Innovative and stylish, the GMC MotorHome looks like nothing else. This 1977 GMC Palm Beach MotorHome in Edinburg, Pennsylvania is not perfect, but the rebuilt engine and general good condition leaves minor cosmetic issues as the only shortcomings. The listing here on eBay shows more than a half-dozen bidders with at least one willing to go over $5000. The Buy It Now price of $13,000 seems reasonable. It’s likely you could pay that much, enjoy and maintain it for ten years, and sell it for the same price.
Leveraging experience from its V8-powered front-wheel-drive motorcars including the Oldsmobile Toronado, the GMC MotorHome used 455 cid (7.5L) motors and this 403 cid (6.6L) Oldsmobile V8. The slippery 0.31 coefficient of drag helped the coach deliver 9-11 MPG, numbers similar to modern RVs.
The mostly-original interior features the avacado accents and original carpeting. Dig that shag, baby! Designed, engineered, and built by the giant that is General Motors, these attractive motor coaches give up little to today’s rigs, and maintain a passionate posse of admirers.
Only the blind would interpret the expanse of vinyl stickers as real wood, but that and the HVAC controls should look familiar to anyone alive in the ’70s. We laugh, but compared to the Radio-Shack-looking rocker and toggle switches fitted to many campers and RVs, these are downright chic. With a car-like suspension and automatic ride-leveling, the GMC MotorHome aimed to make the journey as pleasant as the down-time in between. Sales literature billed it as “The show case that goes places.” Is this one worth $13,000 to you?
Love this!! Might be a bidder!!
Ask about the suspension. Prone to frequent failure
I own one. What are you talking about? The suspension is no more susceptible to failure than any other vehicle, provided that regular maintenance is performed.
Realy? I owned one for 10 years , never had an air spring fail (I did change a pair that were 5 years old as a maintenance precaution)
These were probably the nicest vintage motorhomes ever made. They rode nice, got so-so mileage, even grandma could drive one. This particular one looks like a money pit, sorry. Electrics are a big problem. About $5g’s all I’d go on this.
These are nice, but the best vintage motorhome ever was the FMC. Far superior in looks and ride.
No 8 track tape player, that’s a deal breaker for me.
You’re thinking of the wrong decade. 8 tracks in cars were history by the late 70s and completely gone by ’82. The cassette tape was a huge upgrade. You couldn’t fast forward or rewind 8 track tapes, just select the track. When the tape loosened up a bit, they couldn’t be tightened so they were junk. And, of course, you couldn’t record on them.
And, because the tape was always sliding past itself, they’d eventually self-destruct. The way they made a continuous loop was by pulling the inside of the coil out and feeding it onto the outside, constantly tightening it so that the diameter wouldn’t increase. Horrible design, unless you were in the business of selling the things. Blech.
Did you actually own an 8-track in the day? Yes you can fast forward, and record on 8-tracks. Not all players had the ability though. I still have a couple that I recorded back in the 1970’s in a box in my home office. They were blank BASF tapes.
Nice GMC. I think it is probably worth it
I know a mechanic, who purchased one on eBay about 15 years ago, from somewhere near Houston. It had plain steel wheels and hubcaps, so he ordered Budd
Alcoa aluminium wheels from somewhere, and had them shipped to a nearby tire shop, and had them install new tires. Flew to Houston with a sleeping bag, and a bag of tools, and took it to the tire shop, and then drove it 1500 miles home.
What an adventure ! He still has it.
Correct. There were 8 track players with fast forward. Had a Pioneer with that feature as well as a repeat.
I still have my Lear 4-track.
Rock on.
You actually can tighten up 8-tracks.
I worked in a record store back then and showed people how to do this, saved many a road trip
Lots of 8 tracks still for sale in 77, and i had an 8 track recorder hooked up to my parents stereo and recorded all my albums. Cassettes were a big improvement, but 8 tracks were still alive.
I just don’t see 13k here, much less getting that back in 10 years. This is destined to be a homeless camp in 10 years.
So there’s a place by Lake Okeechobee in FL that restores and works on these. One day I happened to be driving past on a work road trip and stopped in. Apparently, there’s a cult following on these. Drove like a car, well thought out, easy to maintain. They really are nice inside. I would take one over a Winnie any day. Good luck, people are paying silly money for VW campers. Why not this?
I have a 1978 model. Virtually every part you will ever need is available. There are four upgrade versions of the air suspension that I know of. As I recall they made about 13,000 from 1973 thru 1978. The vast majority are still on the road.
