Aircraft aluminum side and roof panels and high-quality interiors make California’s Lazy Daze RVs a top choice in the used camper market. After years of screen-shopping and research, I decided to roll the dice and retrieve this entry-level 1982 Lazy Daze 22 foot Twin-King from southern California. It drove from Montana to Vista, California last year and seemed mostly original, needing upholstery and some TLC. My buddy Adam called shotgun and I set things in motion for a 2500 mile return to Virginia in February of 2025.
The third-generation Chevrolet vans served the world from 1971 to 1996, becoming a ubiquitous part of North-American landscape. This G30 one-ton chassis came from Lazy Daze with this groovy sculpted shag carpeting. My first RV was also my first small block Chevy V8, the 350 cid (5.7L), planet Earth’s premier hot-rod motor before the modern LS. GM built over 100,000,000 small-blocks between 1955 and 2011, according to Wikipedia, and I needed this one to survive at least 2500 miles.
This picture shows Adam and myself with the two gentlemen who jumped the Lazy Daze to start Day Two. Thanks, fellas! Day One we flew into San Diego, inked the title, then snatched pre-ordered supplies at Wal-mart and Harbor Freight in San Marcos before escaping the city late, hitting a hotel due to the near-freezing lows. The hotel also postponed the unsavory epitaph, “perished in a horrible explosion after drifting off to sleep warmed by an untested 40 year-old propane furnace.”
The 350 V8 spins a three-speed TH400 automatic, and pulled all but one hill in top gear before descending into the desert toward parts East. Low speed operation had a lumpy “V7” sound but power was good and steering, brakes, charging, and temperature all suggested we might make it.
Do not miss the Dwarf Car Museum near Maricopa, Arizona. If I ever buy or build a ’30s hot rod, it will be a ’33 or ’34 Ford Victoria like this 11/16th scale masterpiece. I’ll take mine full sized.
We ignored the Chevy’s rather benign pulsing but I did throw a coil into the HEI ignition in Las Cruces, New Mexico, which seemed to help.
You won’t leave hungry at Mary’s Cafe in Colorado City, Texas, and the service station turned family restaurant’s walls feature old car sales flyers and other memorabilia.
One of these things is not like the others! We nestled in with a squadron of bucket trucks on their way to help with storm recovery.
By the time we hit the road before dawn one Texas morning, we’d settled into the rhythm of driving every daylight hour and sometimes longer, exploring topics of conversation well beyond the norm to pass time.
After five not-so lazy days the old rig made it back to Fitch Mountain. After a few rounds of clean-up my wife no longer felt the need to shower after leaving it. Progress! Just don’t get out the black light.
This “after” picture shows the result of a trip to Joann Fabrics’ going out of business sale and a few sessions with my Grandmother’s 1950’s Singer. The real wood veneer looks great and every cupboard and crevice amazingly shows no signs of water or rodent intrusion; that’s like hitting the vintage RV lottery.
I’ll keep improving this classic, but it already looks great and all the systems work. It’s not perfect, but it’s perfect for us. What’s your idea of the ultimate recreational vehicle?
This looks like a very nice well preserved RV. I love it!!! I was going to wish you both Safe Travels but you already got it home lol. But for the future adventures you’re having Todd, Safe Travels to you and yours and enjoy!!!!
The seat covers look terrific btw. Nice job.
Thanks, Driveinstile!
Congrats Todd! I bet it was a fun trip.
Great story! I love driving cross-country,& seeing places that I’ve never been to before,& seeing old friends (some who really are old).
Maybe I’ll see it if you ever come through Roanoke.
Hi, angliagt. That last picture is from Alta Mons in Shawsville. If you see one that looks like mine, it’s probably us!
Good show Fitch š
The perfect mother -in-law suite if I ever saw one.
Right on, Todd! And Lazy Daze is top shelf.
