L319-forum.de

I am in the process of purchasing a 1960 O 319 Mercedes Omnibus Panorama. Not sure if I am paying too much or getting a deal?
1960 Mercedes O319 22 window Panorama Bus. Factory dual rear axle mountain touring chalet.
It's actually a 1960 O319 bus but they’re tagged all of them 1963 when they were brought to the US for sale as New Vehicles in Michigan in 1963.
This is the top of the line model, with factory propane floor heater, 22 window Sekurit' authentic Mercedes windows NOT 21, NOT 23, like the VW Bus.
It was converted from an Alps touring bus into an executive travel coach by Studebaker, in 1959. Given a propane stove, water tank fed sink, twin fold out bed, and lots of cabinetry. All that is out now. I am 'thinking' of creating a Wine/Brewery Tour Bus for my area.
The original 6cyl diesel 74hp motor was swapped for a 76' re mastered Toyota 20R motor making 176 hp, and mated to a Toyota T5 manual 5 speed.
The factory rear end was taken apart already and shipped to Austria where it was rebuilt and reinstalled with all new 3.87 spline gearing.
A lot of the door handles, and tail lights are all late 50's Porsche stuff because Studebaker wanted to make the Mercedes seem classier to the north easterners I heard.
Now the motor and Trans and axles are out of it, and it's being media blasted to bare metal and primed immediately piece by piece while rust work is done so that it will be all new metal no Bondo all rust free.
Where should I be at on price do you think?
There is all new rubber for the windows.
They are asking $20,000 for how it is, stripped and ready for media blasting and metal work.
I am in California
ANY information would be helpful

theslolife@charter.net

Hi, welcome to the 319 world.
At a first view, that bus looks good and absolutely worth of beeing restored.
I'm not a specialist in 319 pricing, especially not for 319 in the US, so its difficult for me to tell you, if the asked price is fair or not.

Some thoughts:
As far as I know, a O319 has never been delivered with an 6-cyl engine.
Ist the bus complete? Are all the seats still present? What about the trimming. A deluxe bus should have more bling bling than shown on your first pic.
If the bus lived in California, I guess, all the window rubber is baked and worn. As the windows have already been taken out, I hope they weren't all cut out and some good ones could be saved. They are really dificult to get and expensive. If you need all of them, you will have to pay several 1.000$s, if you find some.

The asked price seems to be high, especially when some expensive parts are missing. But its probably difficult to find a cheaper one.

Good luck,
Christian

There was only the passenger and driver seats. All the windows are there and fine. I am sure for Germany, where even though these are rare, they are still somewhat available. In the USA they are like unicorns.

It has a Toyota engine which increases the HP. It runs fine and has a clear title.

One really cool thing was that there are 2 little hamers clipped above the windshield. One on the driver's side and one on the passenger side. I guess they were to break out the window if the buss was buried in an avalanche.

I no I am crazy but i love these busses. I just luckily found a second bus and purchased it. My first bus will never be original. It has a Toyota engine and no interior. This new bus is complete original. A couple of the jump seat are missing, so it has 15, not 17 seats.

http://s295.photobucket.com/user/bglowd ... t=3&page=1