Pre Purchase what we thought and what we learnt.

As with most who start out with the dream of converting a bus to a motor home I wanted a 'full' size bus. Thinking basically that the extra space offered would make life on the road more comfy. However, champagne taste with beer budget. More importantly the on going cost of running a full size coach would mean we would have to work more. So with further research we narrowed the field to two. Based on size and availability. The Toyota coaster or the Hino 145 rainbow. With the Hino our first choice due to the flat floor and more usable space inside offered by the square body shape.

We stared to look in all the usual spots, gum tree, eBay, Quokka, Trading post as well as a local auction company where we had bought items for our eBay store from time to time. 

Quite early in the piece, so early in fact we had not even saved enough money to cover the budget that we had planned to spend on the bus. We had decided that  our budget would be $15000. We  thought that's what we needed. In order  to purchase us a bus good enough to kit out and live in. At this point we had only half that. As with most things the more time and effort put into it the better results that is obtained. This is true for buying any vehicle. So I thought we would start looking early and build some time, even if we really didn't have the cash. 

So we received an email about an auction for a 145 Hino rainbow . Perfect, the right model and right hear in Perth. On the day of the auction I inspected the bus that my wife and friend we good enough to do a pre inspection on. It looked good. 1987 model 350 on the clock. Good for its age. Could not wait for the Auction to Start.

We Sell Stuff On Ebay