Believe me, there are a lot of 80's Newells out there in your price range. You just have to be patient. Most Bluebirds I have seen have a front entry door, which I don't like. A very good friend of mine has a 1984 and 1/2 Bluebird, 36' with tag.....his coach weighs in at 39,000+ lbs....my 1982 36' Newell with NO tag weighs 29,000+ lbs. The weight difference is due to the heavy use of aluminum framing above the main frame by Newell, and the the all steel construction used by Bluebird, plus the tag, and abundant and heavy cabinetry that Bluebird employed. I believe, and my good friend agrees (even though he loves his Bluebird) mine is more livable. One thing those 80's Bluebirds had is a strong over engineered roof....you can put 10 people up there with chairs....no problem....I wouldn't think of doing that on my Newell. The other thing Newell did, at least in the 80's, is use marine/military grade components on the Detroit Diesels they installed. This means things like the gear driven water pump is easy to find, whereas the water pump on my friend's Bluebird is very hard to find, and expensive....his replacement cost over $300....mine cost $89. A big difference between his and mine is I can climb in the engine bay to work on my DD, but in his Bluebird the DD takes up the entire space....we both have the same 6V92 engine....it's just the way Bluebird constructed theirs that makes the difference. I can have an in frame rebuild....he would have to have his DD removed to rebuild it. And on it goes......
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