for good last month. Creditors foreclose. Another big one goes under.

There was not much left, about a year and a half ago the school bus company managed to sell Wanderlodge to Custom Coachworks out of southern California. They managed to produce one coach and were hit with really quite serious recalls of many of last several years production by the school bus company. It seems they were built with far more weight on the front axle than it was rated for causing dramatic failures and least one death resulting in a federal recall and investigation. The coaches of the 90's are having recurring problems with the left front upper shock mount ripping loose from the frame. All very sad, one must go all the way back to the 80's for this one's glory days.

I'm wondering if the front end problems you are talking about are in the front engine models only. A good friend recently bought a 36 Wanderlodge pusher. He owns a charter company and 18 MCIs including a 45' coach so I assume he knows what he has.

I haven't been following this saga so I'm a little lost.

What is the correlation of Bluebird CoachWorks to Wanderlodge? Does this effect the School Bus division? Is it a separate company? Can someone draw me a mental diagram as to what it means for the various companies caught up in this? Are there 2/3 different companies or is it part of the same? Timeline of events maybe?

Sorry for the long winded and multiple question response. It just caught me off guard and I'm trying to figure out what this means for the various parties/division/companies/etc.

The Valley Forge facility shut its doors (and web site door). What remained of the Wanderlodge motorhome production and support facility is gone. As with Barth, owners are scrambling to secure what is left - documents, parts, knowledge - history. Sound familiar?

Bill, here's an RV industry press release from happier days that describes the players (now ex-player

http://www.roamingtimes.com/rv...es-wanderlodge-2.asp

quote:

Originally posted by devolo:
The Valley Forge facility shut its doors (and web site door).

Fort Valley, Georgia facility

Nick

In the 80's, my company supplied 'tool steel' to Bluebird's factory in Fort Valley. I was there many times. During one of these trips, I was told about the Wonderlodge and given a chance to go into one. Very impressive. I loved the motorized tie rack. It looks like those days are over, just like ties no longer are very popular either.

I haven't seen anything about a foreclosure/closing. I think the Fort Valley facility may still be open, as it mainly builds schoolbusses (but also did, AFAIK, build the shells for CCW's Wanderlodges).

Bluebird itself went through a bankruptcy about 3 years ago, and some reports state that Complete Coach Works eventually bought not only rights to the Wanderlodge, but also the Fort Valley plant...there are reports that either Dale or Tom Carson (of CCW's owner, D/T Carson Enterprises, Inc.) was at the plant frequently.

BTW, Monaco filed for Chap 11 last week.

Country Coach also filed for chapter 11 protection last Thursday, the same day as Monaco. In Country Coach's case, the main creditor is actively trying to liquidate the company. Monaco has a better chance of emerging from Chapter 11, but I don't know if they will. Things are tough.

...and Fleetwood, the 800 lb gorilla, filed for
Chapter 11 on March 10th

Might end up with nothing but Winnies & Newells yet

Unbelievable!!!

Tom Johns, Nick Cagle, others and I have puzzled over why manufacturers continually bloated their products, building larger and larger units while ignoring the market for well-built, compact RVs.

With the exception of Lexington, Coach House, and Born Free (all Class Cs), there isn't a non-behemoth, soundly designed and built motorhome under 32', and few less than 37'.

The usual tripe is that "there's more profit in the large coaches". Well, yeah, but not if they aren't going to sell.

I agree with Rusty 100%. Find a manufacturer today that builds a quality 28 to 32 foot diesel pusher. I don't think that it exist and I don't understand why. We were in the chat room Wednesday night and the same subject came up. I said then and I say again. If that is what you are looking for in a coach, you can search for an older Barth or you can search for an older Barth.
Luckily they can still be found. And at very reasonable prices in my opinion.

Part of the problem seems to be the over all outlook of all of us Americans. Whether you are looking at houses, cars, or rv's we just can't seem to use the words nice and small in the same sentence. It's almost as if to be nice, it must also be large.

Nick

Coachworks Holdings, Inc closed its Ft
Valley Ga facility. Creditors seized assets that they intend to sell. I think this is only pertains to the motorhome division. Busses still there.