Price for a 1994 Chevrolet Tiger CX Provan RV

mobilemags

New member
I'm looking into buying a 1994 Tiger CX Provan. The previous owners have had it for 10 years and the interior pictures look like it was well maintained. The exterior has some minor dings and wear and tear. Overall it seems like a well maintained RV that is ready to go. It has 135K miles on it and never has had a transmission flush. These seems rare and hard to find for it's size with it fully maintained (wet bath, 4 burner stove and oven, fridge, sofa, queen overtop seats, 4x4). I'm having a hard time determining a reasonable price range to value this RV. Nada shows it at $4400, but that seems extremely low. What would be a good price to buys these at right now?
 

zip

I prefer social distancing.
MM,
How much are they asking?
Any evidence of water intrusion?
Is there an ad you can post up here?
You might want to check Tiger forum too.
 

86scotty

Cynic
You need to dig some more. There are some experts on Tigers around here and they do have their own unique issues. Try member BritKLR. He has a later model (mid 90's Chevy) and can probably help. If not I bet he can point you to who can.

Be very careful who you give specific info to about this Tiger you've found. They are rare and people will find it and buy it out from under you if they can.

First, though, I'd take them that NADA figure and see if you can get it for $4400! :D
 

zip

I prefer social distancing.
You need to dig some more. There are some experts on Tigers around here and they do have their own unique issues. Try member BritKLR. He has a later model (mid 90's Chevy) and can probably help. If not I bet he can point you to who can.

Be very careful who you give specific info to about this Tiger you've found. They are rare and people will find it and buy it out from under you if they can.

First, though, I'd take them that NADA figure and see if you can get it for $4400! :D

Good call on not posting specific info on the vehicle. Didn’t think about a swoop.
 

sourdoughben

Well-known member
'94 would be one of the first truck Tigers. Is it a popup or hard top, 2wd 4wd? Got pictures? Look carefully for signs of leaks as early Tigers are prone to wall and floor water damage.
 

BritKLR

Kapitis Indagatoris
I'm looking into buying a 1994 Tiger CX Provan. The previous owners have had it for 10 years and the interior pictures look like it was well maintained. The exterior has some minor dings and wear and tear. Overall it seems like a well maintained RV that is ready to go. It has 135K miles on it and never has had a transmission flush. These seems rare and hard to find for it's size with it fully maintained (wet bath, 4 burner stove and oven, fridge, sofa, queen overtop seats, 4x4). I'm having a hard time determining a reasonable price range to value this RV. Nada shows it at $4400, but that seems extremely low. What would be a good price to buys these at right now?

Sounds interesting. Happy to help if this is a legit post, being that its your first and only post on EP. Please answer the previously posted questions and we'll see where this goes. Cheers.
 

mobilemags

New member
Thanks everyone for your responses and help! This is my first post on EP and first RV. I didn't want to spend a lot getting into van/rv life until I decided I want to do it for longer. I don't want to post the ad up since I'm afraid someone will swoop it from me. I haven't viewed it in person, but will be in the next day or so. It's a hard top camper and 4x4. It was listed in the range of $20K and I was able to bargain it down to $15K, but that was pre-nada investigation. I've posted some pics of the interior that was sent to me. I plan on removing the carpet and renovating the RV (painting white walls and cabinets, later putting newer vinyl flooring on the shower walls and recaulking). From the pics, it doesn't seem like there is water intrusion, possibly in the corner of the wetbath near the toilet where the wallpaper seems to be splitting. Just trying to get some recommendations on if this is a good rv and if the price is right for it since I'm going into new territory.
 

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zip

I prefer social distancing.
Looks well used.
$15K may be a reasonable price.
Lots ot Tiger experts on this forum. Hopefully they can weigh in and give you input.
 

gdaut

Active member
I am NOT a Tiger expert, but I am a recent buyer of a used camper. A few things to consider:

From the pics it looks like some cosmetic work would be needed, or at least desirable. But, do all the camper systems work? That is, does the water pump pump, does the cooktop heat, does the cabin heater heat, fans work, electric system work (is there an inverter; does it produce 120v of alternating current at the outlets, a cheap multimeter will tell you this)? Solar panels? Are they charging the batteries? These systems can be costly to replace/repair, so check up front. Do the batteries hold a charge (two new 6v, 150 ah AGMs, which is sort of standard, cost about $1000 to replace). How old are the batteries? If they are Lifeline batteries you can take a picture of the bar code and/or serial number on the side and Lifeline can tell you the age. Probably same is true for other battery types, I have just done it with Lifeline.

