When powerhouse automaker General Motors Corporation entered the hot motorhome market, it leveraged vast resources to design and build the world’s premier family adventure capsule. The 1970s purpose-built recreational vehicle boasts design features unequaled today. This 1973 GMC 260 Motorhome languished in a barn for almost 20 years, according to the seller, and now the Oswego, Illinois classic comes to market in as-is condition needing tires, fuel system work, and a complete going-through before shuttling your family on an epic journey. Check out more pictures and details here on Facebook Marketplace where $5000 transfers the clean title into your name. Thanks to reader Tony P. for spotting this six-wheeled exploration module.
Just as General Motors cars embraced popular culture throughout the ’60s and ’70s with mod colors and patterns, GMC Motorhomes went full-on with bold colors and upholstery.
The low-slung chassis exaggerates the perceived length of these GMCs. As you might expect, this popular and more common 260 measures about 26 feet in length, while fewer buyers opted for the 23-foot long 230, barely longer than a dually pickup. For perspective, you can buy “Super-C” van-based motorhomes up to 30 feet, and monster diesel pusher RVs at 45 plus. The GMC’s air-bagged inline dual rear wheels bring a plush ride with confident handling, easy cabin entry, lower center of gravity, and better clearance of overhead obstructions. Most modern motorhomes utilize tandem tires on each side of a heavy leaf spring solid axle, just like trucks used 100 years ago.
An Oldsmobile-sourced 455 cid (7.5L) V8 and TH425 three-speed automatic front-wheel-drive powertrain gives the GMC motorhome confident traction and elegant design advantages. Keeping the power team at one end eliminates the awkward driveshaft that compromises truck chassis RVs. Twin captain’s chairs rotate to face the forward lounge. Arm rests lower to the level of the seat cushion.
Orange Formica panels compliment the awesome upholstery. It wouldn’t be the ’70s without wood-grain paneling and shag carpeting. Yeah, baby!
The rear lounge becomes a comfortable bed after cocktail time. A full fiberglass wet bath and kitchen occupy the middle of the coach, leaving windows and views for the two seating areas. This long-parked classic’s time-capsule condition favors buyers itching to fly their ’70s flag high with a well-kept original interior. Can you picture your family in this shagelicious ’70s terrestrial space exploration module?
Think they’d trade a moderately used Jeep?Still on the fence with what to do in my 70s, which is coming up fast. I have a daughter and SIL in L.A. and my son and DIL in Portland, Or. Their lives are busy, and if I’m going to see them, I have to go there. I’ve kicked around the idea of a camper, and this would be on top of the list. They broke the standard mold of motorhomes available then. They rode nice with air ride, they handled good, had power, and drove like a car, not some converted dump truck. My only concern with travel today, is the cost. Downwind, you might get 10mpg, and heaven forbid something breaks. Probably have to take it to the truck division, and at $130/hr., it adds up quick. For the fat of wallet however, I say this was the best motorhome made and I wouldn’t hesitate to take this unit top to bottom, side to side( of the country)
$5gs is a joke for this, and by all rights, should be gone by now. Once again, it’s a clear reminder that folks just don’t do this stuff anymore.
With a motor home, the shop hours add up quickly. The shop I managed only worked on emergency vehicles, including Spartan chassis-based fire apparatus. Spartan also made (makes?) motor home chassis. When PAC Brake exhaust brakes were introduced, someone at Spartan told new motor home owners to call us. We were inundated for appointments. We had to walk the length of the motor home to get to the Cummins engine under the bed. We had to cover the floor from the entry door to the bedroom. The technician always had to have fresh coveralls on and had to wipe down any air hoses or equipment taken into the coach. When all repairs were completed, everything was inspected and cleaned as needed. All this non-wrench time was charged out at a shop rate of $120.00/hr (this was in 2000). I guess that you could call it a lucrative PITA. My boss eventually said “enough”, and we went back to servicing emergency vehicles only, as they were more grease-friendly.
Also, the owner offers to transport it “for a price”. I don’t know what that price is, or if they are willing to take it to your house, but when motor homes or fire apparatus came in on a Landoll or a 3 or 4 axle tow truck, we always paid the bill upfront and added it to the repair invoice. Some of the amounts for heavy duty recovery were eye watering. Hopefully, you have substantial room on your credit card when you call for help.
Figured you would be wetting your leg just to get a chance to comment on this vehicle.
Well isn’t that interesting
I was watching an old episode of The Rockford Files recently (a true time machine experience taking me back to my callow misspent youth). There was an overhead shot with one of these in it-I actually laughed while thinking to myself-“most of these are still out there in service today!”.
There’s been a newer Ford-based motor home for sale
on the church property next to our house for a while now.Seems
to be in good shape.I mentioned to my Wife that’d buy a lot of
hotel rooms,& you wouldn’t have to maintain or insure it.I’m sure
that a set of tires would also run into a fair amount of money.
I said pretty much the exact same thing but someone yanked my comment.
EM50 Urban Assault Vehicle😀
This is the twin to my younger brother’s motorhome. I will have to call him and see if he is selling his. If not maybe he would like a second one. He used to pile a bunch of his friends in his and go watch NASCAR races.
Neither advertisment mentioned actual mileage on motorhome making it very difficult to calculate the true cost of getting this rig back on the road, only useful for temporary living while working on your house, a year round campground, or parts the seller of this needs to be more forthright about providing information.
