Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Canuck750 on July 25, 2021, 03:59:21 PM
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I had the pleasure to spend a night in a friends 1976 GMC Palm Beach motorhome this weekend at a vintage motorcycle rally in Ponoka Alberta. This is a time capsule, built by GMC between 1973 and 1978, all aluminum body, 455- Eldorado front wheel drive, air suspension, even has a built in vacume cleaner on top of the built in generator, air compressor, water heater etc.....
This beauty reminds me of the mono rail trains at Disneyland
I rememebr seeing this as a kid and thinking someone had to be very well off to own one!
It has green shag carpet and advocado colored appliances to boot.
(https://i.postimg.cc/C55mndP8/4793-E72-F-E985-45-CD-AD87-885-B9-A42-F925.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/CnyjWMVM)
Wikepedia image of the unique chassis
(https://i.postimg.cc/2yNpNsCM/GMC-Motorhome-Chassis.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
My 1973 Laverda SF1 took best European bike at the rally.
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Nothing like fitting in at a vintage rally with period correct equipment! Those GMC's were cool, My boss had one of the Dodge powered Discoverers in the mid 70's. Both way ahead of the curve for luxury motorhomes. Congrats on the win! :thumb:
(https://i.ibb.co/4tXtHrL/rectrans-discoverer-4-685x514.jpg) (https://ibb.co/4tXtHrL)
Paul B :boozing:
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My late Uncle Virgil owned one back in the late '70s, very impressive. I remember he stopped by here once to have my father modify the front hubcaps with a retaining knob in the center, so they wouldn't fly off at speed. :grin:
About two years ago there was a "barn find" 26 footer for sale near here. Dead engine, rotted tires and who knows what else wrong. But, it was only $2400.
I remembered the body being all fiberglass, but it seems it was a mixture of materials.
"Body construction consisted of a rigid frame made of welded aluminum extrusions. The body frame was mounted on the chassis steel ladder frame using body isolators. The floor was marine plywood, except where it sloped up at the extremities, where they were plate aluminum. The body panels are fiber reinforced plastic (fiberglass) below the waistline frame extrusion and at the ends. The upper side body and roof panels between the ends are sheet aluminum."
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Randy Grubb built his Decoliner on a GMC motorhome chassis
https://youtu.be/JUzqXJjpq94 (https://youtu.be/JUzqXJjpq94)
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Very nice. I always hankered after a Vixen.
Lovely Laverda.
Nick
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Those GM motorhomes are real classics. A shame they took them out of production. They're still very popular and kept on the road after all these years. Developed with a hybrid Duramax engine would be a great one.
Nice looking Laverda too.
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I had the pleasure to spend a night in a friends 1976 GMC Palm Beach motorhome this weekend at a vintage motorcycle rally in Ponoka Alberta. This is a time capsule, built by GMC between 1973 and 1978, all aluminum body, 455- Eldorado front wheel drive, air suspension, even has a built in vacume cleaner on top of the built in generator, air compressor, water heater etc.....
This beauty reminds me of the mono rail trains at Disneyland
I rememebr seeing this as a kid and thinking someone had to be very well off to own one!
It has green shag carpet and advocado colored appliances to boot.
(https://i.postimg.cc/C55mndP8/4793-E72-F-E985-45-CD-AD87-885-B9-A42-F925.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/CnyjWMVM)
Wikepedia image of the unique chassis
(https://i.postimg.cc/2yNpNsCM/GMC-Motorhome-Chassis.jpg) (https://postimages.org/)
My 1973 Laverda SF1 took best European bike at the rally.
The engine was an Oldsmobile and body was fiberglass.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMC_motorhome
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The company I worked for had one of those GMC Motorhomes mainly to take customers to Green Bay Packer games. In the early ninety's they had it totally remodeled and it was beautiful inside. But, during a football game the darn thing blew up. Blew all the windows out and even broke windows in houses across the street. Turned out during the remodeling a mistake was made and a gas leak filled the interior, probably propane.
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When I was in school, my dad had a GMC Palm Beach just like the one in the picture. As I recall, the body panels were make of fiberglass. I do remember the roof on ours always leaked. The late 70's were not a good time for GM quality control, be it a car or motor home.
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IIRC, the GMC was the first RV designed from a clean sheet of paper as a motor home, as opposed to a coach built on a truck or bus chassis.
The Discoverer was designed by the engineers who were let go by GM after GM axed their motor home. The John Player Norton race team had one as their transporter.
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The engine was an Oldsmobile and body was fiberglass.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMC_motorhome
The rear removable panel is fibreglass, the rest of the body is aluminum.
The Wiki link describes this as well
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Makes for one heck of an urban assault vehicle.
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The rear removable panel is fibreglass, the rest of the body is aluminum.
The Wiki link describes this as well
Like I posted yesterday, from the Wki link:
"Body construction consisted of a rigid frame made of welded aluminum extrusions. The body frame was mounted on the chassis steel ladder frame using body isolators. The floor was marine plywood, except where it sloped up at the extremities, where they were plate aluminum. The body panels are fiber reinforced plastic (fiberglass) below the waistline frame extrusion and at the ends. The upper side body and roof panels between the ends are sheet aluminum."
Makes for one heck of an urban assault vehicle.
Remember the one in the movie "Stripes"?
http://inthedriversseatwithozzie.com/2015/05/em-50-urban-assault-vehicle-gmc/