The Vixen motorhome is no stranger to these pages, as it’s one of the few vehicles of its class that can rightfully be considered a “driver’s car.” In other words, the engineering was led by someone who truly understood why anyone who actually enjoyed driving would never find piloting a massive motorhome all that tempting of an experience. The Vixen set out to change all of that, along with a smaller form factor to be able to park in your garage and slippery aerodynamics to generate better fuel efficiency. This Vixen 21SE listed here on Facebook Marketplace is one of the very rare GM 3800 V6-powered examples and the seller is asking $9,500.
When the Vixen 21 was introduced, it featured the novel combination of a BMW-sourced turbo-diesel and a 5-speed manual transmission. The transmission came from Renault, and most of the Vixen was a parts bin special. However, the BMW engine provided acceptable thrust for a diesel, reaching 60 in about 20 seconds. Rowing your own gears in a vehicle like like had to at least trigger the occasional giggle fit, but it was likely quickly quieted when realizing you were going nowhere fast. The original Vixen also had a pop-top style roof which allowed it to park inside most garages; as you can see, the GM-powered version has a raised, fixed roof, which creates more headroom but relegates it to outside parking.
The challenge with the original pop-up design was that until you were fully popped-up, the Vixen was tight inside for tall occupants. The raised roof seen here created much more usable head room, and given most Vixen owners likely parked outside anyway, this was probably seen as a welcome change. The GM drivetrain offered a serious boost in horsepower, to the tune of a 55 b.h.p. bump over the diesel engine. Sadly, the manual was also removed, replaced with a conventional GM 4-speed automatic. But again, like the fixed roof, how many owners really relished the opportunity to hustle a Vixen through an ancient Renault gearbox?
The 3800 is a famously reliable engine, and some Vixen enthusiasts have even ripped that engine out in favor of dropping in a supercharged version, which makes this a legitimate motorhome hot rod. The Vixen shown here is quite rare in SE trim, with estimates hovering around 170 examples ever built, and we’ve seen enough of these in junkyards and otherwise abandoned to know the attrition rate is high. The seller notes that this Vixen has a slipping transmission, but he has secured and entirely separate 3800 and matching transmission to go with the project, so the next owner should have a functioning transmission ready to drop in. Is this rare motorhome worth repairing?
Vixen needs fixin.