Any 1970's Sports Coach owners?

[Jonathan Lipe]

My 1976 Sports Coach Class A mid-bath RV sat for 12 years.  It's a Dodge chassis, 440 engine, 61,000 actual miles.  Previous owner lost title years back.  I work at a salvage yard.  Young man in possession of RV, came to me, wanting me to purchase it for scrap as they had to get rid of it.  Parked in an alley within city limits with no current tag it had to be moved.  They tried to get it running.  Put 4 new drive tires and 2 new steer tires, belts, hoses, alternator, fuel pump, cap and rotor, plugs and wires, battery, drained fuel tanks, flushed them out.  Put 2 gallons fuel in main tank, couldn't get it running.  They could pour gas in carburetor it would start, but soon die when gas was gone.  I told him as far as scrapping it, it wouldn't be worth it to me, besides, my rollback wasn't big enough to haul it anyway.  Final offer from him was, if you can get it out of there, you can have it.  Filing for lost title was an option.  Reconsidered and decided to get bill of sale from him, and register as antique, the state would issue me a new title.  Spent a Saturday afternoon checking it over head to toe.  Brought a 5 gallon can of gas and 4 feet of fuel hose.  Placed gas can in front of passenger front seat, ran fuel hose to fuel pump.  Engine started right up, purred like a big kitten.  Tried the transmission, all gears worked.  A little low on brake fluid, pedal a little soft, but enough to stop it.  Half hour after arrival, I drove it home 5 miles.  Of course the roof leaked around kitchen ceiling vent and in bathroom vent.  Replacing kitchen ceiling and Styrofoam insulation, replacing kitchen carpet with wood simulated vinyl flooring.  Original AM/FM/8-track still works as does 40 channel CB.  Generator needs electric fuel pump replaced.  Am planning on restoring it a little at a time.  Interior otherwise is immaculate, gold shag carpeting, curtains still all in place and even the pull down window tint shades all work.  Refrigerator works but roof AC is low on Freon.  Finding out now that I have to take most of the carpet out anyway to gain access to hot and cold water pipes that froze during the winter months of being parked because previous owner didn't drain water lines properly and three pipes are split and leaking.  Old belt driven water pump works great.  Only other thing I haven't tested yet is adding propane to the holding tank to see if the stove, water heater and furnace work or not.  In time I will.  Probably add more photos later as I figure out how to upload them to the internet.  Only downfall was the original stripe was a deep gold metallic.  Previous owner was a K-State fan, painted stripe purple and had logo made to replace original SPORTS COACH name to say POWERCAT COACH and put a giant K-State cat on the back window.  That will be coming off very soon and going back to original stripe color.  Anyone else own a Sports Coach?  Would be interested in swapping stories or even anyone owning an RV of that year era I can rattle your brains for some info?  Luckily enough I got the original 109 page owners manual/notebook with it too. 

[Steve Jones]

I have a 76 Foretravel I will be starting to restore soon. I have a lot of work similar to you. It's a neat old coach especially of that era, Dodge chassis, Cat diesel in front 37K miles. Going to be a challenge but fun too.

[Sweet Gypsy Rose]

Hi!!

I just bought a '72 Dodge Fireball Class C. You mentioned registering yours as an "antique" what are the benefits of doing so?  And how do you go about it?

I pick Rosie up in a week or so and can't wait to check her out more thoroughly and see if she does have her original owners manual, etc.....I did find a cute little woodsy mural/decal on her back end behind the spare tires :)

Thanks!!

Dena