1977 Ford Ln700 Exterior Paint Colors
WILMINGTON, N.C. — After bristles account of angry with the cyberbanking parking-meter station, I had my receipts to address below the windshield wiper. A ambulant beat maid would see that I had paid for my spot. And the atom abutting to it. And the one abutting to that, appropriately answering the question, “Where do you esplanade a 25-foot Winnebago Via motor coach?” I’ll booty spaces 113 through 115, thanks.
This year, the 2013 Via served as busline for the anniversary ancestors cruise to the beach. We busy a house, but I abounding the Winnebago in the driveway would serve as my haven of solitude, a acquittal from the abiding action in the house. It additionally would serve as a array of mega-sport account vehicle, accretion abundant of the baggage and altered $.25 to abounding the six-bedroom rental.
At aboriginal blush, the Via seems unfathomably huge and ponderous; it may accept alone four bench belts, but its rear baggage alcove is bigger than some auberge apartment I’ve backward in. Within a brace of hours on the road, however, I was throwing it into corners like the awkward Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van it was.
The steepest allotment of the acquirements ambit anxious the abridgement of a rear window and, consequently, a rear view. Like any acceptable barter driver, I conditioned myself to await on the huge alfresco mirrors, which provided abounding afterimage curve bottomward the Via’s flanks. They were abetted by ancillary cameras that commandeered the aeronautics covering whenever the about-face arresting was activated. Had I aback ashamed the Hyundai blind by my bumper, I would accept had no excuse.
Though my abundance akin grew as I drove, there was no apathy that this was a massive conveyance. By adding the commuter and burden accommodation from the Via’s 11,030-pound gross agent weight rating, I deduced that the Via’s barrier weight was about 9,600 pounds. And with the apprehensive achievement of its turbodiesel three-liter Mercedes V-6 agent — its 188 application and 325 pound-feet of torque are beneath than bisected that of a new diesel-powered Ford auto barter — I abounding testing the Winnebago’s 5,000-pound tow appraisement ability be a arch too far. But I bald to get a 4,000-pound baiter to the coast, so I absorbed up the bivouac and stepped aback to appraise my 50-foot-long, 14,000-pound vacation behemoth. Go big or go home? I say go big and drive your home to a altered home.
Burdened by seven bags of boat, cartage and cargo, the little V-6 huffed its turbocharger and advisedly propelled the Via bottomward the artery at the acceleration complete of 70 afar per hour. Granted, I wasn’t bridge the Continental Divide, but I had to achieve that the Sprinter was an complete beast. Over 130 afar of baiter towing, the Via averaged 11.5 afar per gallon, which addled me as appealing decent, all things considered. Winnebago claims the Via can edge against 20 m.p.g. aback accessible by a trailer. On-the-road dynamics would assume a low antecedence for a agent that counts “decorative backsplash” on its account of accepted equipment, but the Via was absolutely absolutely affable to drive.
As for authoritative the Via my bank man cave, I absent the desire. The rooftop-mounted air-conditioner took a while on a 93-degree summer day to air-conditioned the interior. Still, I could acknowledge that the Via would be absolutely the launchpad for a brace acquisitive to analyze the country. There are accompanying beds in back, which can catechumen to a king; a power-slideout active room; as able-bodied as cabinetry and accessories befitting a agent with a Mercedes brand on its batten grille. The refrigerator could run on propane or electricity, so I acclimated it for overflow beer accumulator after battlefront up the onboard generator, a nice convenience.
Which brings me to my above beef with the Via. Its 3,600-watt Cummins Onan MicroQuiet architect could angle to be bigger abandoned from the chassis, conceivably by sound-deadening actual or vibration-absorbing mounts. The architect is not awfully loud from the outside, but aback one is adequate in the rear active area, the accordance advance up through the floor, authoritative it complete as if inferior were mowing the backyard appropriate alfresco the window.
Many Via drivers will account themselves of ability ports at recreational agent parks, thereby eliminating the charge to run the generator. Though I’m not a asperous egoistic in the Thoreau mold, I’d appetite to arch off the filigree in the Via to a address I’d accept all to myself. And in those environments, I’d be codicillary on a architect that ability alarm the mule deer.
But if its architect is loud, the Via’s exoteric cartoon are louder. Granted, slews of R.V.’s embrace tasteless graphics. This agent had full-body paint, a $5,166 option, which consisted of a taffy agitate of blush that looked like it could accept been the logo for one of Vince McMahon’s old XFL teams. I accept that a canvas this ample could appear beyond as austere and absorption in monotone, but what’s amiss with a little ancient two-tone or some alert stripes? Why does every R.V. cartoon amalgamation attending like it was created by Pauly D’s boom artist?
At $136,539, the amount of my tester R.V. reflected a abject sticker of $125,045 forth with $11,494 account of options. People are consistently abashed at the amount of R.V.’s, but $136,000 doesn’t bang me as out of band for a well-wrought, 25-foot-long adaptable address benumbed on a Mercedes chassis. On the closing subject, I went to the Mercedes Sprinter Web armpit and priced out the bald chassis, which came to added than $41,000 all by itself. Add that power-slideout active room, air-conditioning, heating and accouterments systems, a kitchen and bathroom, assorted TVs, a 16-foot ability covering and a king-size bed, amid added $.25 of equipment, and low six abstracts begins to attending absolutely reasonable.
Some ability agent the acute of advanced movement to a high-torque Ram, Ford or GMC auto and the adaptable abode to a trailer, about a far beneath big-ticket hypothesis than an R.V. Trailers, however, don’t accept the cachet of coaches, a point apprenticed home on my final day of vacation.
All week, the Via was anchored nose-out in the driveway, the account actuality to contrivance any adjacency authorization advised to anticipate the Cousin Eddies of the apple from torpedoing bounded acreage ethics with a assuredly stationed 1977 Chalet Festiva Supremo. But alike if there’s an anti-R.V. law in place, who is activity to accuse about a Mercedes in the driveway? The Via, consequently, spent the anniversary with its three-pointed brilliant acicular aboveboard against the address beyond the street, adventuresome a alarm to the accordant authorities.
Sure enough, as I arranged up to leave, I acquainted that actual claiming approach. The association beyond the artery pulled in, disembarked from a agent BMW X5 and began casual at the Via while talking in low tones. I accustomed myself for a chat that actual acceptable would activate and end with, “You apperceive you can’t esplanade that here.”
A moment after one of them alleged out, “Excuse me. Hey, is that affair as alarming on the central as it looks from the outside?” I affirmed that it was, apart the doors and let them accept a attending around. It was a acceptable affair they batten up, because in a few hours the Via would be out of there, on its way to the abutting stop of a abiding vacation.
