GMC or Honey Bee?

We had borrowed the Honey Bee on and off for a year. We had been weighing the option of buying it for just as long. At the time, we were making a substantial monthly payment on the boat and paying off all of our debt. Whatever we purchased, it needed to be something we could
pay cash for.

We were camping at a local park with some friends, and I had been trying to get Joe to camp with us and bring his Palm Beach. There were probably 20 of us sitting around when Joe and the green coach came driving up, passes his campsite, and backs it up as if it were a sports car! I think all of our mouths were open in amazement. Backing up in the Honey Bee was 1/2 talent and 1/2 hope that I wouldn't run anything over or hit something.

A little background on my wife, Sherri. Sherri can like something just because I like it. She liked boating because I loved boating. It wasn't her favorite thing, but she enjoyed it because I enjoyed it. She LOVED camping. When Joe was settled and plugged in, he invited my wife to see his coach. I thought it would be too old, too out of date, and not nearly fancy enough for her.

She comes back from his coach excited about how cool it, how it has bunk beds and a central vacuum, and all the windows. The list went on and on. I had to go take a second look at Joe's coach, since it was on the road and not on a lift. I saw it differently this time. Especially after being in an SOB (Some Other Brand), I now had a new found interest in this coach. I too, was greatly impressed with it's features.

After the camping trip, we had to stop by an RV dealer to get a part for the Honey Bee, or at least hope we could find a part for it. We decided to look for a used coach in case the Honey Bee wasn't what we wanted, or at least get a comparison. We were prepared to offer the in-laws $4,000 for the Bee based on the condition it was in.

While we there, Joe had just filled his propane tank down the street, and saw the Honey Bee and pulled in to see if we needed anything. We told him we were looking for another coach, and since he is a mechanic, asked him if would join us if he had the time in case we found anything.

Joe kept telling us we should buy a GMC, but I was hesitant and explained they were too old, that I'd much rather buy a newer model. That's when Joe started talking about how they were made, the groups that supported them, the parts that were available, etc.

As we were walking down isle after isle of faded SOB's, Joe says "there's a GMC"! I had already walked by it and didn't even recognize it was the same as Joe's. It looked pathetic. It was laying on the ground because the air bags were deflated. The dark blue paint was heavily oxidized, but I believed it would buff out. The biggest thing going for it was that it was my sons favorite colors, and the window tint had faded so on the inside everything was purple, which is one of my daughters favorite colors. The kids were sold.

Joe immediately went into action. The dealer knew NOTHING about this coach, other than they were asking $24,000 for it, which was way out of our price range. The motor didn't start, but with Joe being the mechanic that he is, every becomes "no problem". The interior was in really good shape.

Then I started doing some math. On the Honey Bee, I knew it had it's problems: the generator didn't work, the fridge barely worked on propane and not at all on electric. The roof leaked, and carpenter ants and/or rot was causing the rear part of the roof and cabinets to fall. The motor had 70,000 miles on it, and it appeared that I had been doing the only real maintenance on it. The furnace needed to be replaced.

Looking at the non-running GMC sitting on the ground, the fridge was new, the furnace was new, and it has a Honda 6000 watt water cooled generator with only 150 hours on it. It also had an awning and dual air conditioning.

But how do you justify a $24,000 price tag??

We and the Honey Bee

Ok, I know the title is gramatically incorrect, but it sounds good for a title.

The Honey Bee belonged to the in-laws, and it was our first exposure to the world of RVing.

My wife is probably not a tent camper, and I can only assume that because the tents we own exceeds the number of times they've been used.

At the time of the Honey Bee, we owned a 30' Cabin Cruiser. As the family was growing rapidly (my son is only 7 years old in the photograph) the cruiser appeared to be getting smaller. Some friends came down to spend the weekend iat the lake and stayed in an RV at the campground.

A little background on myself, an RV is something I SWORE I would never own. Not me. I couldn't stand traffic and I hated the idea of spending most of my time driving somewhere to relax. I developed this opinion after living 10 years in the Washington DC area, and had my fill of traffic.

We went to the campsite to have dinner with them, and similar to the Arby's commercials where the Arby's logo are over everyone's heads, I think a light bulb was above all of our heads.

There was a playground for kids to play on. They could ride bikes, walk, run, and hike. There were people to socialize with. There was room to move around.

Inside the coach there was a stove AND an oven. There was a full size fridge WITH a freezer. These are things that are all absent on a cruiser of our size. We were all impressed, but the thing that did it for me was a freezer that contained ICE CREAM.

I was ready to try RVing, so we borrowed the in-laws 1984 Honey Bee. They were more than willing to lend it because they were trying to sell it, and I was always working on it so it would come back to them in better condition than it left.

We were hooked! I loved the water and the family liked the water, but when it came to camping it's something we ALL LOVED. There were no comprimises anywhere!

The next question was: should we buy the Honey Bee?

Meet Joe

I'd like to introduce my buddy Joe Haddad to you. I've know Joe for over 25 years. We started out boating together and always had a lot of comon interest.

Joe is an exellent mechanic, and during the 70's worked for a GM dealership.

Six years ago, I stopped by Joe's Service station to say hi.

He said "you gotta come see this" in a very excited voice. We jumped in his car and he kept telling me how he always wanted one of these motorhomes, and he finally got one. Said he wanted one since the day they came out. He was taking me where he was doing "some work" on it.

We pulled up and we walked over to this thing that hardly resembled a motorhome, or at least it didn't look like any motorhome I had ever seen. It was pea green, faded and dirty. Upon opening the door, the pea green continued with some darker greens and avacado colors. I felt as if I had stepped back in time to the 70's, when those greens were actually popular. It reminded me when I was younger and our entire kitchen turned avacado green.

Now one thing about Joe, is he's an all original guy. His coach is 100% original. It goes with his 1970 olds cutlass supreme convertable and his 1977 glastron jet boat. All original, all the time.

For some reason, I could not share Joe's enthusiasm. I didn't understand. I didn't understand why anyone would be excited about some funky looking, run-down faded motorhome.

Little did I know...