1989 McDonnell Douglas MD-88 RV?
Do you have a truck that can haul 20,000 pounds? If so, this 1989 McDonnell Douglas MD-88 is a possible RV conversion and it may be what you’ve been looking for. I’m fairly sure that you won’t see another one in the campground. The seller has this unusual rig posted here on eBay in Leesburg, Florida and the current bid is $33,433 but the reserve isn’t met. There is a $62,500 buy-it-now price.
You could probably see in the first photo that this chunk-o-plane is mounted on a gooseneck trailer so get that fifth-wheel installed in the bed and let’r rip! When I saw the opening photo, really the only one showing the exterior other than the one above, I knew this thing was in Florida. It just has an it’s-in-Florida vibe for some reason. I photographed the Space Shuttle Atlantis Museum several years ago at Cape Canaveral and as I was driving back and forth from my hotel in Cocoa Beach, I saw several airplane carcasses just lying out in the woods or weeds.
First things first, yes, it has a working bathroom! In fact, the seller says that it has a working bathroom and working kitchen, both necessities for modern camping, as are an emergency exit and parachutes… There are no photos of the kitchen portion, unfortunately, and for $62k, the photos are more than a little disappointing. Big shocker. They say that this fuselage is wired and air-conditioned which is nice.
The interior of this rig, which is currently being used as an office, looks like it would be a fun place to stay, maybe it could be a rental property? I have a friend in Rapid City, SD who rents his house during the summers and makes around $30,000 doing that, so it might not take long to make back your investment on this MD-88.
The cockpit is intact and would be a fun spot to have your coffee in the morning while figuring out which fishing hole to try or which mini bike to scoot around the campground with that day. The stairs are lit which is cool, I wish the seller had photos of it at night, or just better photos, in general. The section of the fuselage is 40-feet of a McDonnell Douglas MD-88, the last of the MD-80 series and they were made from 1979 through 1999.
The MD-88 is a narrow body (like mine) single-aisle aircraft but they were no lightweights at almost 150,000 pounds. There are no photos of the two 2 Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219 engines with 40,000 horsepower – or thrust – because there aren’t any. At 574 mph, you’ll be the first rig to show up at the family reunion. This one is currently set up as a sales office but I’d convert it to a camping rig asap and be on my way. How would you use this MD-88?
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Comments
Now this is what I’d want for my tiny house! After flying MD-80’s for hundreds of thousands of miles this is somewhat appealing.
Looks like the start of a heavyweight land speed attempt…
Where’s Art Arfons ?
Dead, I believe.
Back in the good old days there was a McDonnell Douglas manufacturing plant in Mississauga, Ontario just up the road. Now it is just a big parking lot. Cool find Scotty.
Was that the location of the original Avro Aviation plant back in the 1950’s?
Cool listing, but not 62k cool. Put it on a barge. Put it on a lake. Have a plane/houseboat/dock… lol
I doubt this would be legal to drive in any state, no matter how thorough the conversion is, if for no other reason than it would cause havoc (and accidents) tooling down the highway.
If for no other reason it looks too wide, over 102″.
Keep two rows of airplane seats per side and the cockpit, install a bedroom and a kitchenette, put on Airbnb. All you need is a patch of land to park it on, someplace people want to visit.
The Delter! I might have flown it as captain.
Wow I could have so much fun with this set it up in the woods so it looked like it crash landed then have a party when someone passed out drunk put them in one of the seats and have those robotic dinosaurs from Jurassic Park movies outside the window and have hidden cameras to watch as they wake up
Makes me a little sad. This thing could once fly six miles in the air at 600 mph and look at it now,
I would gut out most seats in front & convert into 2 bedrooms, kitchen/dining room in rear. bathroom in middle, cockpit my office but 4 $62,000 should of been done already! I was in/living in Ohio in the early 80’s was driving 2 USAF museum in Columbus on a old off beat Highway saw a large full scale Flying Saucer in the middle of a large open field & they were living in it! It was standing on 3 landing legs about 8′ off ground with a center staircase in middle 4 access & used the bottom area 4 a carport! There was 2 Corvettes & a Porsche under it, now that is real F–k-n cool!
david R: Canadian or Brazilian regional jets put it out to pasture. Always wondered why American aviation companies never stepped in to fill that gap. Thank goodness the Chinese hadn’t stolen enough “intellectual property” yet to try, but they’re getting closer. If their failure rates of airplanes are anything like the car parts from my FLAPS, they’ll have planes falling from the sky like raindrops.
Pretty cool, i hope it has working a/c.
walt: Maybe you’ve been taken aboard that UFO and “probed”? It’s evidently effected your memory, the Air Force Museum is in Dayton!
Do u remember everything u went/did 40ty years ago? that’s right u only 23. How about Ohio, I live in Northern Cal
This is about the dumbest thing I have seen on BarnFinds….mebbe the dumbest thing I have seen anywhere. WTF!
Different Strokes for different folks.
Anyone else notice the 2-wire 15 amp brown extension cords running along the floor, between the seat legs and the side wall? Looks like all the interior 115v stuff is run off extension cords!
I few MD 80/88s’ and my Toyota Sequoia has more RV space! A very reliable airplane, not very comfortable for passengers or crew.
Auction update: this one ended at $38,177 and no sale.