Pragmatic-FRF
Duty Honor Country
Well the wife upgraded to a 2017 American Coach, American Dream 43G for the retirement years. As the lead driver and resident mechanic, I'm going to really miss the elegant mechanical simplicity and reliability of the 1996 Vectra Grand Tour 35WQ-P on the Freightliner diesel chassis. We've owned it for 20 good years and it has been stored inside the whole time. The sun and weather is just brutal on RVs/Aircraft/Boats.
It's going to a good home and will be stored inside. As one last parting mechanical hug, we just replaced the 3rd troublesome SCS heater core (that we had simply bypassed the 2nd one, since we lived in a warm weather region). A forum post (technical) on this heater core replacement is awaiting approval. The replacement was accomplished with some information we found on this wonderful Forum. We'll be sure to get the new owner to register on this forum.
We boosted the 5.9 12v mechanically injected Cummins' power with a TST fuel cam and bigger turbo, and installed a pyrometer and boost gauge. Also upgraded the dinette with a custom fold down unit (single bed) with matching OEM tapestry and storage bays, along with two leather captains chairs up front from Villa International (the luxury coach furniture folks) . The original CRT TVs were replaced replaced with modern flat panels and the OEM VHF/UHF antenna was replaced with a digital TV antenna. Also added a custom front mask and exterior sun screens up front, for use when camping.
The Grand Tour has been a solid performer all these years, and well designed. The fiberglass roof has never leaked! It even had a spare tire tucked under the passenger rear quarter - you rarely see those these days. The Allison World Transmission has been a dream. At a svelte 23,000 pounds GVWR the Grand Tour is HALF the weight of the American Dream at 47,000 GVWR.
Also going to miss the LOW taxes/registration/Insurance on the old coach. Check out the HIGH tax/registration/Insurance minefield that awaits Luxury Coach, Aircraft, and Yacht owners BEFORE you ever decide to make any of those purchases.
Good Job Winnebago Industries - for a well designed, well built, diesel coach!!!
It's going to a good home and will be stored inside. As one last parting mechanical hug, we just replaced the 3rd troublesome SCS heater core (that we had simply bypassed the 2nd one, since we lived in a warm weather region). A forum post (technical) on this heater core replacement is awaiting approval. The replacement was accomplished with some information we found on this wonderful Forum. We'll be sure to get the new owner to register on this forum.
We boosted the 5.9 12v mechanically injected Cummins' power with a TST fuel cam and bigger turbo, and installed a pyrometer and boost gauge. Also upgraded the dinette with a custom fold down unit (single bed) with matching OEM tapestry and storage bays, along with two leather captains chairs up front from Villa International (the luxury coach furniture folks) . The original CRT TVs were replaced replaced with modern flat panels and the OEM VHF/UHF antenna was replaced with a digital TV antenna. Also added a custom front mask and exterior sun screens up front, for use when camping.
The Grand Tour has been a solid performer all these years, and well designed. The fiberglass roof has never leaked! It even had a spare tire tucked under the passenger rear quarter - you rarely see those these days. The Allison World Transmission has been a dream. At a svelte 23,000 pounds GVWR the Grand Tour is HALF the weight of the American Dream at 47,000 GVWR.
Also going to miss the LOW taxes/registration/Insurance on the old coach. Check out the HIGH tax/registration/Insurance minefield that awaits Luxury Coach, Aircraft, and Yacht owners BEFORE you ever decide to make any of those purchases.
Good Job Winnebago Industries - for a well designed, well built, diesel coach!!!
