8bit drummer
Different sized wheels, different spare tires needed? Yes, but the advantage here is the smaller-than-motorhome sized front tires used could be more readily available, i.e. “This approach allows for narrower, smaller front wheels for a lower floor, as well as better handling, redundant tires for a blowout, and tighter turning circle. Here’s how The Bishop explains the logic behind the double front axles: This layout is referred to as the “Chinese Six” layout, and while I was afraid the origin of that term might be overtly racist, it seems to just be because it’s reversed from the expected, in the sense that China was thought of as being on the other side of the world, or whatever. I bet the first thing you’re noticing is that, like the original 1973 Motorhome, this is a three-axle design, only here the twin axles are up front. What the hell? Well, there’s actually a reason for this, and it’s not unheard of: The British Bedford VAL bus used such a layout, as well as some Mack and GMC tractor trailers. But, now we dive into the gooey depths of the Bishop-brain, where we discover that, holy crap, GM resurrected the Motorhome project in the late 1980s, and had an all-new GMC Motorhome by 1987! The story in our stupid reality ends there. The discontinuation of the Toronado and its V8 FWD drivetrain was a factor, as was the fuel crisis. The Motorhome was an example of this, with GM developing what was arguably the finest commercially-available vehicle that you could drive, sleep, and shit in.Īlso, you may remember the GMC Motorhome played a role in the 1981 Bill Murray/Harold Ramis army-comedy Stripes as a fictional Urban Assault Vehicle:Īnyway, all of this is to say that the GMC Motorhome was a remarkable RV milestone, and yet it only lasted five years, from 1973 to 1978. When GM engineers really put their collective minds to something, they can do amazing things, even if they often screw them up later. The rear had twin axles with independent air suspension, and the result was something roomy and comfortable and not horrible to drive. The company took its tidy front-wheel drive V8 powertrain from the Oldsmobile Toronado and Cadillac Eldorado and plopped it down in a bespoke chassis with a nice low floor, no driveshaft, and plenty of room for fuel, fresh water, and disgusting water tanks, and then dropped on that an extruded aluminum frame covered with fiberglass and aluminum body panels. GM took a clean-sheet approach, and attempted to make something that was better than driving a giant shed, and at least attempted some degree of aerodynamics. The state of RV design in the early 1970s was crude, even the good ones like Winnebagos: corrugated metal, pink insulation, boxy, curve-less designs on heavy chassis.
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Other than perhaps Volkswagen with its Westfalia-camperified Type 2 Microbuses, no major automaker was selling its own, in-house-designed RVs or motorhomes, certainly not ones built on a purpose-built chassis. Well, in realityit died in 1978, but in the mind of The Bishop, our closeted auto designer currently toiling in another field, the GMC Motorhome was reborn in the 1980s! Let’s enter this glorious fever dream and delight at what could have been if it were all fortunate enough to live beyond the damp confines of The Bishop’s head.īefore that, though, let’s just go over one more time why the original GMC Motorhome was such a big deal.
8BIT DRUMMER FULL
The GMC Motorhome was different, enjoying the full engineering might of GM to make something really special. Campers and RVs and Motorhomes or whatever you want to call those drivable houses-on-wheels have always been the domain of smaller, lower-tech specialist companies as opposed to major automakers, which is why so many RVs are built like construction company office trailers bolted to a truck chassis. In hindsight, the GMC Motorhome is an incredible, improbable thing.