BF Classified: 1965 Clark Cortez

Asking Price: $5,000
Location: Southwest, Virginia
Mileage: 29,000
Title Status: Clean
VIN: 1656641629

Seller’s Description: Anybody up for some dinosaur hunting?

This auction is for a rare 1965 Clark Cortez Motorhome built by the Clark forklift company.

This unique motorhome spent most of its early life in New Mexico before coming to East Tennessee around the year 2000; the previous (late) owner had been a rocket scientist who’d worked for Sandia labs and Los Alamos, so the attention to detail of just about everything was evident; and come to find out, this is no ordinary Clark Cortez: This could be what you’d call the “Cadillac” of Clark Cortez’s as the original anemic 6 cylinder had been meticulously converted in the late 70s to a beastly 500 cubic inch Cadillac engine. A 1978 article in “The Cortez National” magazine lays out the details of the entire conversion. This article (and all accompanying photos) was found in the stacks of paperwork and build sheets tucked away neatly in folders in an old milk box inside one of the cabinets – just about every receipt, document, and owners manual to everything from the fridge to the the toilet to the swamp cooler on top, was in there, including several blueprints and very detailed hand-written notes. I’ll include a few pics showing just a part of the immense collection of receipts and paperwork found inside.

Back when I acquired it, the previous owner had passed several years earlier and the motorhome had been left sitting behind the house, unused for around 10+ years. Amazingly, with some fresh gas, a hot battery and some brake fluid, she fired right up and moved under her own power out to the front yard for an easier pick-up. Even after sitting for over 10 years, the engine started immediately and sounded great, quietly rumbling through the newer dual stainless steel exhaust. I did have this hauled to my location on a large rollback, so I know it possible to transport it on one. Being originally from New Mexico, this particular Cortez had escaped a lot of the rust and rot issues that had plagued others like it in the past, the late owner going as far as having the steel professionally replaced a full 4 inches above the drip rail with galvanized steel – a preventative move just to insure that the common Cortez roof-rail rust would never happen. He also built a complex steel roof rack to haul, among other things, his kayaks and small sailboats. This is one heavy-duty safari rig.

At only around 19ft long, this thing looks like a mix between a giant VW bus and some sort of weird, extinct dinosaur; in fact, the first time I saw it from the front, I thought it looked like some kind of prehistoric creature – I’d never seen anything designed quite like it before. That, added with the skeletal roof rack, made me instantly think of Jurassic Park, and with the base exterior colors, it was already perfect! So, it had to be done – the Cortez would become John Hammond’s personal RV – one that I imagined him driving through the jungles of Isla Sorna as he worked to build the worlds first dinosaur menagerie on the neighboring Isla Nublar – Jurassic Park.

This Cortez was pretty much a time capsule and was still in amazingly good condition, so I really didn’t have to do a lot of anything other than a major clean up, scrape then coat the entire roof with elastomeric rubber coating, then start dressing her up in the Jurassic Park theme. I knew that the 30th Anniversary of Jurassic Park was coming up, so it was the perfect opportunity to designate an appropriate JP number to her, this would be “JP30”, which was also one up from John Hammond’s Jeep in the first movie “JP29”. All of the decals were made by a local sign shop, distressed to match the incredible patina that was already on the motorhome; everything had a weathered patina, and that’s the way I wanted to preserve it. One of the sliding passenger side door glasses had a hole from apparently a rock thrown by a lawnmower and I dreaded replacing it, so I had an idea – it could’ve been caused by a dino attack! So, in went a raptor claw into the hole with some clear two-part epoxy, and voila – a velociraptor attack! I even turned the late owners old sea kayak into what might have been one that John Hammond himself paddled around in the coves of Isla Sorna. I also thought the Jurassic Park advertising poster on the passenger side might be a quirky touch – and something Mr Hammond, always the showman, might have had on there. One thing’s for certain – if you don’t like attention, this motorhome is not for you as I’m sure driving it anywhere would draw all kinds of a crowd. It would actually make the most incredible mobile tiny home ever.

There’s definitely still some finish work to do, such as replace the master cylinder to get the brakes working properly (it’s leaking and fluid needs to be added periodically), replace the tires (they still look decent but are old and dry rotted), change all of the fluids, wire-up all of the off-road lights, and various other small things. She’s very close to being road-ready but she’s not quite there yet, so if you want to drive her home you’ll have to drop it off at a garage and let them go over it first, brakes and tires being first and foremost. I have plugged it into A/C power and many of the lights and things do work inside including the fridge (a few of the lights in the bulkheads aren’t working, not sure why). I haven’t tried the swamp cooler on top as I have no idea how it works, so working condition of that is unknown. The original Clark Cortez A/C on the front of the roof does come on and blow properly, but not very cold. The engine does start right up and sounds great with no smoke or noises. I have driven it around the block but no further because of the brakes and tires; could possibly need a carburetor rebuild due to sitting. I have no idea if the added cruise control still works. Headlights (high and low beam), tail lights, brake lights and turn signals all work. All doors shut nice and tight and all door locks work with the key. No idea if the toilet or shower (or any of the plumbing) works, or the heating unit as I’ve never tried any of these. The interior seat coverings appear to be original and look very similar to Martin Crane’s recliner on Frasier, these are in great condition except for the driver and passenger seat which have separation (drivers seat being the worst, see pics). The dinette turns into a full bed with the front seat and one part of the dinette making a full hanging bunk bed, so it basically sleeps 4 people if necessary. The odometer is showing 29,000 miles and oil change stickers reflect that mileage, but I’m more inclined to think it’s probably 129,000 instead (although condition is still so good being almost 60 yrs old, who knows?). Needless to say, if you’ve ever wanted to own a vintage Clark Cortez, you might want to consider getting in on this one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/325247701456

Auction Listing: Here on eBay