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 brought 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.
4WD conversions of these are/were popular with the East Coast surfcasting crowd. Take ’em out on the beach for a week when the stripers are running!
That model was a beast to drive. I had a 1971 22′ with a 413. After driving for 4 hours I was totally beat. But for me, a nice bit of nostalgia!
i personally would not buy it only because i prefer the class C type RV so i have a door to hope out as well as my wife has her own door we had a bigger than this class A for a few years if i do decide to get another class A i would start with a Prevost and build it from there. but this one should last the buyer a few years and looks to be in nice condition.
Yup its that time of year,by May 1st all the snowbirds will have left my Arizona retirement community, infact some have already departed for Washington, Wyoming and one all the way back to Maine.
you would think that the toilet would have been fixed if it was being used for trips.
My folks had one. Might have been a 21 footer, but it was nice for what it was. And like Howard
said, it was a 318 2bbl. with auto
tranny that couldn’t get out of its
own way! That’s when Dad got a
440 powered Champion 🏆 instead. So okay, what are you
gonna tell your wife or girlfriend
when you buy it? It followed me
home 🏡, can I keep it? Or gee
honey 🍯 I got a good deal on it?
Folks I can’t say this enough, you’d better really like this thing
because you’re gonna be calling it home sweet home when she
kicks you to the curb. But seriously, I could use it for a bug
out vehicle in case we get a monster hurricane 🌀 this Summer. Just hook my K-5 to it
and head for the hills! We”ve got
family in Alabama or Illinois we
could stay with til the danger passes. And we’ll have a place to
stay while we clean up the mess.
Solar power? You betcha! You’ll
have A/C to keep you cool. All you need is to fix the fridge to keep your food cold and the crapper to relieve yourself and you’ll have it made! BMH, I’d like to see that lifted motorhome you
had. Reminds me of an article I
read in the December issue of Rod & Custom Magazine about a guy who built one like yours and
ran it in the 1970 Baja 1000! He even
had a seat belt on the toilet seat
to keep you from falling off it in
case you hit a bump! And 56 years later, it still makes me smile.
I just sent Scotty via email the last pic I had of the RV before I sold it. Hopefully he posts it!
Had one of these 20 years ago and lived in it for 6 months after my divorce. Mine had the 318 in it and a practically new Onan generator in it. Great vehicle and only paid 3 grand for mine.
Worlds Fair in Spokane WA 1974
We stayed in a campground full of these parked side by side rental for the week we were there.
You couldn’t drive them off site.
It was a really nice setup with horseback trail rides and such and shuttles to the Fair
Damn!
I was a sophomore in HS, last family vacation with me…
Lol
How on earth did Winnebago survive the 1970s while building what must’ve been the least economical noncommercial vehicles on the road?
Hi Jason, glad you asked. In 1970, gas prices in America were about .33/gallon, .36 for high test, and fuel economy just wasn’t a concern. Fill ‘er up, and to get to a round number, spill the rest on the ground. :0
In 1977, I read Winnebago sold their 100,000th motorhome despite the oil crisis of 1974, when fuel prices DOUBLED to a whopping,,,.74/gal!!
This may be my only means to home ownership in California.
You and me both, Paolo. That’s why I left CA 10 years ago.
Safety note: My 2005 Class A Airstream has a rear left side window that is an emergency exit: the window frame can be released and hinges out to exit. My 30′ also has a driver door, a feature I wanted when we were buying. We are the second owners and the seller took his new purchase to Banks Engineering for expanded air intake and an improved dual exhaust to the 8.1 GMC. It sounds great, drives well and gets me 10-11mpg so there are improvements available, perhaps the 318 has some real improvements possible. We made some suspension improvements to the Workhorse chassis as well as the “home” parts too: take your house down the road at 60mph and see what shakes loose! It is not Rolls Royce or Ferrari-level expenses but it takes continuous investment.
Go take a peak at the two test drives that Bud lindemann made on two of these. Quite interesting to see
O honey lets buy it so we then take to a RV storage lot and uses it sometime
Dad bought a new 72 Winnie Indian. Just found the sales receipt in an old file. $11,500. We traveled all over in that rig. Big fights between the parents over correct leveling so the refrigerator would work. They sold it in 1986. Great memories.