My "New" Elandan a Time Machine

bluekayak · September 18, 2015, 02:30 AM

We have been looking for an RV for several years. There was a 1985 Holiday Rambler we liked and were very close to purchasing, but my wife stumbled on this 1990 Winnebago Elandan. According to the seller, the original owner used it one time with his wife. She became ill and died shortly after their one and only trip. The Elandan went into a barn and stayed there until 2012 or 2013. It had around 500 miles on it when it was stored in the barn, and according to Carfax, there was around 325 miles on it when it was first registered. There were only two other Carfax reports and both stated the owners were exempt from reporting miles.

It does not look like the stove or microwave were ever used. There is plastic wrap on the mattress, lamp shades, and in the freezer compartment. The two TV tables for in front of the sofa are still in the closet with their legs in unopened cardboard boxes. The generator had 4.1 hours, and the odometer was just turning over to 1374.0 miles.

The second owner was a race car driver and did quite a bit of work on it after getting it out of the barn, which was about to collapse on the Elandan. It has all new Hancock tires with a date stamp of 0412 (fourth week of 2012). The spare looks brand new, but I am pretty sure it is the original one from 25 years ago.

The third owner is a trucker and lives about 275 miles north of us. We went up a couple of week ends ago and should have told him right then and there we would buy it. We slept on it a night, and thank goodness it had not been sold. We picked it up this Tuesday and drove it back to our new home Tuesday evening and Wednesday. We averaged just over 9.1 mpg on the trip home, but the rig was light and there was a lot of wind.

It really feels like we bought a brand new motor home (except for the sagging headliner).

When we were up there the first time there was a beautiful double rainbow -- it seemed like a good omen. On our return trip there was another rainbow, and I got a shot of it with our new Elandan. Unfortunately, I can't tell if the picture is going to show up in this post -- it does not in the preview mode. Both pics were under 250 KB, but if this does not work, I'll find some other way to post pictures.

bluekayak · September 18, 2015, 09:51 AM

Here are some more pictures, the second one is was taken when we got her home. Our son's 1990 Winnebago Chieftain is in the background. The layout and mechanicals of both units are very similar. He came with us on our second trip, and it was great to have his help figuring out how the different things worked. As you can see in the last picture, the headliner is coming down, and that is one of the projects I'm working on today.

Jerry

legomybago · September 18, 2015, 10:31 AM

That's a score. I sure like the lines on those. How much moolaa??

HandyDan · September 18, 2015, 11:00 AM

WOW!

bluekayak · September 18, 2015, 12:12 PM

@legomybago

$8,000 -- One of the few times purchasing an item off Craigslist where I did not even try to negotiate a lower price.

legomybago · September 18, 2015, 12:48 PM

ClydesdaleKevin · September 18, 2015, 06:57 PM

Amazing find! Congrats!

Kev

cook elandan · September 21, 2015, 10:47 PM

Lefty · September 22, 2015, 02:27 AM

It's amazing what's out there...

djlgnd · December 09, 2017, 12:34 PM

Congrats, I have a 1989 Elandan with the Oshkosh option, you scored big time on this 1

LJ-TJ · December 09, 2017, 04:54 PM

That ain't a motorhome it's a cruise ship. WOW! Congrats.

JohnM · December 09, 2017, 10:26 PM

I'm working on an 88 Elandan (first year for Elandan, I think). 26ET floor plan with the queen bed. DO NOT EVER WALK ON THE ROOF without a long board to distribute weight. Better yet, get a scaffolding ladder and use that.