Is there any sign of water leaks?

How is the vehicle? Does it run well? Does it blow blue smoke out the tailpipe when it is under load (have a friend follow you when you test drive it, and floor it going up a hill)? Is it a gas or diesel engine? Drive well (does it bounce around like the shocks are shot, or does it wander like it needs an alignment, or worse, has a worn out front end)? How are the tires? Tires are obviously easily replaced, and most of these other problems are easily fixed, but if the purchase price is most of your budget, you don't want to have a get a tuneup, get new tires, new shocks, etc. That would be thousands of dollars. It may still be a good deal (well kept Tigers are worth a good bit, so the purchase price plus the repair costs may be less than what the camper is worth), but if you do not have the available funds for the repairs, you are sort of in a bad place.

Apologies for the long list; it looks overwhelming as I type it. But it is pretty simple. That camper looks rough around the edges, but if the camper systems work, and it does not have water leaks, and the truck is in good mechanical (not cosmetic) shape, then $15k seems like a good deal. But, again, I am not a Tiger expert.
 
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mobilemags

New member
According to the seller:
- There are no leaks at all in the cabin or elsewhere.
- It has a thermostat controlled propane heater works great.
- fridge runs on both propane and electricity. So it’s is working all times once it’s on.
- Water heater works great and a toggle switch in the wall by other controls. There is a gauge where you can test battery, gas and how full the tanks are.
- 4x4 works per husband who keeps the maintenance on the RV
- Truck was serviced regularly. No leaks in the wet bath. Parts replaced recently, front shocks, air conditioning unit, exhaust system, tires have low mileage, haven’t replaced transmission fluid recently.
- There’s a brand new battery
- Report available that it was checked out and gave it a clean bill of health

No solar panel.
Regular gas.

Great questions I need to ask and see when I go view the vehicle. I am ok to have a $2K budget for renovation and other costs, but ideally wouldn't want to spend any extras fixing it up. Can't seem to find anything even in the $17K range with all of the features this one has. I've added pics of the engine area.
 

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BritKLR

Kapitis Indagatoris
Thanks for the additional info. What you have there is a First Gen, Provan Tiger, most likely made in Colorado on a Chevy k2500 4wd chassis, 6 lug, light duty 3/4 ton truck with either 5.3 or 5.7 V8 engine and the 4l60e auto transmission (unless it was optioned with the ober rare NV4500 manual trans....) Very easy and durable engine and drivetrain to maintain and cheap to fix.

The camper body is aluminum skin on aluminum and wood stud walls with a fiberglass top. One of the main problems of the early Tigers is the belly seam between the top and bottom that allows water to get in and rot out the floor. Climb under the camper and check where the floor meets the body with a screwdriver and see if its solid or rotted out. While the floor can be replaced its time consuming (the entire interior needs to be removed) and can be expensive. The second problem can be the two front camper windows that are notorious for leaking and rotting out the top bunk floor. Pull the top bunk back and check for damage or mold.

Since the roof is a single layer of fiberglass with wooden slates (like a old boat) that are used to simply hold the interior ceiling panels and not meant to hold much weight on the roof I'd be very concerned of roof cracking or leaks due to that pictured roof rack and luggage carrier if they aren't properly mounted. Also, these Tigers have little to no insulation in the roof and walls, no insulation/heaters on the grey and black tanks and some of the lower water lines are subject to freezing so they aren't well suited for winter camping. (Totally manageable and upgradable, we do at least one winter camp each year with no problems once I learned where all the low water lines were and added insulation during rebuild.)

The interior is made up of the very best 1970's vinyl covered particle board that will self destruct if the tiniest bit of water, vibration, overloading or stress is applied....so, check all cabinets, doors, overhead cabinets, drawers, shelves, etc......anything that is swollen (water damaged around the shower and sink) or doesn't feel solid will need to be replaced or it will fail. (the bathroom walls are actually load bearing and support the weight of the roof and A/C unit, plus it seems that roof rack system....so, if they rot out at the bottom the roof may flex and crack.) I forgot to add, the upper cabinets above the kitchen and sofa/fold out bed are mounted on top of the aluminum stud header and held in place by self tapping screws into the roofs wooden slates. Over loading the roof, over loading the cabinets (easily done due to limited storage space) or driving aggressively off-road can literally rip the self tapping screws out of the wooden slates causing the cabinets to sag or break loose and result in people adding more crappy screws to the cabinets resulting in a poor repair and crappy look.

