Visitors to my neighbours parked one of these in front of their house (I suspect it's the parents that came for a visit). I had no idea that it was from the '70s. It was a great-looking RV - not boxy, not too big, very stream-lined. Anyone ever own one of these?
I've seen my share of these, back then. Until watching the video, I never knew that aluminum and fiberglass were used on them. Converting it over to propane or natural gas would make this a suitable bug-out vehicle
My Parents rented one for a trip in the early 70's, we liked everything about it except one time my father parked it on a flat spot that was down hill from the road, the next morning it was misting, and the grass was wet on the hill. That's when the FWD layout failed, there was no room to turn it around and back it up the hill, and on the wet grass there was no traction once all the weight transferred to the rear wheels. We had to call a tow truck to pull us up the hill. After that is was back to being great again. The one we had seemed to have an Olds Toronado drive train in it. Olds 455 4bbl and transaxle. It has a lot more room in the back as the floor was lower, and no large wheel houses intruding into the space. Just don't park one on wet grass!!! My father said it handled the curves much better than the other RV's he had rented.
It looks like it had torsion bar suspension. I wonder why they just didn't finish the exhaust as duals or better
Here's a 1977 Eleganza for sale in Collingwood, ON for $CDN 19,900. I never knew that I wanted an RV. Until now. https://www.kijiji.ca/v-rv-motorhom...od/1372101847?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
When I first saw these, I naturally assumed it was on a truck chassis. But having it designed the way it is, was some very forward thinking. I'm sure everyone has considered what could be done just to the drivetrain for more power, and what could be done to the rear suspension to transfer the weight back to the drive axle for more traction (hint--controlling the air bags).
Quite popular still. there are some companies doing quite well for themselves restoring and modifying these. They were originally only made in 23' and 27' lengths. One company took a 23-footer and stretched it about 6 feet (or more...?) Couldn't post pics (got red X's), so here's the link to the build thread, with plenty of pics: http://www.gmcmotorhome.com/tech/buskirk/index.html
It wasn't planned as an all year round vacation vehicle. If anyone decided to vacation in Winter, that ended up being his problem
Like the Xes showing up in place of images, the quote won't stay out of the post, no matter how often I attempt at erasing it
