I landed in snowy Traverse City under a brilliant blue sky, picked up a car and drove up to meet Jerry at his farmhouse about forty minutes away. He was waiting outside for me when I pulled up his driveway, his huskies yelping and wagging their tails. He is probably about my age and such a friendly guy. As he has no stake in the sale he has been a great source of help and advice too. 

The GMC is being stored in a large barn not far from his house and had already been pulled out when we got there, sitting pretty in the sunshine. It seemed compact and very seventies, but smart and in good shape. Climbing inside I was struck by the naff curtains and I’m not sure about the seat colour but it fired right up and off we went – Jerry at the wheel as we had a noon appointment to make back in Traverse City. I was struck how smooth and relatively quiet the ride was as we hustled along through the snowy back roads. Jerry said he had driven about ten of these old buses and that this was by far the best-handling. Back in Traverse City we met the other Jerry who owns a Midas franchise. He’s an older chap with a GMC project of his own in the back of the shop, along with a classic fire engine he is restoring; its red and old letters spelling out “Same Day Fire Service” along the side. 

I came to him to check out the GMC’s frame which is a time and money vampire if it needs to be fixed. After peering into its underbelly from all angles, he declared it to be in “the best shape I have ever seen in a GMC – like new”. We spent a good hour opening hatches, running the generator, checking connections and firing up the air conditioners. Everything worked. His view was that everything mechanical that needs to be sorted seems to have been sorted. Lots of those things were listed on the spec sheet, but we found other bonuses like new water tanks, upgraded brake and battery components and even a full roof cover for it in the top box. We all enjoyed chewing the fat and kicking the tyres so I suggested lunch and we carried on the GMC conversation over fish, chips and beer.

Then Jerry 1 and I peeled off. I drove this time. The accelerator pedal seemed very stiff, but it was easy to drive and the steering was very smooth. We got back to the barn for a thorough going over of other stuff. The interior is not perfect but it is really pretty good. The carpet seems like new and the little bathroom is amazingly clean and nice. The stove seems never to have been used. The built in vacuum whirred up to speed straight away and all the lights went on, as did the DVD player built ino the dash, hich connects to a drop down screen in the ceiling. The sink drainers are grotty, but can be easily changed and Tom’s bunk works well, though, again, the colour is not us. There is storage under all the seats but finding a place to put our millions of cereal boxes could be a problem… I could go on, and no doubt will, but perhaps not here. Suffice to say I handed over the check and will come back on March 10th to pick it up. Wow. We own an RV.