no doubt generate YT viewers. However, if the open road and camping was your prime objective in order to 'de-stress', then an RV that is smaller, modern, in good condition, so can be used almost immediately would have been the ideal solution. What's more the smaller lighter RV would also achieve far better fuel efficiency that an old 1970s bus which is likely to achieve 5 to 7 miles/gallon - or parhaps worse because of all the additional roof mounted 'non aerodynamic' addenda.
You had a newer, running, driving, bus and you ditched it for this thing?
Thanks for a generous presentation,I enjoyed it!
Just buy a newer RV and hit the road wasting your time. The newer RVs they have some amazing features. Its not like you can’t afford it. Unless your doing it for the videos. “Next video this RV was to old and not reliable and needed a ton of work would taken us a year the fix up” so we decided to get a newer RV
I’ve seen a lot of rv crash videos and that’s why I personally like the true bus-based RVs. To each his own tho
Very nice. That musty odor can be a killer .if you have a trouble breathing run away from that bus ,,Be careful guys. Please torning the AC on will help calm down the killer mold. Cheers from Canada
Kind of annoying to see another unfinish project. Saw this with the boats and several cars too. The new RV does look cool, so hoping to see this one fully finished and used.
😂 first world problems
You can add boards and cushions between the beds to make a king size bed.
Oh, you just made a huge mistake. I worked for Blue Bird Body Company rather than a dealership in NY that sold Blue Birds, You CANNOT get parts for them. the gauges will break, and switches will go and odd ball parts made specifically for these coaches that are impossible to find because the manufacturers are out of Business or don't make those parts anymore. Sangamo is one of them RTI is another. You'll be chasing unicorns, and nothing will fit there is a reason that one was getting stripped my friend. While these are some of the most luxurious custom built (no two are alike) Blue Bird stopped servicing these when Volvo bought them. Yeah, go buy a bounder or old Beaver Contessa. Trust me. I should do a show called Buy This Bus, not that!
In 1960 the bus i took to school the first grade was a flat nose Blue Bird. A real classic.
Looks like you knocked it down from 5 yrs. to 3.75... LOL
I’m guessing the BlueBird was towed at one time. The driveshaft would been removed The “other” shop maybe put it somewhere
Sounds like you two made a wise decision.
My suggestion, as soon as it's running, take it out for a weekend, and try staying in a couple of places, then you'll figure out what needs adressing first of the non mechanical stuff. :)