Class A restore bad idea

[garyp4951]

Well I got all excited to get my elderly nieghbors 1995 Air Stream Land Yacht, 35'WB, cummins, 20K miles, for $5K. It has been sitting for 8 Years uncovered, and was thinking I could just clean it up, and fix minor issues, only to find out it has been leaking, and ther are alot of areas where the skin is delaminating. I guess the only option now is to just part it out, or sell as junk, since repairing damaged wood, and redoing all the fiberglass is so expensive. I still have the option to purchase it, but it sounds like I better pass on this one.

[Tyler0215]

Re; Scrap Aluminum. House siding is painted. Airstream is not painted so it,s worth more, but nowhere near $10,000.

[wny_pat1]

bob_b wrote:

Kathy of Arcadia wrote:
Also, I was once told by acquaintance RV dealer that the aluminum itself would be of great value to bring even $10,000.? Would that be true?

I doubt that the scrap price would fetch that amount. I live in a house with aluminum siding. Some of my neighbors are getting their siding replaced. Their old aluminum siding is worth $500 at the scrap dealers. I can't imagine that a motorhome contains more aluminum than would be on my house. Certainly not $10,000 worth.

Scrap aluminum prices per pound. But I have no idea how many pounds of aluminum there is in a Airstream motorhome. As to aluminum house siding, it is awfully thin and light material.

[wny_pat1]

ferndaleflyer wrote:
That bunch that has that Air Stream on Ebay is iffy at best as I never deal with anyone that has "added fees" after the sale. + thats a almost 20 year old gasser. How much do they expect to get for it????? Does look good.

"$399.00 non-refundable dealer documentation fee" - That is a standard ebay fee for ebay dealers. They lump title,temp tag, and paperwork fees in there, and end up with a few extra bucks on the deal. The bidding started at a $100. Let the bidder beware!!~!

[Mike_Hohnstein]

Perish the thought of scrapping a silver bullet, unless it's a roll over.

[bob_b1]

Kathy of Arcadia wrote:
Also, I was once told by acquaintance RV dealer that the aluminum itself would be of great value to bring even $10,000.? Would that be true?

I doubt that the scrap price would fetch that amount. I live in a house with aluminum siding. Some of my neighbors are getting their siding replaced. Their old aluminum siding is worth $500 at the scrap dealers. I can't imagine that a motorhome contains more aluminum than would be on my house. Certainly not $10,000 worth.

[Kathy_of_Arcadi]

I have a 1984 Turbojet Airstream 30ft RV we bought in 1994, and have since replaced the Isuzu diesel engine and transmission. Now the new engine has 50,500. miles (100,000 old Isuzu engine)on it plus radiator rebuilt 3+ years ago with very little miles as also front tires, and the RV remains stored indoors. All of the coach items work from refrigerator to even new electric items, you know alternator, converter to all batteries. Can you tell I have done all those repairs? I am thinking this Airstream really would not be considered such a restoration project and would be ripe for sale. My concern: Does the aluminum skin require replacing rivets as a stage of restoration. Also, I was once told by acquaintance RV dealer that the aluminum itself would be of great value to bring even $10,000.? Would that be true? I appreciate any insights for me to proceed.

Kathy, Owner
P.S. I couldn't seem to list the information on my RV correctly for my RV profile. None of the years would take?

[Mike_Hohnstein]

Silver bullets and fiber glass AS's are two different subjects.

[J-Rooster]

IMHO, I'd pass and buy another luxury DP from the 90's that has been running!

[okgc]

msmith1199 wrote:
For your neighbors this may be a good RV to donate to one of those charities that takes old vehicles as sells them for scrap. They can value it based on NADA values and maybe make more money with a tax write off than they can by selling it.

NADA value of donation does NOT matter to IRS anymore. Current law is the dollar value you can write off on taxes is what the charity SELLS the vehicle for. If a NADA $9,000 vehicle sells for $1000, your IRS allowed amount is $1000.

Amount Written Off

If the donated car sells for less than $500, the nonprofit is not obligated to provide a receipt with the full resale value. It only provides a receipt stating that the car was sold on the organization's behalf. It is up to the donor to determine the fair market value, as long as the car is less than $500.

If the car resells for more than $500, the nonprofit must provide a receipt for the value of the sale. You can write off the entire amount of the receipt from the nonprofit.

[msmith1199]

For your neighbors this may be a good RV to donate to one of those charities that takes old vehicles as sells them for scrap. They can value it based on NADA values and maybe make more money with a tax write off than they can by selling it.

[msmith1199]

If nothing else it has a low mileage Cummins engine. Assuming it hasn't been damaged too bad by just sitting it may be worth more than $5k.

[GlennLever]

Here is a nice
Restoration thread on an Airstream

[rjf7g]

I bought a class C that was in "pretty good shape" and was 2 years out of having received a state inspection. I paid too much for it and then had to sink more money in to it to make it pass inspection on the CHASSIS side alone. I spent 4 or 5 years patching leaks as they popped up and tinkering with little fixes here and there but by no means did a restoration. I was done and sold it for a loss because I made sure every issue I knew about what known to the purchaser.

Campers and camping generate enough issues to satisfy my tinkerers gene. I don't want to invest and engage in a restoration at this point.

[ferndaleflyer]

That bunch that has that Air Stream on Ebay is iffy at best as I never deal with anyone that has "added fees" after the sale. + thats a almost 20 year old gasser. How much do they expect to get for it????? Does look good.