"First Year of Inception" Membership Club
| Bill, I absolutely agree. I have a cousin that once owned an FMC and he still brags about how it was the sports car of RV's. My wife and I were both laughing about the MCC article where, the reviewer asks, "how could they find $150,000.00 worth of stuff to put in a motorhome?" We ask that same question when we see a $700K Bluebird. ------------------ Shortcuts Always Take Longer  |
| | | Posts: 1658 | Location: Eden Prairie, MN 55346 USA | Member Since: 01-01-2001 | 
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"Host" of Barthmobile.com
 1/19
| quote: Originally posted by coastalliving:
Did anyone else make the MCC's in 1979 or was it on only the FMC's that were being made before 1981?
Definitely not... there were no FMC or MCCs being produced in 1979. 1976 was the last FMC. Here is an interesting article about the FMC Line quote: The FMC motorhome has an interesting lineage, for FMC is the acronym for Food Machinery Corporation. FMC got its start in 1883 when inventor John Bean developed an innovative insecticide pump. The name was changed from the John Bean Manufacturing Company to the Food Machinery Corporation in 1928 when the company got into the canning machinery business.
The company kept adding mechanized products and eventually started producing amphibious vehicles for the military. During a lull in its military vehicle contracts in the late 1960s, FMC turned its sights toward the burgeoning recreational vehicle market. By 1972, FMC had transferred personnel from its ordnance division and formally launched a motor coach division in Santa Clara, California.
Initial prototypes were 19 and 23 feet long, but neither went into production. FMC settled on a 29-foot size, and the first one was completed in late 1972. The well-made and pricey coaches, which sold for between $27,000 and $54,500 or about the same price as an average home of that era, were popular among upscale motorhome buyers. Racecar drivers Mario Andretti and Parnelli Jones owned FMCs, as did entertainers Clint Eastwood, Carol Burnett, Pat Boone and James Brolin. But the most famous FMC owner was CBS reporter Charles Kuralt, host of the popular news feature On the Road With Charles Kuralt. An FMC was the last of Kuralt’s six motorhomes. It is on public display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
FMC coaches were manufactured from 1973-1976. The 1973 energy crisis put a damper on the manufacture of all brands of motorhomes, so FMC was in a difficult position from the beginning. By 1975, FMC had a contract to produce the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and in September 1976 converted all the tooling in its factory to the manufacture of tanks. The FMC motor coach had reached a dead end. The final tally for the FMC was slightly more than 1,000 units, approximately 135 of which were transit buses. About half of the transit buses were eventually transformed into motorhomes. Despite their relatively modest numbers, FMC has two clubs, the FMC Club East and the FMC Club Southeast. Their records show that around 70 FMCs are registered and still on the road, but there are undoubtedly many more that are still roadworthy or registered under different names.
FMC built only one model, the 2900R, but different floor plans were available.
So it appears that from 77 until 1980-81 MCC resurrected the old FMC Chassis and retooled that to come up with the MCC Barth. These were all 35' coaches Try this link at Motor Coach Restoration. These people are the only one who I know of that is still maintaining that chassis line, MCC or FMC. They should have more info on the FMC aspect and anything before 1981. ˙ʎ˙u ןןıq- „ǝןƃuɐ ʇuǝɹǝɟɟıp ɐ ɯoɹɟ pןɹoʍ ǝɥʇ ʇɐ ʞooן ɐ ƃuıʞɐʇ sı ǝɟıן oʇ ʇǝɹɔǝs ǝɥʇ„
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Spartan Chassis |  | 1991 Medical Lab Conversion
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| | | Posts: 5924 | Location: Newburgh, New York | Member Since: 05-10-2003 |
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