Investing In My Vintage Motorhome

 

You may be wondering (but more than likely the thought hasn’t even occurred to you) if it is wise for me to invest my time, energy and hard earned cash into a thirty six year old vintage motorhome.  Recently I wrote and put up a post about making wise decisions, especially when it comes to the big stuff.  I personally consider owning a motorhome, or any vehicle for that matter, to be a big decision and as such I always want to make sure that what I do with regard to my vehicles is well thought out and that I’m employing smart decision making.

 

My motorhome is an all season twenty foot Minnie Winnie Winnebago and was built on a Chevrolet G30 van chassis in 1987.  At the time she was listed as a deluxe model because, in addition to her steel cage construction and extra insulation, she was loaded with a lot of extras not normally included on motorhomes at the time which included plush upholstered captain’s chairs in the cockpit, cruise control, surround sound stereo all the way to the back, upgraded appliances (the original refrigerator is no longer), upgraded heating and cooling systems, upgraded cabinetry and finishes, plus a lot more.  Her original listing price in 1987 was $29,509, which translates to just under $80,000 in today’s dollars.  That just so happens to be the base price of most smaller bare bones RVs I looked at six years ago when I was searching for a motorhome in 2017.

 

I looked at and drove so many RVs during my search for “just the right one” over a two year period of time.  Everything from new to used to overused (yikes!), I pretty much saw it all but it helped to narrow down and determine exactly what I wanted, what I  didn’t want and what was most import for me to have.  Durability and a smaller size was at the top of my priority list.  I didn’t want anything too long and the fact that Laverne fits into a regular parking space is pretty fantastic.

 

I quickly determined that a new RV wasn’t right for me.  For one thing the price, I flat out didn’t have that much to spend and I definitely didn’t want to finance anything.  Secondly, the newer ones aren’t all that durable.  I honestly felt like they were made out of cardboard and cheap thin wood that over time would fall apart in rather short order.  I would always need to fix, repair or replace items and I worried that because they seemed rather flimsy it wouldn’t take long for water seepage and leaks to appear.  To me it just didn’t seem like the value was there for the prices they were asking, not even remotely.  Of course, had I been willing to spend even more I’m sure the quality would’ve improved, however I wasn’t.

 

I pretty much knew the moment I climbed into my Minnie Winnie she was “the one”.  She felt like home.  And after I crawled over, under and all the way through her, then test drove her I was confident she was “the one”.  After sleeping on it overnight I ended my two year search, called the owner, we dickered on price and came to an agreement.  By that evening she was mine and sitting in my driveway full of friends who were almost as excited as I was.  A short time later I named her Laverne.  It is the first time I’ve ever named one of my vehicles, but it just seemed right do give her a name and this one seems quite fitting.

 

Over the past six years I’ve worked on her, finishing repairs that weren’t quite completed by the previous owner, fixing repairs that were done by the previous owner, sprucing her up, doing the mechanical work that she has needed to have done as well as more recently replacing all of her tires and upgrading the dual wheels on the back as well as the spare tire.  To say she has been a labor of love would be an understatement.  In the past six years she has been lightly used, mostly for testing purposes, but at long last she is ready for some serious travel.

 

With all of the knowledge I have gained in my search for this RV, the ones I have owned in the past, as well as working on one for several years I feel confident that as I go along I am making careful and wise decisions as far as what I’m investing into this motorhome.  Because of the quality of this girl (she is a beast!) and her present condition I know I can handle spending a fair amount of money to make her grand and that is what I may do over time.  I know that what I have spent so far wouldn’t touch the tip of the iceberg on a new RV, or even a newer RV, and therefore I know I could comfortably spend a lot more and still be money ahead.  I feel good about that moving forward.  Thankfully, she is not a money pit.  It also helps a lot that I saved up and set aside funds for her prior to retirement.  Yes, she is older, kind of like me, but as they say “they sure don’t make them like they used to”.  I think she is a treasure and I’m so happy and grateful that I have her.  Now we just need to hit the road.