What a wonderful addition to the site. To be honest, I’d like to hear more about the writers, heck, a piece on Scotty G. would be entertaining, to say the least. I spent the better part of my life looking through a windshield. Not to boast, but I’ve seen plenty of this country, Midwest anyway. Thing was, I was in a vehicle highly unconducive to actually stopping and relaxing. Believe it or not, I was working, not on vacation. When traveling by car, I still maintain that mentality today, got to get there. I haven’t given up on the RV thing totally, I’m sure the author will agree, you get what you pay for, from something the raccoons lived in, to some pretty nice units, as shown. Vintage RVs have their limitations. The van part is usually bulletproof, but everything else RV related is extremely expensive, but usually, it’s a “once and done” and the world is your oyster, or the US anyway. Okay, and Canada too, point is, there is a LOT to see, right here, no need to fly halfway around the world. Going cross country is particularly challenging, although, modern GPS makes it easy. Just get used to crowds at the Loves, I feel the best of all truck stop,,,oops, I mean, travel centers. If in no hurry, it’s a great place to meet people doing just what you are. In a hurry? Just go to the Pilot, usually empty.
Now, in my usual demeanor, the down(er) side. One must be EXTRA careful these here days where you park and where you go. Obviously, tourist attractions, rest areas, fuel stops, are well watched, but certain places aren’t so nice, and you stick out as having money. In all my trucking years, I never felt the need to carry a weapon of any kind, and went to some pretty shady places, but today, with all the mishigosh in the world, if you do something like this, be aware of your surroundings, and you might want to carry something.
More writers stories, please!
One question for Todd, I’m a bit confused why you would go clear across the country, and I mean one side to the other, for a used RV, when I’d have to think there were plenty on the east coast, and pay California prices to boot. I too am looking and unless you wanted “Lazy Daze” specific, ( that I never heard of), seems to me, all these motorhomes are pretty much the same.
Hi Howard. I tend to research things to death, and I chose Class C because the van cab is a standard commodity vs. the Class A where a windshield can run $1500 per side. Class C also have more room than the nice Class Bs like Chinook and Born Free. Then I settled on Lazy Daze mainly for the flat aluminum roof and sides. The more common corrugated sides are hard to polish and, once dented, hard to refresh. The Lazy Daze will never delaminate like the newer composite RVs. I also did not want slides; they are way more trouble than they’re worth. Also I think the Lazy Daze is one of the coolest looking rigs out there with the fiberglass front spoilers, fender flares, and skirts. They were built in Cally so most of them are on the West Coast, which always beats the rust belt. My undercarriage looks like it was built maybe five years ago. Also, dollar for dollar, your best investment is a vehicle that’s already fully depreciated, so I have nowhere to go but up. Thanks for your comments!
The east coast is wet and rainy, most of the older RV’s are wood and sheet metal, older east coast RV’s, unless stored in a dry climate controlled garage have deteriorated to a moldy hulk. Also, considering automobiles and trucks, I went to California for a 1982 Olds 98, it was sun baked, but the underside is factory fresh with very little rust or surface rust. I look at the under carriage views of the east coast vehicles, and the rust is beyond belief, so crusty and bad, possible weak frames, rusted lines, all suspension rusted, fastner’s rusted solid, NO THANKS
Well, here in California (Sacramento) RVs like these are pretty much free and occupied by the homeless population then abruptly towed away and crushed we clearing homeless camps
Howard, Todd did it right. My sister flew me to Florida from Reno to inspect LazyDaze that I told her was the only Class C she was allowed (by me)to purchase. You never lose money on a we cared for LazyDaze. The quality in the build is head and shoulders above all others. NOT FANCY, BUT WELL DONE. My in-laws bought one after selling their (fwd) GMC. They had it many years and still sold it for more than they paid.
Pony up Howard, one more chance!
Thank you all for the nice comments. It was a fun adventure and the first of many I hope. I may share updates if anything interesting pops up. I can see a 6.0 LS / 4L80 swap in my future. Happy motoring!
