I was up HWY 395 around happybrats area the other day, had to go to bishop and on my way back I was looking at this motorhome up on blocks by someones garage. As I drove by I noticed the grill was off of it and on the plate above the where the grill would have been it said REVCON I thuogh of you and I was wondering if it might be a brother or sister of yours. Of course I did not have a camera with me. But I will be back up in that area around the first of Oct. I will stop and try to get some picks of it and any other info I can for you.
Hope your having fun.
Don
Oh that was good Don! ;)
;D BK ;D
Hey! Next time give me a holler when youre around, okay?! Tell me where it is and I will see if I can get a photo for ya
I missplace family members all the time, I remember once it took me almost 3 weeks to find my brother in law, I left him between the couch cushions lol. Revcons were almost all one offs cause they were built to owner specs and not built until the order was placed so they were never mass produced, it's always great to run across one. They were built in california. They are very restorable cause of the aluminum body, rust was never an issue with them.
Would this be what you's are talking bout? never saw one before :-\
http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/rvs/1954352958.html (http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/rvs/1954352958.html)
I've never been fond of the 454 engine, seemed like a waste of cubes for the hp, I've got the 403 and it runs great, yep thats a revcon, no idea if it's the same one tho but it is a nice looking one. If you notice, it's got the tandam axle in the back but it's front wheel drive lol.
Isnt the Revcon the same chassis as the GMC? I had a friend who bought an early 70's GMC, 455 Olds...He had a heck of a time with it. The front ends are weak, or were, maybe they upgraded the knuckles along with the 454?? You say the chassis is aluminum, I thought his was a steel frame with a Fiberglass body??
The revcon and gmc shared very little, gmc had a fiberglass body and revcon was riveted aluminum, revcon was very much upscale from the gmc and not mass produced like gmc's were so they all were different in many ways, they did share simular engines but the front drives were worlds apart, revcon overkilled the entire front drive units. The drive units on gmcs were prone to failure, it didn't take gmc long tho to beef them up and that corrected the problem but in my opinion, they still didn't seem heavy duty enough, we drove our revcon, from I think, 1983 till we got the iggle in 2002, and still do to this day. One of the things that always frustrated me is the riveted belly pans, revcon has a complete covered belly pan, front to back,with only the frame rails exposed so anytime you need to do anything with a brake line or gas line or anything like that you have to drill out the rivets, drop the pan in that particular area, then redo it afterwards. The duel exhaust ran along on the outside of the belly pan and exited in front of the back tires on each side, the generators were all mounted on rollout trays as were the coach batteries and the spare tire had it's own compartment in the back, ours has a pull out bumper in the back with a motorcycle rack built in.
Quote from: cody on September 14, 2010, 07:03:10 PM
The revcon and gmc shared very little,
Learn something new every day, thanks.
Didn't Revcon make an all-terrain 6WD version as well? Many years ago one of my customers drove up in an off-road RV that looked very similar to regular Revcons, and he said he had bought it that way from the factory somewhere in CA. Now that would be something fun (if you could afford the fuel).
John
Quote from: Iceni John on September 14, 2010, 08:14:04 PM
Didn't Revcon make an all-terrain 6WD version as well?
John
Was that a Revcon in the movie Stripes?? Just need a .50 cal up on the roof and a swing down rear door.
Yep revcon made an all wheel drive bus for many years, a 40 fter, the military bought them up for command posts, I'm not sure if they still make them, the newest one I've seen was a 2006. It was called the Goliath, they also made one in a class C style with a 4 door crew cab called the trailmaster.
Let's not forget the Cortez motorhome that was the first custom made front wheel drive. The first ones had the Chrysler 225 slant six with a 4 spd manual-you can imagine how much power that had. Many pulled the slant six and installed a 302 Ford-big improvement. They were all made of steel. Then when Oldsmobile came out with the Toronado, Cortez used the engine/transmission but still made their massive front ends that both GMC and Revcon tried to copy. The Cortez was only 22ft long, and had a swing arm single rear independent suspension with coil spring in the rear. They rode like an iggle with the torsion bar suspension in front. My parents and I rented one in the summer of '74 (after graduating from high school) and went up the west coast to Canada east back down in Wisconsin and back. If you kept it at 60, could get 10mpg. But they cruised easily at 75mph for more like 7-8mpg. I still see Cortez's around. Good Luck, TomC
Tom, I didn't know that cortezs used the toronado front drive, I redid the cabinets on one a few years ago for a guy that was restoring one but I never paid any attention to the engine or drive train.
Cody, I looked at the 30ft Revcon for sale are your sure they are not fiberglass the bottom part of that one is it needs some repairs he has reduced the price from when we looked at it also found one here in the valley the guy wants 2 grand for it needs a transmission, the thing my wife dosen't like about GMC or the Revcon are the cramped up little hall ways and no kitchen area but I like them but not the fuel mileage everybody I talk too says 4 to 5 towing
good luck
Clifford, I'm not sure about the slantnosed ones, they may have fiberglass but mine is the last of the flatnosed and it's still riveted aluminum, ours has an 8ft kitchen with a dinette across from it, no hallway just a walkway and it's fairly wide, enough for me and libby to pass lol.
How hard is it to change the transmission and drive chain on the Revcon is it about the same as GMC
good luck
No ideas on that, I would imagine it would be about the same.
Cody- the first series of Cortez motorhome from '63-'69 used the Chrysler industrial 225, then Ford 302 with a 4 spd manual. When Clark sold the motorhome side to Alco-Standard, there were no motorhomes made in '70, but from '71-'79 the Toronado 455/transmission was used, but with the Cortez A-arms, torsion bars, etc. Many of the problems GMC had was trying to use the suspension components straight from the Toronado. Once they beefed that up, they were good. The big problem with Cortez was they used their own designed shock absorbers. Trying to find those can be fun. Good Luck, TomC