1977 20 Argosy Class A

SOLD

< 85,000 original miles

Affectionately known as "the Peanut"

This rig is very solid. Equipped with a 454 V8 engine. Vehicle is built on a Chevrolet P30 Chassis.
Comes with loads of documentation of service and repair information. Original Manuals in excellent condition.
AC electric checked and in excellent working condition.

The interior is in very good condition, Counter tops are original with no sign of wear.

Original cockpit seats seemed to have been replaced and are in fair condition.

The exterior is in good general condition. There are 2 points of damage.
Lower Road side rear has damage to the skirt, exposing the PVC line for the black water. (See Photo)
The rear center cap has a minor dent @ the bath exhaust fan (See photo)
Factory installed "electric" step was removed (reason unknown) and Airstream style step installed. Currently stored under the rear (see photo)

Purchased recently in North Carolina and driven to NH with no major issues in1200 miles.
Note, Alternator was thought to be OK, replace in Baltimore with NEW 90 Amp.
The following is a list of repairs made prior to hitting the road.

Initial repairs

Complete Fluid and Filter change. (engine oil, antifreeze and transmission)
Complete Engine Tune up
Brake inspection and repair of brake line hose.
New front and rear brake pads, seals and lubrication.
Drain and Flush of fuel tank, new fuel filter.
New Battery
New windshield wipers
6 new tires, mounted and balanced.

Let the project begin!

First day, tested the appliances.
Gas stove took a few minutes to purge the lines but burners operate with a clean blue flame.
Refrigerator operated on Electric, freezer cold to the touch in minutes.
I hooked in a temp propane supply, Furnace worked fine, well it screamed like a banshee at first, then settled out and quieted down and works fine.

First Bath

Removed the contact paper from the stove and found this.

Carpet removal, the floor is in "Excellent" condition!

Placed the flooring to see how it looks.

Gaucho works smooth, need to make a modification to the road side, no support under the mattress.

Weather was war, in the 50's Worked till it was too dark to see. Flooring 75% down!
The weather has been great, finished the flooring.

Disassembled the gaucho, to repair the heat duct, needed a patch near the driver seat.
Added a piece of 1/4" plywood to reinforce the area when the it is in the bed position.
The base for the table need to be spiffed up, glass bead blasted to give it a matte finish, clear coated and installed with new #14 wood screws. Picked up some seat covers @ Wally World.

Found a WILD 70's print for new curtains

Filled the tank, and found that the inlet hose to the tank had developed a leak,
Here is why. Original hose gave up the ghost, dozens of through wall dry rot cracks.

New hose, $20 a foot! Value to stop a fuel leak, PRICELESS!
Installation took 2 hours with the help of Don! New fuel hose does not bend and twist easy!
Filled the fuel tank to the top, gas gauge works, no leaks while filling or driving!

Covered the original corduroy fabric with a black vinyl like cloth

ONAN Generator has been removed.

Propane tank inspected! All went well with the tank inspection. Cleaned up and checked the valves.

It warmed to above freezing this week! Took a good look at the damage to the road side rear.

Removed the trim to remove the ABS "Banana Wrap" It looks to be trashed.

Hot water heater tested.

Removed the original door and replaced it with a new one I had just hanging around.
The controls look to be in good shape, however, no pilot flame.
Removed the burner assembly to find the pilot flow orifice blocked solid. At fist glance it looked to have no hole whatsoever.... Under a magnifying glass I found a tiny black spot, took a pin and worked the blockage free. Installed it back into the heater and adjusted the flow to the pilot, works like new!

The Awning was in pretty tough shape. It is now removed for possible future replacement

Before After

Shocks looked to be Original equipment

Before After

Both Front and rear shocks have been replaced with new "Delco" Heavy Duty shocks. Removal of the old shocks went surprisingly well, no heavy corrosion on the undercarriage, this was a big plus for fastener removal. The ride has improved greatly. No more bobbing and weaving down the back roads!

The "steering damper is leaking hydraulic fluid. The local auto parts store, (Robbins Auto) had a replacement on the shelf.

Cleaned inside the engine compartment, blasted and painted the Air Cleaner

Cleaned the rims and gave them a couple coats of rust preventive paint

Disassembled the waste piping, Black Water valve needed a new seal.

Replace the original Waste hose end with a new standard now.
Installed a waste hose carrier made out of 4" PVC

Heading out on our second voyage!

After a couple hundred mile trip, back roads and city (Boston) I was not satisfied with the ride and handle. New front springs on order, Airbags in hand already.

Done.
I can not say enough as to the change in the ride. There is NO sway, no Bobbing and Weaving!

Front Cap

The weather is warming up, so it's time to take a look at what needs attention on the outside.

The front cap has some severe rust around the marker lights

Time to get up there and strip away the paint &sand down to bare metal. Removed all the Marker lights, the PO had butchered a hole in the center Marker light housing for a CB antenna, I was wondering where the leak was coming from.
I filled the hole with POR 2 part Epoxy Putty, Glass bead blasted all the housings and painted

We found a close match to the 29 year old paint.

Replace all the marker lights with new. Much better!

The original owner wanted to show where they camped using a stick on map of the United States.
I tried everything I could think of to remove it from the curbside paint. Failing all attempts, in the end I was forced to sand it off to the base metal.
Even then you could read the states names etched into the metal. Lesson learned, NEVER put one of those thins on the exterior!
I have fount that the best match is "Dupli-Color" SUV/Truck Paint

Accent Stripe

The Trim stripe has several shades of brown due to the wear of time.
We wanted to choose a new color. The best choice for us was to match the interior theme.
Cleaned off the areas to be painted with reducer and wet sanded with #600 grit. Wiped the area down again with reducer,
masked a reasonable area and applied 3 coats of "Dupli-color" Universal Black.

Carpeting

Moving along to the interior, the carpet, not original is in tough shape.
Off to Home Depot to look at remnants. To our surprise we find a piece, neutral in color for $23! The old carpet came out extremely hard. The installer stapled it, in places every 1/4 inch. Bad luck for us, as all of the staples have to be removed. (thousands) This was a good opportunity, while the carpet was out to check the power converter. It was the original, so with a little more disassembly the old converter has been replaced with a new "Inteli Charge"

Upgraded Seat Base.

Upgrades to 'the Peanut' to date

New Alternator, New Fuel pump, New Batteries, New Shocks, New steering Stabilizer, New Springs, New Air Bags for Front Springs, New Tires (6) Front rims removed, stripped and painted. Propane tank has been removed, cleaned painted and upgraded with new valve, New driver seat base, (the old one wobbled too much, just installed) AC unit charged with Freon and works perfect.

New tiled floor, Carpet is new, but was installed in as temporary to go to a rally, needs to be replaced. Water pump tested, works like new, stove and oven work, new toilet (extremely hard to come by). Faucets all refurbished with new washers and O-rings.

Plastic Repair

The PO, at some point in time, suffered a mishap.

This is the Road side, where the dump line exits.
When I got the rig this was broken into two, pieces with seven large cracks. On small piece missing.

The curb side was cracked in several places as well, but no missing pieces of consequence.

End result look like new!