The 1980s represented an intriguing cocktail of wild excesses and loose quality control. A period where almost every idea got a green stamp of approval at headquarters provided it could be passed off as “new” without so much as grazing the R&D budget. The motorhome market was certainly one of those places where you could go nuts, as this 1985 EMC Eldorado Starfire listed here on Facebook Marketplace goes to show. Apparently intended to be perceived as a “sporty” motorhome with a Lincoln front end, it faded into obscurity quickly despite having an utterly shocking nose panel that will haunt your dreams later tonight. The seller is asking $10,000.
And at that price, the seller is likely to own it for quite some time. You can make some money playing the rarity card with a few different vehicles, such as Corvettes and vintage Mopars, but it’s far harder to find an RV enthusiast who wants to expand his collection of the most obscure motorhomes ever made. Especially one that amounts to an otherwise standard RV that stands out solely for having the schnozz of a Lincoln MK VII grafted on. But it’s not the whole nose, mind you, as the Lincoln didn’t have a hood the length of a standard garage door. No, it’s just the grill and the headlights. The taillights most certainly came from some other 80s Detroit product.
The interior looks pretty standard for a motorhome of this vintage, but everything inside is the same color pink as your grandmother’s bathroom (that’s not a compliment.) It’s downright odd to combine a pink and mauve exterior with the same finish on the inside, isn’t it? Then again, it appears styling decisions were being made with a dartboard and a couple Midori Sours, so maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. I am surprised, however, that the seller didn’t go to more of an effort to tidy up inside, which could mean he’s still actively living in this thing. Are those dirty dishes on the counter?
The EMC Eldorado utilized a Ford-sourced 460 V8, good for 225 horsepower and 380 lb.-ft. of torque. The driver information center up front looks pretty trick, and I wonder what happens after all of those perimeter sensors light up simultaneously (maybe the giant hood opens up to reveal a Russian nuclear warhead?) Anything is possible with the EMC Eldorado Starfire, a vehicle so wild it combined a Lincoln front end with one of Cadillac’s most iconic nameplates. This oddball RV is likely one of only a few left in operable condition, so perhaps someone will want it for the novelty factor alone – but likely only after a steep discount.
There is one of these beasts along the road on 17 I believe here in Florida. Had a for sale sign forever. It’s not very pretty either. Maybe they were going for the big truck look with a classy grill up front? Yep it’s a nitch vehicle and that was a small space then.
Lavery maybe this one will have Howard reconsider his RV dream 😲🤔👍
Pretty . . . ugly
Mary Kay RV?
Unlike Cadillac, the motorhome people got the name right – El Dorado, rather than Eldorado. Taillights are from a Ford F-Series.
Dorado being a fish…
When is a Lincoln not a Lincoln? And when is an Eldorado not an Eldorado?
Cadmenis, you don’t happen to live in or near Winter Haven do you? Reason I ask is that I might’ve seen this beast on my way to work when I was a dining room manager at the Taco Bell
restaurant on HWY 17 South down by the old Chain Of Lakes
complex there. When the Red Sox and Indians played their Spring training games at Chain Of
Lakes stadium 🏟️, my store 🏬
was full of hungry fans before and after game time. Got to meet guys like Manny Ramirez and Wade Boggs and wait on them while they were there. It’s been 35 years now, but I still recall having to completely clean
my place after George Brent and
the Kansas City Royals completely trashed the store after losing to the Red Sox in a
Spring training game in ’91 or ’92.
I just might’ve seen this thing around there somewhere. Used to get the Indians players in my store after the games and compared to the Royals, they were a decent bunch of young fellas who were very polite and respectful when they dropped by
for a taco before my shift was over. We set up a meet and greet
with Wade Boggs one time for one of our team mates who was dying from cancer. He got a big kick out of that and we did too!
Spent 20 years working there before I retired from there in 2009. Compared to that store, my little McDonald’s here in West
Melbourne seems pretty tame. But this camper? It is indeed a niche vehicle that you’d have to live in when and if you were to buy this thing and take it to your
former home to show your wife what you bought off Facebook
Marketplace.
