A good friend of mine called and asked about purchasing a GMC from the 70's. He needs to be mobile for a few months and needs a motor home. There is a GMC for sale in his neighborhood and he is interested in it.

I seem to remember several former GMC owners here. What advice would you give him? BTW, he has no MH experience but can fix airplanes and Porsches, so he is handy with tools.

Back in those 70's days, I longed for the best coach to be had, even though it was no more than the dream of a young guy wanting a little more than my 66 Ford Falcon conversion Van. In one of the magazines that covered such things in the early 70's I read an article on the GMC dual axle coaches. It still stands out in my memory how the authors simply gushed about the fantastic handling of these coaches. They said the drive axle in front of the tag made the coach go straight down the road better than any other in the class. How that would compare with todays coaches I have no idea, but if this thing could be gotten right and is in good shape, I'd have to say go fer it!

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Dan & Suzy Z
'81 Euro 28

quote:

Originally posted by Danny Zeeff:
Back in those 70's days, I longed for the best coach to be had, even though it was no more than the dream of a young guy wanting a little more than my 66 Ford Falcon conversion Van. In one of the magazines that covered such things in the early 70's I read an article on the GMC dual axle coaches. It still stands out in my memory how the authors simply gushed about the fantastic handling of these coaches. They said the go straight dodrive axle in front of the tag made the coach wn the road better than any other in the class. How that would compare with todays coaches I have no idea, but if this thing could be gotten right and is in good shape, I'd have to say go fer it!

The author of the article was out in"left field" as the GMC was front wheel drive. rigajake

That author must have been smokin' funny cigarettes too. GMCs are tail-waggers, particularly the 23 footers.

The front, & rear treads are different, & the tandem rear axles are independently suspended on leading & trailing arms. I think the arms flex enough to provide unwanted rear-end steering as the weight shifts.

On blacktop interstates with big-rig ruts, you have to dance delicately along one side of the ruts, or they'll send you yawing side-to-side. Been there, done that.

At that, my 23' GMC wsn't as bad on curves as my recent S.O.B., a 24' Sterling with single rear tires, & a P-30 based suspension. I finally had a track bar (panhard rod) made in a local shop, which cured most of my problem on curves with that one.

At that, i wouldn't mind owning a GMC again. Except for the lousy floor plan, we enjoyed the coach.

I can't bad mouth the writer of the article too much. It was the 70's, I was in my late teens, and I'm going on memory. A bad combination for fact finding! Sorry.

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Dan & Suzy Z
'81 Euro 28

About 8 mos-year ago, FMCA's magazine, Family Motor Coaching, ran a three-issue series on the GMC. Mainly developmental history, but I seem to recall that it had enough techno & design subjects to be of value to GMC wannabees......The FMCA site contains some back-issue stories - might be there.......

Back in the early '70's, I rented a Birchaven for a 5-day trial run. LOVED the ride, HATED the lack of storage, and SCARED SILLY of a high-tech drivetrain that I couldn't understand. That, plus a retail spread of about $10k, steered me to a Winnie.

Still, GMC loyalists are probably more passionate about their rides than even us Barthites........There's gotta be somethin' to it......

GMC's are definitly tail-heavy and with the front-wheel-drive, they are prone to getting "stuck" under the mildest of off-road conditions ...would never drive one in the winter.

I have a 1977 Palm Beach sitting in my driveway next to my 1990 Barth 32' Regency. It's for sale, but I have not gotten to aggressive in the marketing process.

I had a '77 26' Kingsley model. Rebuilt it from ground up with all the new upgrade bells & whistles. I enjoyed the work, I loved the coach, I am very happy with my 28' Barth. Does that give you any clues??

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Gary & Edie
North Idaho
1988 28' P-30 454

I have driven a transmode 26' GMC and my current coach is a Revcon 29' Flatnose(1977) that has a tandem axle as well. However my tandem axle is a simple leaf spring design and has none of the rear steering problems of the GMC. My front brakes are disc and each of the tandem axles has a set of HD drum brakes. I live in SoCal so snow driving is not an issue. My dream coach is a Barth Regency shorter length wide body. The GMC has a neo classic status and makes it's value inflated. I'm very happy with my SOB but my next coach will be a Barth DP-Jeff