People were making campers out of Tin Lizzies before anyone knew to string the words “recreational vehicle” together. But the 1950s saw Fleetwood, Holiday Rambler, and Winnebago kick off the mass production of campers and RVs, after which vacationing was never the same. Roaming from place to place was easy in an RV. Demand surged, and soon, dozens of companies were cobbling together wood, plastic, and metal around an engine for public consumption. Flxible, the bus maker, entered the business with its Cruiser series in 1967, but unlike its brethren, the Cruiser was based on an all-steel delivery van. You’d think this would be a welcome change since most of the fare on the market rattled apart in no time flat, but Flxible charged a premium price for its motorhome. After making about 200 units, Flxible exited the business, and Emmett Dale – the engineer behind the Cruiser – founded Mobilux in 1970 to make the Cruiser under a new name. About 100 were made until the company shuttered for good. Here on craigslist is one of these road dinosaurs, awaiting resurrection, priced at $3000. This rig is located in Lafayette, Colorado, and we have Mike F to thank for the tip!
Whether the brand was Flxible or Mobilux, these RVs were built on Chevy, GMC, Ford, or Dodge chassis. This one is on a one-ton Chevrolet P30 platform, manufactured from the mid-1960s into the early 2000s and commonly used to produce commercial stepvans. The Cruiser was the larger RV, costing almost 60% more than the Cutter. You’d find a big block V8 in a Cruiser (getting about 9 mpg); this Cutter is fitted with a Chevy 350 cu. in. backed by an automatic transmission. It runs and drives, but the seller notes that the windshield is cracked, so a “short drive” is about all that’s recommended.
This example was purchased into Colorado in 1985 and used as a mobile fabric shop – about the weirdest application I’ve ever heard of. The dash is homemade and houses aftermarket gauges; the single seat is a holdover from the P30’s original stepvan configuration.
The interior has been mostly demolished, but the factory floor plan included a kitchen, wet bath, dinette, and fold-out bed arrangement. I appreciate the big windows – so often RVs are dark inside, with few-inch tall windows in the kitchens and whatnot – but there’s a lot of work here.
The robust solution of an all-metal RV – while beneficial for longevity – wasn’t favored by the gas crisis of 1973. These were very heavy vehicles. The low gas mileage, combined with the Mobilux’s high price, doomed the company. The seller suggests turning this example into a food truck, but I’d be more inclined to restore it for vacation use. How about you – what would you do with this rare motorhome?
A quick check indicates a couple monster truck shows coming to Colorado. The “Anderson” family loves to flatten these, and sadly, about all they are good for, typically donated units. When I see one of those motorhomes turned into shreds, it always bums me out some, a), I think of the fun that was had when new, and b), could still provide some fun, but reduced to a mere prop at a monster truck show. Not sure about camping anymore, ( a fire ban takes all the zing out of camping), but food trucks are becoming big business here, and I think could work for an enterprising individual, of which we have many here, me not included.
disclaimer: I can’t help but say, considering the authors interests, a post of this nature has got to be on the low end, but whatever pays the bills, I guess. Some really neat vintage trucks on FB, dare I submit one?
If I’m not mistaken that would be a big block in that RV, see that little hose from the manifold to the water pump? Dead give away.
I can smell that interior picture.