California Sighting--cool old RV

Another old California Class C as in Chassis Mounted Camper. 1979

Here's a pretty good looking one that I found on elsewhere on the web...

Inside looks pretty darn good for the age. It's on the Colorado Springs Craigslist for $3500, if anybody needs a large jolt of nostalgia ;).

Jim, "People told me to follow my dreams. So I went back to bed."

We owned this 1969 Chinook Class C (?) for several years. We called it a "chassis mount" style RV back then:

- Built on a GMC 3500 chassis with the 350 engine

- Three kinds of lighting - 12 volt DC, 120 volt AC, and propane

- One piece fiberglass roof

- Propane furnace with no circulation fan ... easy on the battery

- Designed with no park gear in it's automatic tranny ... put on the emergency brake, block the wheels, and cross your fingers

- Could crawl through into the coach area from the cab

- Large wrap around window all the way across the back and around the corners for a great view when eating or sleeping there

I had a regular '72 van that looked like that.

Dakzuki wrote:
..... The rear door rotted out eventually as did the metal of the Chev (they were prone to it).

I heard that! In my mis-spent youth, I spent a few years in the mid-70's driving as a bank courier (no cash, just checks & paperwork). We had an all-Ford fleet, F-150's and Torinos. But the company got a 'deal' on some low-miles Chevy pickups from another courier outfit that was going belly up.

I brought a F-150 in from a run as another courier was getting into one of those Chevys. He was wearing cowboy boots, and the narrow heel punched completely thru the door sill under his weight! I had to help him pull his boot out, him trying to lift his foot while I pulled up on the boot. It was another 3 decades before I considered any GM product after seeing that.

BTW, the Ford pickups did as do well at auction with 350,000+ miles on them as ones with only 50,000 ;). We didn't get rid of them until they burned a quart of 50 weight every 500 miles.... and we really hammered the heck out of them, keeping to tight schedules on mostly 2-lane mountain roads. And they ran almost 24/6.

Yep, that's really cool old RV. But I remember all too well what vehicles like that were to drive all day, compared to modern ones.


Jim, "This beer tastes like I'm not going to work tomorrow."

Bordercollie wrote:
Construction of 70's houseboxes was even more leak prone and weighed a lot more than current methods and materials which taxed the smaller carbureted engines and brake systems. We once owned a 23-foot 79 Higgins Delta that weighed a lot, overheated, crawled up grades, rode hard and was not much fun to drive even after installing air bags, Bilsteins. etc. Appreciate your recent lighter, safer, and higher powered rig.

Our family had a 72 Chinook on a Chev. It was awesome and stayed in the family for nearly 30 years. The only issue is it was geared pretty low and at 60 MPH the engine was revving pretty good with no OD. It flat hauled ass up grades with that 350 four bolt and a big 4 barrel. Never had any leak issues of the main structure. The rear door rotted out eventually as did the metal of the Chev (they were prone to it).

My friend bought one in 1983 at the time we both had VW buses and he was so proud of the unit that he insisted on my wife and I sleep in it when we visited, I smaked my head a few times on the ceiling.

The smaller picture is a Travell Queen the pictures on the first post is a Travell King it has the fridge on the drivers side while the Travell Queen has the fridge on the passengers side, also the travell Queen had the batroom on the left rear corner, the Travell king shows a big window, Travell Queen had a very small window.

We travelled with him for a day out and that is what got us thinking of getting something a little bigger than the VW bus and the tent so now we have a 22' C
lots of memories.

navegator

that r.v. was in a scene in the movie "Casino" with Danny DeVito and Sharon Stone "they were in a deep discussion"

undercover agents in the r.v. were spying on the two while in a trailer..

One of those things I had not noticed until I had seen the camper in this discussion..

I do like the roof crowning, especially in colder weather.

Construction of 70's houseboxes was even more leak prone and weighed a lot more than current methods and materials which taxed the smaller carbureted engines and brake systems. We once owned a 23-foot 79 Higgins Delta that weighed a lot, overheated, crawled up grades, rode hard and was not much fun to drive even after installing air bags, Bilsteins. etc. Appreciate your recent lighter, safer, and higher powered rig.