You must have been talking to Pete Papas. He's a great guy, and helped me out with some problems that I had.
Things have changed quite a bit in the last 15-20 years with the bus conversion hobby. Back then it was really going strong, but the increase in diesel prices really put a damper on the lower budget bus converters. When I bought the VTA bus in '02 diesel was $1.45 a gallon, and still under $2 in '06 when I brought the GGT bus home. The spike up to $4.50 really killed many peoples dreams of traveling around the country on a reasonable budget. The other big change has been the increase in quality of the commercially built motor homes. Back then, most of the affordable used RVs were what we called "sticks and staples" construction: basically an aluminum-sided, wood box attached to a stretched out delivery van frame. The build quality was generally pretty bad and they were death traps if you were ever in an accident. They also handled like what they were, a tool shed on wheels. I had a class C Dodge, and every time a semi passed me on the highway, it would blow me 4 feet over onto the shoulder. The RTS is considered the "sports car" of buses. They handle amazingly well, even on pretty twisty roads, and for a transit bus, roll down the highway surprisingly well. Passing semis don't even budge it, and they are very safe in an accident. Almost 20 years later, commercial RV's are nothing like they used to be, and older ones can be had for pennies on the dollar of their original cost. It no longer makes financial sense to do a conversion just to save money. Conversions are now done more on the classic buses, like the Eagles, and more done for style or to have something different from the average RV'er.
Parked parallel to the road, it takes up four spots. I had seven spots for a long time, but now that we don't have much to sell, I've cut it down to five, and we split the cost between four people, so it's not too bad.
The V-drive ZF is actually an adapter bolted onto a regular ZF straight drive transmission, so I don't think parts availability would be an issue. At some point in the 1990's I think they switched completely to the ZF behind the Series 50 and Cummins M-11. It was also used in some other transits, maybe the later Flxibles and one of the European built buses, possibly a Neoplan. GGT originally had reliability problems with the ZF and had factory reps out there to investigate the problem. The solution was to switch from ATF to 15W-40 motor oil. On my trip home, temps dropped into the mid-twenties overnight while I was sleeping in a hotel, and that transmission was NOT happy with that thick oil when I fired it up in the morning. It was howling for at least five minutes until it could build a little heat to thin it out. The ZF also has a built in hydraulic retarder that activates when you step on the brakes, and it works really nice.
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