It was so cool. Everywhere I went with the motorhome I had a tail of people who would follow me just hoping I would pull over so they could check it out. It wasn’t possible to get anywhere quickly when I had to give tours of the thing every time I stopped.
The most common comment was, “When I win the lottery, I’m buying one!” If I had five bucks for every time I heard that I’d be rich. It actually became painful to hear that because I was having a heck of a time trying to find a buyer. The biggest problem was that the ones who could drive it couldn’t afford it, and the ones who could afford it, couldn’t drive it. And it didn’t help that Canadians generally don’t like to be the first ones to try anything different. There were a few tire kickers. I had one serious buyer who flew all the way from Manitoba to look at it, but me being rather crude, it didn’t go over well with them and they left disgusted with me. I quickly realized that I wasn’t selling a motorhome, I was selling me.
Anne was getting concerned at our lack of progress. I explained that since it was old and had 15 speed transmission, 99% of the people who could afford it couldn’t drive it. She asked me what the solution was and I told her if we built one with an automatic transmission it would have a much better chance of selling. Surprisingly, she agreed.
The next thing I knew I was specking out a brand new truck at Peterbilt. It was a very custom order, to be built to be a motorhome, so they wanted a hefty deposit before they would build it. I told Anne and she gave me the money and our new Peterbilt was on its way. It took a few months before it was built, so I had time to work on getting the Kenworth sold. That didn’t go as well as I’d hoped, and since I had my new found faith in God, I prayed for a salesman who could get it gone.
So, on a rainy Sunday afternoon I went for a drive. Along the way I pulled into a new RV park development. As soon as I pulled in a guy in a suit came out to greet me. Of course he did what a good salesman does, he started to qualify me as a prospect. He asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was the owner of a motorhome manufacturing business. He smiled and asked me if I needed a salesman.