It’s that time of year again, at least for those of us in the snowbelt regions of North America. This is the time of year when a lot of us start thinking about summer, camping, fishing, and just getting away from it all. This 1974 Winnebago Indian Class A motorhome can be found listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Farmington, New Mexico, and they’re asking $9,500 or best offer. Here is the original listing, and thanks to T.J. for the tip!
The seller has this RV listed as a D21, as in a 21-foot model, but I’m not positive if the mid-trim Indian series came in a 21-foot size in 1974. I can’t track down a 1974 brochure that shows a floor plan similar to this one with a front bathroom, and one that shows a 21-foot model. They all show 23-foot and 25-foot models.
When you’re over 20 feet, anything is a bonus. It’s more about the condition than whether it has two feet more or two feet less space inside. And while this looks like a really nice example, there are a few big issues with the living quarters part of this rig. The fridge isn’t working, and even though the seller lived in this Winnebago for a month, that didn’t seem to be a big issue. A bigger one may be that the toilet has a broken water intake, so I’m assuming that isn’t working.
Condition-wise, though, this mid-level Indian motorhome looks great from what we can see. Winnebago was the name to beat in the golden era of motorhome travel, or what I consider the golden era of the 1960s and 1970s. All kinds of personal recreational activities were becoming popular as people found themselves with more free time on their hands. It’s come up before on vintage camping vehicles shown here, that with only one exit door, these older motorhomes can be a bit scary if anything were to happen, and you couldn’t get out of that one door.
Winnebago referred to the Indian series as “medium-priced” compared to the base-level Brave and top Chieftain models. I can’t track down this floor plan, and it’s taken several years off my life. I hate not being able to exactly identify the model of any vehicle. This would be a nice traveling rig, or would have been in the 1970s before we all started wearing seatbelts. Sitting in that back seat would have been great, while mom and dad are up front and we’re going 52 mph in the left lane.
Here’s the non-working toilet, hopefully that can be fixed by the next owner. This Winnebago is powered by a Dodge 440-cu.in. OHV V8 and is backed by a three-speed automatic. I’m guessing it has a decent amount of power. The seller has added solar panels to the roof that’ll provide some power for remote camping, and when you’re at a remote beach location, it’ll come in handy. The seller lived in this rig for a month in Baja Mexico and it has new tires, struts, all new Pex water lines (other than the toilet?), and it needs a roof vent and some other minor tinkering, but for $9,500 or offer, you’d be hard-pressed to find such a unique way to travel. Have any of you owned a vintage Winnebago motorhome?
Front end like a pug 🐕 😎 👍
Rawhide, Direct From Nashville,,:),,my parents 1st motormehome was a unit just like this, although a bit older, I read the D series came out in ’67. Compared to the pull behind campers previously, it had a few advantages, but a whole new set of challenges came up. It had a 318, 2 barrel, and was horribly underpowered, especially in a stiff head wind. Cross winds downright scary. It was essentially a Dodge single axle dump truck, and rode like one. It also had a voracious appetite for fuel, which we liked, because we got to stop so often and get out of that tin can. Also, after finding a campsite, if you have to go anywhere, you have to roll in the cords, OR, pull something, and that adds yet another dimension, and decreasing fuel mileage to gallons per mile. Far as the layout, I believe one could custom build their own, or ordered bare, and finished out themselves. We’ve come a long ways in motorhomes from these humble beginnings, relegated mostly today by the less than fortunate in the back row of the Loves Travel Center, a group I’d rather not associate with.
And that terlet is another thing,,I know, I’m trying to get beyond that, despite its record # of comments,,,,I’m sorry, those things gross me out, and driving around with a tank of black water( and the gross unloading of such) isn’t for me. I may do some traveling and have considered these, but unless a short camping trip, which it would be ideal for, any long distance will require more than patience, like an “unlimited” credit card.
A Cousin Eddie special! But much cleaner.
If you can believe it I had a 4×4 version of this. Sold it a few years ago. It needed some work but ran well. The inside was OK but the outside was in great shape. It was lifted (obviously) running on 33’s with Alcoa Rims and a host of other accouterments. Got roughly 5 MPG’s. I can send you the pictures if you want to post them Scotty – she was a blast!
I’d like to see that!!! This one really doesn’t look too bad. I’m not an RV expert, and that plumbing situation would make me a bit nervous. As Howard briught out about his families having a 318 2 barrel, this one having a 440 has got to be way better climbing hills. Considering its over 50 years old it doesn’t look that bad. Inside or out.