Why GM Cancelled The 1973-1978 GMC MotorHome

[Music] there was a time many years ago when GM was the great innovator instead of following the trends it created that during its golden era GM had a knack for knowing what buyers want it before they knew what they wanted GM had many talented engineers who were given creative license where the sky was the limit and also given generous budgets this was before the bean counters took control and began to exert tight control over expenditures and budgets it was during this era of creativity and generous budgets that GM's GMC division released one of the most innovative exciting and beautiful special-purpose vehicles it ever produced no one expected a mainstream automaker to produce a recreation vehicle or more commonly referred to as RV but that's exactly what GM did the end result was the 1973 to 1978 GMC motorhome the motorhome was a fresh design from the ground up there were no half measures used nor were there any corners cut gmc's goal at the time was to produce the best-looking and best engineered RV the world had ever seen it succeeded when the motorhome was first released it was a massive leap forward for the RV market the motorhome wasn't ten years or even twenty years ahead of its time but at least thirty years ahead of its time one of GM seized 1973 motorhome ads Bohle stated it doesn't ride like a truck it doesn't look like a box this ad was a hundred percent correct the majority of new RVs back in 1973 looked like boxes and were built on heavy-duty truck platforms GMC designed its own strong and durable perimeter frame which supported a cage of strong aluminum ribs where the light aluminum and fiberglass body panels connected to the exterior design consisted of a futuristic science fiction type of look with lots of big windows the windshield which consisted of two massive pieces of glass was curved and steeply raked even the sides of the exterior were curved like an airplane fuselage the aerodynamics of the motorhome were incredible and so was it's beautiful futuristic styling so much effort was made in the motorhomes development to not overlook any details no matter how small ground clearance was extremely low in order to provide a much better center of gravity for good handling around the curves and also for easy access into the Motorhome GMC also gave the motorhome two wheels side by side on each side of the rear of the vehicle instead of the dually truck four wheels on one axle configuration that most of the large RVs had at the time GMC gave the motorhome two separate rear air suspension with leaf springs one for each side of the vehicle they were mounted on opposing sides of the motorhomes frame so no axles were needed this innovative configuration provided great ride quality good handling and allow the inside of the rear cabin to be wider making the motorhome more spacious than its competition GMC also lowered the floor since the entire drivetrain was in the front of the motorhome GMC used the very reliable and space-saving combination of the oldsmobile 455 cubic-inch v8 and turbo hydra-matic 425 three-speed automatic transmission which powered the front wheels this combo was taken right out of the old Sabeel Toronado for 1977 and 1978 the 455 v8 was replaced by Oldsmobiles 403 cubic inch v8 using this front-wheel drive setup meant the motorhome didn't waste space on the traditional rear-wheel drive trans axle and rear axle this allowed GMC to give the motorhome a flat floor and yet still have enough room under the floor to have two large gas tanks with a total capacity of 50 gallons breaking was also very good the front wheels had large disc brakes and the rear wheels had large drum brakes the motorhome was offered in a 23 foot long version with a hundred and forty inch wheelbase or a twenty six foot long version with a hundred and sixty inch wheelbase the motorhome was offered in many different interior configurations and had all the RV amenities such as a shower bathroom and a kitchen some of the interior colors and schemes were pretty wild which was what buyers wanted back in the 1970s and some were more conservative and more luxurious in appearance during the motorhomes six-year production run there were different motorhome models which were mostly interior and exterior decor packages worth noting rev Kahn for 1971 began producing a front wheel drive large RV that had a frame and support structure similar to the GMC motorhome however it had the shape of a city bus additionally there were a few other rvs produced just before or around the time of the motorhome which had a front wheel drive configuration however the simple truth was no one produced a futuristic RV during the motorhomes production cycle that was as great-looking with all the great features and as well engineered as the motorhome during six years of production twelve thousand nine hundred and twenty one motorhomes were produced which made the motorhome a successful endeavor it was a profitable vehicle for GMC and it was very reliable it is estimated that today 40 years after production ceased that approximately eight thousand are still running and roadworthy so now comes the big question why did GMC cancel the motorhome the official answer is GMC wanted to devote the motorhomes production space to its Truck Line the translation was GM thought producing trucks to be more profitable than the motorhome this decision turned out to be a short-sighted bean-counter decision the motorhome was built during a period of high gas prices and our economic times yet it's still sold very well if GMC had continued to produce the motor home through the booming economic times in the 1980s its popularity and production would have expanded and would have probably continued to this day today RVs are very profitable and very popular GMC if it currently produced a newer version of the motorhome would more than likely rule the RV market or at least have a sizeable chunk of it the short life of the motorhome is a textbook case of the bean-counters winning but that shouldn't stop you from buying one of the many vintage GMC motor homes currently available the 1973 to 1978 GMC motorhome is the ideal solution if you want a beautiful and reliable RV that costs a lot less and has better styling than any of the new large RVs currently on the road thank you so much for your support of this channel please subscribe since your support is the reason this channel is a success and please make sure to click on the bell icon so that you never miss a new video release [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: OldCarMemories.com

Views: 1,566,430

Rating: 4.8530431 out of 5

Keywords: RV, Recreation Vehicle, Winnebago, GMC, MotorHome, Revcon, 455 V8, 403 V8, air suspension, Palm Beach, Eleganza, Eleganza II, Glenbrook, Edgemont, Avion, Coachmen, Carriage, LRP, Midas, Norris, Hughes, Landau, El Dorado, Foretravel, Birchaven

Id: NWdCtwJm6nA

Length: 8min 14sec (494 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 20 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/ftgbhs]

Those damn bean counters.

[u/sleepydwarfzzzzzzz]

An RV like this would’ve been awesome—you could get it serviced at the same place you bought it.

Backstory: our Winnebago RV was new and back axle failed while on vacation. Insurance wouldn’t cover it bc it wasn’t a crash. Still under warranty, Winnebago wouldn’t service it bc it’s built on Ford chassis.

So 5 days in a hotel 1000 miles away from home & renting a car to get home—took months to get reimbursed. And the runaround! To have this RV, you get it at a dealership and can get service in same place.

[u/Hatless_Shrugged]

I'm so in love with that 70's look.

Thank you for posting this!

[u/eshatoa]

What a beautiful and practical machine.

[u/ryeguy36]

When I was a kid, there was an rv dealership up the street from where I lived. There was one similar to this one sitting for years. One night we got brave and pulled the air vent off of the roof and lowered the smallest guy in the group into it. The door keys were in it and it was really nice inside. We hung out in it for a couple of years without getting caught. It was awesome.

[u/AOLwarez]

Not 10 years ahead of it's time, or 20 years ahead of it's time, but 30 years, ahead of its time.