Hope you can store the Lazy Daze in a climate controlled dry heated garage during the off season in Virginia. Stored outside it will deteriorate badly.
Thanks, duaney. Yes indeed! I was pleased to find out it fit in one bay right next to my bucket truck (documented in another BarnFinds story).
Todd, our family had a similar adventure. I saw a 1973 Tioga class C for sale for $125!
I called and was told it had been sitting for a while, won’t start, and “used a little oil”. I paid to have it towed home, removed a huge mouse nest from the air cleaner, hit it with some starter fluid and the 360 started right up and sounded good for over 100K miles. Even the monster York AC unit worked. In the right conditions it was so cold it blew fog through the vents. We decided to drive west as far is it would go and were prepared to rent a car to get home. To the Rockies and back it used a case of oil. Every night we changed the number 7 spark plug as it would oil foul and skip after 5-6 hours of driving. The ignition switch quit so we hot wired it and jumped the starter solenoid with pliers handles. By the time we got home my kids had named it “Irma” because it was old and ugly but they loved it and wouldn’t let me sell it. We would wake up in campgrounds with people taking pictures and telling us their grandparents had one just like it.
I took the heads off and discovered several cylinders were tapered almost 60 thousandths. We put in a NAPA short block with a used four barrel Holley, and added dual exhaust with Doug Thorley headers with Flowmasters. I also found a used transmission with a lock up torque converter. Now we had a real Q-Ship. We surprised many drivers passing them going uphill.
When I sold it the next owner drove it to the Pacific Northwest hauling a monster 8 wheel trailer. There are still days when I regret selling Irma. Thanks for the memories!
Great story, Speedo! People forget these older trucks got the job done before everyone started thinking you need 400 HP and 900 lb-ft of torque. Your Tioga must have been a blast after the fresh engine and no daily spark plug changing ritual. Thanks for the comments. -Todd
Great adventure and nice rig. Lazy Daze build a great motor home and found a nice one.
Please keep us update on your adventures. Travel safe and thanks for sharing!
Glad you had a good trip, when my wife and I were shopping for a class c RV I found it interesting that the ones with the Ford drive train always booked out to be more valuable than the same RV in Chevrolet never understood why because Chevrolet folks would most likely buy the Chevrolet power plants because its what they know and same with the Ford folks ultimately we got the 30 foot Tioga with the Ford drive train and we did many trips around the country until moving to the ocean and the salt air destroyed it in about a year or so. Safe travels
I think you hit a grand slam
This looks like the perfect RV to take a road trip to Alaska and back. I really enjoyed the his article. It has a lot of good information. I think you will be very happy with your purchase.
To answer your question, Todd, this is close to my ideal. Basically, a rolling living room where my invalid wife can relax comfortably, take a lingering break before moving on, and still park reasonably close to the building of a hotel for the night. You also tutored me a bit on the advantages of a Class C.
Besides, the drive itself is worth going cross country to score an RV. Right now Iād kill for even a three day road trip of any excuse.
Love these e-mails, Keep up the good work.
Andy
This is a really nice RV Todd and a great write up.. thank you. I was thinking about getting another GMC Eleganza II or similar but after I read your post and saw this beautiful rig I’m going to rethink things. It looks really awesome and it sounds like it would be a great rig for me to look into.
Hello John Michael – I love the GMCs. Their design is more advanced than any truck-chassis rig sold today. In the Class A my favorite is probably the FMC 2900R and next the GMC. From the ’90s the early Safari Trek 24s with the Isuzu turbo-diesels are hard to beat at 15 MPG. I don’t think I’d choose another that didn’t have the rear lounge with huge wraparound windows like our Lazy Daze. I have never understood rear bath, for example. Let us know what you decide! -Todd
Wow, vintage road warrior. Well done, congratulations!
Thanks, David! We came in well under the shipping quote and had experiences I’ll always remember.