Jacksonville, I don’t use I4 and use back roads to cross the state to get over to I75
My mother had a place in Ft Myers so used to go by the RV.
This would have made a great roadside hooker’s den in Cannonball Run.
… All the ambiance of a well worn airport bus. The cow catcher nose gives me the creeps. Little old ladies will cringe at the sight of something this hideous, a motor home? …from the bone yard behind the airport this thing presents. Strip out the 460, scavange a few parts and send it to the metal scrap yard.
Good to recall that someone bought this thing new. Was probably their pride and joy. Had to have been love at first sight.
I remember seeing one or two of these in the late 80s / early 90s when they were current. One Saturday night in the summer of 1989, a surprisingly recent movie was on USA Up All Night – most of the B movies I’d seen there before were kinda dated. But this one had all the current stars – Patrick Swayze, Kelly Lynch, Sam Elliott, Roy from “Emergency!”, and current hit maker Jeff Healey. Anyway, in the scene where Brad Wesley orders his thug to drive Big Foot through the Ford showroom, one of these RVs is on the lot brand new in the background. And I remember thinking at the time, this movie must have spent like a week in theaters before tumbling to USA Up All Night B-movie obscurity.
Roadhouse!
Being as I am in Facebook lockup, I googled and came across a YouTube video that gave me a clearer picture of these unique vehicles. These were available with the 6.9 Ford/ International diesel and reported 14+ MPG. The homely front end also housed the batteries and made for a more isolated generator location.
It seems the designer of these vehicles also contributed to the design of IMO 2 of the greatest muscle cars that ever hit the road. Back in the day El Dorado campers dominated in the Midwest and this is the vehicle that finally broke them.
Thanks Jeff for the write up and the post. Also Ken, sorry for my Royals trashing your Taco Bell but, you finally got a chance to trash them here on BF 35 years later. I’m sure they trashed a lot better places than Taco Bell!
The movie was Road House with
Patrick Swayze as a legendary bouncer named Dalton out to tame a raucous bar called the Double Deuce. Reminds me of some of the places in Winter Haven I played in before retiring from the music business in 1990.
Most notable was the Palms Tavern in downtown Winter Haven. And if ever there was a clone to the Double Deuce, that bar was it. The single act, or band, was locked inside a steel cage to protect them from unruly
patrons. I mean how Southern could it be? Glasses and bottles
being thrown at you by a crowd of
drunken rednecks? All in a night’s work right? Not quite. The first night I played there, a Hispanic fellow walked in by mistake when he was verbally jumped by the other patrons and
my late BIL who was already 3 or 4 sheets in the wind by that time.
It’s been nearly 40 years since that night and I still don’t know where the Hispanic guy got that
machete, but he was gonna gut
my BIL like a fish! That was my
first and last night playing there.
You just knew what kind of night
you were gonna have when you saw someone being tossed through a screen door head first
WITHOUT the door being opened!
I retired not long after some friends of mine lost all their equipment when it was destroyed
in a barroom brawl at the Shipwreck Lounge over on Lake Shipp drive in 1990. That was enough for me. They lost over $10K worth of equipment that might and when they sued the owner, it took them til 2005 to collect the court ordered damages they won from the owner. Such was life in Polk County Florida.
The interior colors are mind-boggling. Not in a good way.
Thanks Matt. Boys will be boys at least that’s what my GM said after he saw the place. And while I know what they say is true about some sports teams, you are right, they probably DID destroy better places than my store, but it really pissed me off
when they did it. The store was
small (44 seats) and I had folks waiting to be seated. Everything worked
out fine when the Royal’s front office cut the owners a check for
their losses. And yes, I got my share of that check when the company gave me hazard pay during spring training and on weekends too.
No doubt you earned it buddy!
It always amazes me that a seller can’t at least clear the crap off the kitchen counter before taking pics…And maybe remove the ratty doormat at the entry. It would not be that difficult to make it look a little more attractive.
Lovely looking motorhome. It’s damned unforgivable that it didn’t sell well.