They are a well supported classic. And the price is right on the money if it shows well and proven reliable. The suspension is air bags and do not cause trouble. The original bags are hard to find but lots of well documented work around with newer bags.
It’s the EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle!
Lighten up Francis
You know who’d love this? RUSSELL. (Remember this part of Stripes?)
Needs more missiles… you can never have enough missiles !
& where’s the Quad Q4 8-Track Deck (… AAARRRRG P.S. Gut the damn thing (Park it as a Mini-Home At 1/10th the Price …
8-trecks: ka-CHUNK
Sgt. Hulka sold separately…….
Original window seals, ancient interior, body damage, less than 400 mile range, obsolete powertrain. Great starting point, 13k seems optimistic.
After I bought this I’d install an 8 track player in the dash and then search the internet to see if anyone’s done a duramax diesel conversion. I was with my dad in 1974 when he had the checkbook in his hand to purchase a 26 ft GMC motorhome. He was really impressed with the driving dynamics, but not a fan of FWD. He backed out and bought a Landau motorhome instead. Ugh. The value in these is not going down anytime soon.
Headers, dual exh, Holley Sniper FI, Hi-Torque cam and intake….14mpg all day long. Love that 70’s thing.
For the GMC Moho community 8-10 is typical. I’ve never heard of anybody getting 14.
Complete restorations from Cinnabar and GMC Coop sell for 100K or more.
I have a waking nightmare of flying from Phoenix to PA, and having this breakdown halfway home! This baby is old!
There is indeed a cult following on these, and it is a worldwide phenomenon. I wrote about it for BBC Autos a few years ago. http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20150127-forty-years-on-gmc-motorhome-remains-on-the-move
there is a guy in Fremont CA that handles these. They have annual rallies.
I’m close enough (less than 400-miles, near Philadelphia). I love these GMC modulars, and I can fix anything.
Except my marriage. My wife would probably kill me.
Yep Jack, it’s old. Might break down on the trip. Guess you’ve never seen a new, low mileage one break down. And experienced the multi-week delay in getting parts for repairs as well as finding the skills in the hinterlands necessary to make the repair. This could be fixed at Bubba’s corner garage with parts from Auto Parts R Us.
Check out that avacado green interior. This would be fun to own in the vintage RV circle.
Yeah ….but…… you’d have to wear checkered pants and a Banlon shirt. You’d itch a lot and the wide white belt and shiny white bucks might lead folks to believe you sell used cars………
How many ways did I hate the 70’s…….let me count the ways……
The origianl air bags didn’t last long, were junk, my som woerked for a MH Dealer in Indiana, borrowed demo of week end. Ended up working on the airbags for a couple hours. Later ones better, a cult following these, as sed, nice driving, handling vehicle, gets as good milage as our 2001 Endeavor deisel got.
The origianl air bags didn’t last long, were junk, my som worked for a MH Dealer in Indiana, borrowed demo of week end. Ended up working on the airbags for a couple hours. Later ones better, a cult following these, as sed, nice driving, handling vehicle, gets as good milage as our 2001 Endeavor deisel got.
Nope. Quite a few of these are still running the ORIGINAL bags, 40+ years and counting. And many folks who need to replace their original bags seek out NOS bags rather than converting to one of several aftermarket options.
There’s an old saying that I believe to be true. “If it ain’t broke, don’t mess with it.” In other words, “Don’t fix it.”
Awesome looking motorhome! The only other vehicles that look anywhere near as attractive are the Dodge Travco 270, the FMC 2900R, and the Vixen 21 SE. I consider it damned unforgivable that neither the FMC, the GMC, nor the Vixen were on the market for very long before being discontinued. They all had great ideas, that should’ve been copied by more RV manufacturers. For the GMC Motorhome, its aerodynamic shape, and 26′ length makes it smaller than most RVs today, the FMC, a rear-engine design and 4-wheel independent suspension and a driver’s side door, and the Vixen 21, a small, easy-to-drive size. They’re all smaller than most motorhomes offered today.
The double knit bell bottom’s sucked . . . I had a 67 GTO with a factory 8 track . . It sounded better than the high dollar sound system in my wife’s Avalon . .
“BAT NORMAL/BAT BOOST”? One careful previous owner, Bruce Wayne?
SOLD for $10,122.
Actually, buy claims he hit buy it now by mistake, then changed to I was hacked…