Wanted: 1990-92 25" airstream motorhome

[malski]

Would love to locate a 25" motorhome. We have looked in the on-line classified but no luck...would be willing to travel from mid-west to east coast. Thanks for any help.

[1985air345]

With only about 36 ever made (12/yr), your search will be a difficult one. Three suggestions...

1) Advertise your WANTED ad in the WBCCI Blue Beret magazine

and

2) Scour the WBCCI membership book (if you can get your hands on one) for owners of that model. I suggest contacting them and see if they are interested in selling theirs.

and

3) Post WANTED ADs on all the forums.

You just missed one in AZ that sold in June 2003. Save your pennies (and dollars) because owners of these units won't sell it cheap. The last one went for $35,000. Best of Luck! (you will need it)

4) Create a saved search/alert on RVtraderonline that will notify you if a unit gets posted.

[malski]

Fred....thank you for your speedy reply and valuable information.....I had no idea there were so few made in those years....we have been on a search for a motorhome for only a month...these forums are so great! We almost bought a Safari Trek 24' but the Trek forums really informed us and scared us out of that purchase(plus we drove one)....they are toooo heavy and underpowered!!!(But a beautiful quality and roomy living space!!) It's just two of us newly retired and just wanted a small home but good quality to travel south in the winter for a few months. We are a little worried about going into the 70's and 80's models but may have to. We have seen a few 28' and 27' AS motorhomes on the market....any advice here ....are they limited? Thanks again for your reply!!

[1985air345]

The 310, 325, and 345 models are probably the most common. There are a fair number of 28' and 30' ('300' series) units around. These units are surprisingly easy to drive. Just ask Doc Joe ('winner') who is eighty something driving his 345 around the country. My wife drove our 345 around town (soccer practice, my office, and home for loading) one day on some pretty tight roads.

Most all of these units are on the Chevy P-30 chassis with a Chevy 454 engine so they all have the same issues and drive very similar regardless of length.

The 79-81 Excella 28's can be polished up all shiny and nice!

If twin beds are acceptable, you will have lots of 310's to choose from. The 310's with large rear sleeping are harder to find but out there if you look hard enough. Oh yeah, 280=28', 290=29', 300=30', 310=31', 325=32.5', 345=34.5', and 350=35'.

The 270's are great units but lack a rear sleeping area and bed. You sleep on the fold out sofa's.

My advice is to compare an older AS MH plus some fixin' up money to the other units you are looking at. In my opinion, spending $20,000 + $10,000 for fixin' up is far better than $30,000+ on some other brand that won't last very long. By fix-up, I mean new air bags, AC units, fridge, tires, engine tune-up, belts, hoses, etc.....

[Astrodokk]

I looked into a shorter MH briefly but did not like the staggered sleeper sofa design. So I purchased the '81 28 footer I have now. Although it's probably not as easy to drive as the shorter models, it still is very comfortable to drive and once you get the hang of it, it is a joy to drive. I like the twin beds alongside each other for my boys, and I sleep on the sleeper in the living room. Three feet isn't so much more to handle, and one can get a good price on it rather than one shorter by only a yard and very few of them to boot as posted earlier. You may even regret the less room and have buyer's remorse after, wishing you got a bigger one. Eventually, even I would like to upgrade to a 35 footer later in life, even if my kids are gone, because I like the space and I will be full timing.
I saw a '79 24 footer going for 14K, and it was going to need alot of work. I got mine for 13K and haven't done much to it yet, except for stuff I caused at the beginning due to my lack of experience. It actaully cherry inside! Good luck to you both.