I can't see whats been added to the rear bumper but, if too much weight is added off the rear (heavy bumpers, storage boxes, motorcycle carriers, etc...) they can overload the rear chassis extension causing frame flex resulting in cracking of the aluminum skin by the side door, side door alignment issues, leaks and cracking around the camper body where it attaches to the cab and floor flex/cracking or broken floor bolts and an over all unsolid feeling in the entire vehicle. (worse case scenario is the frame cracks between the camper body and the cab.....but, its repairable by a skilled welder $$$$)

The overall electrical and plumbing systems are very basic in these early campers and can easily be worked on, modified, repaired or upgraded.......as long as no knucklehead has hacked it up to add some crazy sound system, new super duper solar/converter/inverter/generator/flux capacitor system or repaired water line/plumbing issues with an old garden hose and duct tape.

The water heater, furnace, stove, fridge, roof A/C are all old school systems that are easy to repair (but pricey due to difficulty in finding a repair person to work on) or replace with a modern option, but can be pricey.

The rear wet bath can be a problem if the seams aren't kept caulked allowing water to get down into the subfloor and rotting it out. The nice thing is all the bathroom pieces are still available new from Provan.

It appears to be running oversized tires and some form of lift. While larger tires aren't that big of a deal with a high quality suspension lift and proper transmission cooler, they can become a issue if they cranked up the front torsion bars and stuck and add-a-leaf in the rear. The brakes always have sucked on this vintage K2500 so larger tires, big racks, weight on the rear bumper, plus all the standard supplies can make stopping in an emergency very exciting....check the brake system and lose as much weight as possible or upgrade to larger brakes.


Price......Given its age, condition in the photos and cost of bringing it back to a reliable vehicle I wouldn't pay over $8,000 to $10,000 for it and plan on spending that much to bring it back to a reliable vehicle (minus new paint, new interior, engine, transmission or other major component.)

But, once redone and baselined these old Chevy based Tigers are a dream to travel in and always a conversation starter.......Goodluck!

And a Tiger build thread if you'd like to see whats under the skin of a 1995 Tiger: https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/adventure-tool-companys-4wd-provan-tiger-build.139003/

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zip

I prefer social distancing.
Thanks for the additional info. What you have there is a First Gen, Provan Tiger, most likely made in Colorado on a Chevy k2500 4wd, 6 lug, light duty 3/4 ton truck with either 5.3 or 5.7 V8 engine and the 4l60e auto transmission. Very easy and durable engine and drivetrain to maintain and cheap to fix.

The camper body aluminum skin on aluminum stud walls with a fiberglass top. The main problem is the belly seam between the top and bottom that allows water to get in and rot out the floor. Climb under the camper and check where the floor meets the body with a screwdriver and see if its solid or rotted out. While the floor can be replaced its time consuming and can be expensive. The second problem can be the two front camper windows that are notorious for leaking and rotting out the top bunk floor. Pull the top bunk back and check for damage or mold.

Since the roof is a single layer of fiberglass with wooden slates (like a old boat) that are used to simply hold the interior ceiling panels and not much weight I'd be very concerned of roof cracking or leaks due to that roof rack and luggage carrier if they aren't properly mounted.

The water heater, stove, fridge, roof A/C are all old school systems that are easy to repair or replace with a modern option, but can be pricey.

The rear wet bath can be a problem if the seams aren't kept caulked allowing water to get down into the subfloor and rotting it out. The nice thing is all the bathroom pieces are still available new from Provan.

Price......Given its age, condition in the photos and cost of bringing it back to a reliable vehicle I wouldn't pay over $8,000 to $10,000 for it and plan on spending that much to bring it back to a reliable vehicle (minus new paint, engine, transmission or other major component.)

But, once redone and baselined these old Chevy based Tigers are a dream to travel in and always a conversation starter.......Goodluck!
View attachment 599677View attachment 599678View attachment 599679

YOU DA MAN!
 

86scotty

Cynic
That's a really cool rig but I think you're only scratching the surface with a $2k budget for upgrades/repairs. This is an old camper and it's going to nickel and dime you for a LONG time. I wish you luck. I would love the challenge personally, but I have the time, space and budget for things like this and I've done it a bunch of times. I don't want to scare you off but it's probably not a buy for the faint of heart.
 

txmxer

Member
I agree with the 2k budget, Id set aside $5000 for it at least just to be safe. Awesome rig though, I would love to travel in one of these and the price (considering how inflated everything is now a days) doesnt seem horrible. Id try to talk them down a bit more if possible.
 

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