I’m sorry…I usually don’t respond to other folk’s comments, but fer gosh sake, this is a project. I think the seller has been pretty forthright in providing information on a vehicle they may not know much about. Lots of pretty good pictures were provided. And heck, if you’re interested, just contact the seller.
As far as the true cost of getting this back on the road, it would almost always be cheaper to get one that is already mobile, thus reducing the risk. This one makes sense to a DIY person, not someone who sends everything to “my mechanic” Having said all that, it looks like it has Alcoa wheels, a plus, and has good windshields, another plus, and the interior isn’t trashed. A pretty good starting point.
Seeing this brings up memories of Bob Dylan hitting the road in the ’70’s with his “Rolling Thunder Revue”. There is a film of it by Martin Scorcese with Dylan behind the wheel cruising down the highway.
Let’s see, $5K for the motorhome, transportation to either your location (last checked, $40/mile tow) or have it taken to local refirb shop there and have the repair work done there ($3-5K) oh, and the tires. Not your usual Goodyears, these are truck tires. Last time replaced them on our straight truck (in trucking biz) were$1000-1200 EACH). So starts at $5K and will probably end up at around $10-12K investment. If you look around you should be able to find a roadworthy one under$10K and not have the hassle. Have seller repair everything and have them give you a call when done.
“wouldn’t have to maintain it” is a statement so far from the truth in the RV world.
Once you get one, maintaining it is a never ending chore.
Probably “a whole lotta shaggin'” took place in that shag carpet beauty!
This coach is in COLD country, If everything was not flushed of antifreeze in the water system expect nightmares, these coachs are way more difficult and expensive in restoring than an old car of the same era.You can ask how I know that.I can say if you do not have a 12 lb. lift, your labor just multiplied ten fold. 5K asking price for the unknown is a bit much.I actually have a 78 26ft Royale for sale at 22KOBO in very good condition and everything works. I would suggest to anyone that’s interested to do your homework, join the gmc forums, there is massive info and following of these coachs
Pops bought one of these, almost exactly like this, back in the late 80’s for him and Mom to cruise the U.S. of A. To make it road worthy to his specs he upgrade the rear brakes, ripped out all the poly-plumbing and replace it with stainless steel (boy, that was a job), installed a Jacobs ignition system, Doug Thorley header, fabricated a pneumatic step, installed a full compliment of SW gauges and myriad other upgrades. They stayed on the road for over a year and the only issue he had was a single spark plug fouled somewhere out west.
For what it’s worth, we road tested it before the road trip and I was driving it. He kept telling me to “give it a bit more” until I looked down and we were doing over 90 mph and there was more left. No doubt it would top out over 100mph and there was nothing sketchy about it. The “Golden Goose”, as it was named, fairly floated down the highway. Damn near 100. In a motorhome!.
It’s been said, GM , lost money on each one produced. Got out, while they could.
These are desirable units and easy to look after. Cheap price. Seems most comments are from folks who are past doing a resto.
Nice find.. I love these old coaches. The price on this is certainly the lowest I’ve seen so far, but if you don’t do the work yourself the cost of refurbishing these can be really high so whoever buys it may need deep pockets depending. I bought a ’77 GMC Eleganza from a guy in AZ some years back and he had receipts for over $55k worth of work done over the years he owned it (including a rebuilt engine and transmission and oak cabinets etc) so it was in nice shape and about all that was left for me to do was put in a rear side glass and a new water tank. Ten mpg is about right with these in my experience, but once they’re dialed in they’re great motorhomes, and they’re very reliable if the engine, trans and brakes are good. Another upside too is they’re still very popular so if you’re in one of the clubs on FB or otherwise you can connect with friends pretty much across the country and get help if you need it on the road, or just hook up with them and hang out when you’re passing through. They have club meets annually, sometimes two or more every year and you’ll find a number of nice rigs camped all together, and nice folks.
These basically have an Olds Toronado FWD drive train in them. So yea they had plenty of power and decent reliability. And while 10 mpg is pretty pricey nowadays, you aren’t driving it every day, more likely you’re traveling to an RV park and hanging out there for a time and then moving on. It’s a lot of work to get them right, but engine and trans aren’t the expensive parts.
The first parts I know El Grecko, but what I don’t is what the expensive parts are beyond the engine and trans? I had a full list of what the previous owner did in terms of upgrades and maintenance but I didn’t do a thorough examination of it beyond major items (which did include air bags, brakes and tires etc) but if there are other things I should know I’d appreciate it if you’d fill me in. I know nothing on these is what I’d call cheap, but I’m seriously thinking about getting a nicely refurbished one that’s currently available in FL and driving it home to AZ, so if there’s anything I need to address beforehand I’d really appreciate knowing about it. Thanks.
The number one thing to check besides the obvious engine/trans drivability is the electrical system, roof leaks, floor soft spots, and sewer tanks, especially if they use a macerator pump.
Thanks. Roof leaks I knew about but I’ll put the others on my list. I’m thinking it’s probably a good idea to get back on FB and rejoin the groups I was in. A lot of those folks have done pretty much everything there is to do on theirs, and they know where to source parts.
Barbie had this camper!
https://www.reddit.com/r/Barbie/comments/1g2egt2/1976_barbie_star_traveler_rv_camper/?rdt=62149