You can buy Donald Trump's campaign bus for $15,000

Donald Trump’s Iowa campaign bus is definitely for sale.

A party bus plastered with leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s name and campaign slogan appeared for sale on the online classified advertising website Craiglist on Monday — only to be deleted a short time later.

But if you’re in the market for a big blue bus emblazoned with the letters T-R-U-M-P, fear not. It’s still for sale.

The price: $15,000.

The owner and mechanic for the bus initially took calls from The Des Moines Register and both confirmed their interest in selling it. After the Craigslist ad was removed, the mechanic confirmed that it’s still for sale.

“As far as I know it’s still up for sale,” said Mark Gearhart, the bus’s mechanic. “I know they took it off of Craiglist because it was ruffling some feathers — frankly I don’t care — but it’s my partner’s bus and he wants to sell it, so we’re going to sell it.”

Gearhart declined to elaborate on whose feathers were ruffled.

“I’m sure you can use your imagination and think about who,” he said.

Officials with Trump’s Iowa campaign did not return phone calls requesting comment.

According to a timestamp on the original Craigslist ad, the bus went up for sale Monday at 12:21 p.m. Central time. The Register interviewed Gearhart and bus owner Steve Drake about an hour later, and published a story at 2:39 p.m.

By 3:36 p.m., the ad was deleted.

Prior to the ad’s deletion, Drake said the Trump campaign had used the bus for months, but abandoned recently in a strategic shift. He said he hoped Trump’s political popularity would lead to a quick sale.

“I figured if I could sell it while it’s hot, while Donald’s hot, I would try to do that,” Drake explained. “If not, I’ll just keep it and use it.”

The 40-foot motor coach is swathed in a royal blue wrapper with "T-R-U-M-P" emblazoned across its sides along with the slogan “Make America Great Again.”

Drake, a businessman who owns and rents out five party buses, described himself as a Trump supporter. He said he was approached by Tana Goertz, the former “Apprentice” contestant who’s working for the Trump campaign in Iowa.

Party buses typically rent for about $100 an hour (with a four-hour minimum), but Drake said he had worked out a long-term lease arrangement with the Trump campaign in July. Under that deal, the campaign paid to wrap the bus in its custom covering and for several interior upgrades, while guaranteeing Drake a certain number of rental days per month.

He declined to disclose exactly how much he was paid for the campaign’s use of the bus.

The campaign has driven it back and forth across the state — including on this year’s RAGBRAI. Drake estimates the bus passed through more than half of Iowa’s 99 counties.

Now, Drake said, the Trump campaign is shifting away from that strategy and giving up the bus.

“The campaign originally was out with it every day of the month, out seeing people, soliciting for Donald,” he said. “What I’ve been told from them is that basically has switched and they’re going to be dedicated to being on the phones for this next 30 to 60 days trying to help with the caucuses.”

That had Drake figuring he could strike while the iron was hot, he said.

Drake and Gearhart said the bus is in great working order. It’s a 1998-model year, MCI-brand former Greyhound bus with under-carriage storage, a bathroom, air conditioning, a generator, a TV and a satellite hookup. The coach itself has more than a million miles, but Gerhart said he has twice replaced the transmission, upgrading it to an automatic.

“It’s an old bus but it’ll get you there,” Gearhart said.

The coach even has something of a political lineage. Back in 2006, it was custom-wrapped for the Democratic gubernatorial campaign of Chet Culver and Patty Judge, Drake and Gearhart said.