I imagine it’s an exciting moment when you buy your first motorhome and begin assembling plans dfor summer season on the open road. The world beckons and there’s seemingly endless adventure at your finger tips. But there’s also likely some fairly significant maintenance expenses to account, not to mention identifying a suitable storage arrangement. This 1977 GMC Jimmy “Royale” motorhome was sold not too long ago and is now back up for sale here on eBay with a suggested opening bid of $11,250 and no action as of yet.
At first, I thought this was a “garage find” photo that suggested the clean GMC was a recent discovery; however, a quick Google search reveals it supposedly sold not too long ago here for a heady $46,000. That’s a big number for one of these, and while the enthusiast community definitely has a ton of appreciation for these nicely proportioned GMC motorhomes, there’s also plenty of them for sale at a far lower number. Did the winning bidder ever follow through with their purchase, or is the new owner having buyer’s remorse?
I highly doubt at the price seemingly paid that you’ll be flipping the motorhome for anything resembling a profit. Now, it is in absolutely fantastic condition inside and out (based on the photos, at least) which may explain why the previous sale was for such a strong number. Much of the allure with old RVs is finding one that is as close to turnkey as possible so you can begin adventuring instead of spending your summer cleaning out what was previously a mobile homeless encampment. The upholstery and wood paneling both appear to be in excellent condition, and the same goes for the flooring.
The tell-tale sign that this GMC did indeed find a new home after its last auction appearance is that it’s moved from Colorado to Connecticut. The new owner may have splurged, but they also purchased a motorhome in seemingly excellent condition. Owning a vehicle like this is not a situation most potential buyers enter into lightly; there’s a conscious decision to modify your lifestyle to fit having an RV. So, finding a new buyer will require some effort, especially if the seller wishes to recoup their purchase price. Do you think this GMC will find a new home for the same price (or better) than what this short-term seller paid?
1st, I’d like to apologize to BF readers, and to Scotty for derailing his “Revcon” post with that awful person squatting on anothers campsite. Most of the people I meet here are pretty cool and realize their limitations. As usual, one bad apple ruins it for everyone.
2nd, this is a nice one, probably the nicest motorhome. Sure, motorhomes get bigger, if you like driving a tour bus around. These are much more useful, and drive like a car. These have air ride suspension, and a maladjusted leveling valve has this back too high. Air ride was in its infancy, but properly adjusted, eliminated that “municipal dump truck ride”, so common with early motorhomes. Yeah, yeah, the price, off their nut, but they were nice units.
Yeah, we were all anxiously waiting for your apology.
Hah hah, good one!
I absolutely love these. I have never owned one, but I have had a couple of friends who have and I have got to experience several road trips with them. When you pull in RV Parks they create quite a buzz. I don’t think they are for the real hard core RV enthusiast , but for a wanna be like myself , they are very cool. Fun short trips, tailgating and in the pits of the races ,it doesn’t get any better. I know because I got to do it a couple of times.
The only thing cooler and for the “hard core RVer” (and unlimited budget) would be an 80’s GM RTS diesel pusher bus built out to your liking.
Everyone thinks rving is oh so great. UNTIL it’s time to empty the 💩 ☢️ tank. That’s when the for sale sign flies.
Yeah, there’s no status level around the sewer dump site hole, and becoming costly too.
Install a macerator pump. It takes some plumbing changes to make it work right but it then is a joy to use (by comparison).
Very nice interior, before seeing it I was thinking of stripping it out to build a rolling meth lab [j/k], but it’s far to nice to meet that fate. In fact it’s in better condition than my current 1980s kitchen. Hopefully someone will grab this that can enjoy it. When they first came out, I was a teenager, and thought they were uber cool, and I still feel that way.
Seeing where it is in CT it might already be a rolling meth lab.
Definitely the one sold on Bring a Trailer for $46,000 – see the referenced link for more photos, details, and comments. Same photos, same seller????
It’s the rear-bath layout which means a separate mini tub/shower, but a “dry” bathroom.
Now bid to $18,600 with 43 hours remaining. Unlikely to meet previous selling price but a nice unit at even $30,000. A bargain compared to prices of similar new RVs, but maybe a reliability concern for the less mechanical crowd.
If I was 30 years younger, I’d be bidding.
Where are all the 23 footers?
This a Royale built on a GMC motorhome/Transmode body. These came in 23 and 26 foot lengths. I have owned both, currently a 1978 Kingsly.
I heard Royale was a quality orientated company. I do believe they do the Prevost conversions as well.
Royale is only a model of the GMC motorhome line. Not the manufacture of the GMC. coaches.
Looking at the 2nd pic above, how many here have a garage that can hold this huge thing? My 1945 house’s attached garage could not even hold a ’72 tempest, tho oddly, a ’55 chevy would fit – barely.
I like the space man’s ride (used to shuttle astronauts around the Cape, to pad). They were a good design. Upgrade to 12v & allison.
The Rialto (ve dub) and beemer (Vixen) are even better for me (down sized). I still might use that drivetrain in one…
I thought the same thing for sure. Then one of the old ones came up for sale, and I found out they were Airstreams. Couldn’t believe it. I was SURE they were GMCs.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut_transfer_van
Wikipedia being such a leftist organization now , it is difficult to believe anything they write as lying is a standard leftism
Practice, they label and distort just about everything now …
Barbie had one of these. Search, “Barbie Star Traveler Motorhome”. Very cool vehicles.
This is a nice rig, I love the color combination, although not the layout. I’m not a big fan of rear baths in these. I had a restored 26′ 1977 GMC Eleganza with a rebuilt engine and trans with a completely new interior save the dash. plus new Alcoa aluminum wheels and new tires. He had (and gave me) all of the receipts totaling over $50k but for whatever reason he was only asking $25k so I bought it. I wish I would’ve kept it. I pulled a Kawasaki 1500 Vulcan Classic Custom behind it and together they looked incredible in shades of tan and brown. I had some folks ask me if I was going to a show one day, and when I was coming down out of Prescott heading home to Mesa a State Patrol guy stopped me just because he wanted to take a closer look. Seeing this really makes me wish I would have kept both of them.
Foe some reason General Motors had a hard time selling these motor homes. GM then resorted into talking their big dealers into buying them at discounts. My neighbor was one of these dealers and he bought one. I never thought to ask him how much he paid. Another one of my neighbors had a Ford store and he had 5 adult children plus his wife and him all driving demos. He toldme they would never bring the keys into the house because of the chance of getting them mixed up. We never had any thiefts
Great motorhome!
As much as i love the look and layout of these , i cannot live without a drivers side door , it drives me up the walls !
Anyone selling the house and not sure where they are going should buy it and drive it … Until they find next place they like, sell the RV again. Perhaps that’s how it’s been used so far?