An older class A for a single traveler

We love our HR, it was the top of the line in its day, but getting a motorhome that has a modern fuel-injected engine and more advanced transmission would be worth it.

Forget trying to upgrade transmission and try and save more money and buy a newer unit, the older they are the more problems they have, try to get one with fuel injection and it will have a over drive trans as well, the old carburetor models have to many issues with vapor lock, over heating and many other issues and you will be spending lots of time and dollars trying to fix those issues alone plus many other issues such as refrigerator, heater, a/c, roof leaks and such.

Newer is better when it comes to motorhomes..

Just my 2 cents.

what ever you do, don't get an old A built on a P30/32 chassis. very poor handling,
bumpy

Gas motorhomes in the 1980s will usually have Ford/John Deere or Chevy (P-30 series) chassis with 460 V8 and C6 automatic on the Ford, 454 V8 and TH475 automatic on the Chevy. These are three-speeds.

In the era before electronic controls, these drivetrains can be matched up with a Gear Vendors over/under drive, for about $3200 - $3600 plus installation. Best use of the combination might involve re-gearing the final drive to optimize 3+overdrive for your load and cruise speed (for some loads, particularly towing, overdrive can be too tall).

For something that cost $7000-8000 to start with, I think the additional cost of the overdrive would best be used to get something new enough to have the more modern fuel injected versions of these big V8s, combined with 4-speed overdrive automatics.

The added cost of the overdrive might even put the budget into the late 90s, early 2000 era, when GM offered the more powerful and economical Vortec engines with electronically controlled automatics, and Ford had made the transition to the Triton V-10.

27 feet usually gets you a bedroom and either dinette or sofa. 30-32 feet gets you a bedroom and dinette and sofa and maybe an easy chair or bigger kitchen or bathroom. You will not find much difference in getting around, finding parking, 27 vs 30 feet.

For concerns about gas mileage, weigh whatever additional cost for overdrive against how far you intend to drive and MPG improvements. I used about $10,000 worth of gas to move my 29-foot motorhome 30,000 miles. That was 8.2 MPG average, most of it in the $3 - $4 per gallon era. A 2 MPG improvement would have saved me about $2000 over that time, not quite halfway to paying for a Gear Vendors installation. Payout would need something like 60,000 to 100,000 miles of driving. I can get the 2 MPG improvement by slowing down 10-15 MPH.

Now that I'm using the motorhome mostly for short trips to the lake, I don't worry about MPG for those trips. I do my travel camping in a full-size van, 15-16 MPG, essentially what you can expect from a 1990s or later B (older ones might be more like 12-13).

The problem with the old 3 spd and big block gas with ~4.33 rear end (or deeper) is the engine was always at the top of the tach, and to be honest they didn't last very long. Look how many you are looking at in the 7-10 range that have had engine replacements or tranny.

To me, For $7-10, you are buying a hobby, not reliable travel.

I love my 27' Class A which I have had for over 6 years and have been living in it the past 4 years. Mine does not have a sofa, but has a dinette and a nice bedroom with walk around queen bed. I can swing the front driver and passage seat around to use as a recliner. It has been very comfortable living for me. I do travel in it quite a bit and average around 10 mpg keeping it under 60. most of all, driving a Class A is enjoyable. The large windshield and being high up makes the ride fun. Good luck on your RV shopping.

Our 96 Southwind has 4 speeds. (ovedrive). I don't know when the chassis manufacturers went from 3 speed to 4 speed.
Personally, I don't think it would be worth the price to change the transmission, unless the RV has a bad transmission.

You're definitely not going to get good MPH cruising at 70. I think you will find most agree around 58-62 MPH is the most economical speed for motor homes.
I'm guessing an older 3 speed Class A traveling at 70 MPH will get about 5 MPG, or less.

If you're looking for better MPG, spend the money and get a Class B.
Keep us updated on what you decide.

I have a 2002 Safari Trek 28 ft and think it would be very spacious for a solo traveller, even the 26 ft Trek layout would work well. In the case of the Trek's built on the P-32 Chevy / Workhorse platform for 1995-2003 then the Workhorse W series or Ford F53 after 2003 I think all P-32 models came with a 4 speed 4L80E or 4L85E (2003 only) transmission. A 5 speed and then a 6 speed were used on the later W series platform Trek's. As to the big V-8 issue, at least in the case of the P32 Safari Trek's there were 3 gasoline engines offered over the years, the old throttle body injected 454 for 95-96, the 7.4 / 454 Vortec mid 97-mid 01 then the 8.1 Vortec 01+. Over this 7 year span the Horse power went from 230 in 95, to 290 in 97 with the vortec series engine and then up to 340 with the 8.1 in 01 so as you can see there was a considerable capacity increase just over these few short years.

I had a 1999 chieftain the first year that the new and improved Ford chassis arrived. I have no idea how many gears the tranny had. if you are cruising at 70, it will be chugging gas regardless of transmission.
bumpy