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Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked.
This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio -
"You don't speak for me."
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Have to admit … other than the dreadful color schemes … that RV kicked ass! The design STILL looks good today … because it’s … ‘Art’. The proportions, the double wheels, the glazing pattern and wraparound windshield… are simply timeless “Art”. Good design NEVER goes out of fashion … shame GM killed this great work of art and engineering.
The colors in the 70’s were known as ”Earth Tones.” Lots of brown, (soil) orange (fall leaves) and green. (Forests.) They became popular after the first Earth day in 1970. I’ll bet that MotorHome had an orange shag carpet!!
Don’t I know! Witness my former “avocado green” kitchen appliances.
Never mind the motorhome, what the hell went wrong with Oldsmobile, who engineered/built that magnificent front wheel drive unit ?
1966 Oldsmobile Toronado:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4_sTiCq018
If you look back at Oldsmobile history, by 1978, Olds had started utilizing Chevy engines in some of their cars. If I recall, there were lawsuits over that. It was only a matter of time that the MotorHome would have had a Chevy or GMC powertrain. Another problem the Motorhome had was that it was very low to the ground. Not great for backcountry drives. But it was a classic and still is!!
Sorry, that was 1977. But it was also at that time that they began to cheap put on components.
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/28/us/jury-orders-gm-to-pay-10000-in-switch-of-engines.html
Never seen one. Mind you,here in Sask, during that era the socialist NDeePee were firmly ensconced in the halls of power and there was no money for that sort of luxury. We were beavering away nationalizing potash companies, a far better use for spare cash.
Still one of the best motor homes …. and they would still be selling today .
GM used the front wheel drive assembly used in the Cadillac Eldorado and the Olds Toronado ….. the 455 Olds engine had plenty of power …. the whole motorhome could be built low to the ground because no transmission or driveshaft to the rear . Prior to that everything was a Winnebago box mounted on a truck chassis. which was Like driving a 3 ton grain truck around the world.
I tried twice to buy a GM …. but too high price and other one was an absolute beater and not restorable
GM invented the concept of Planned Obsolescence. Prior to this odious concept, American/Canadian goods were build to last.
This concept means that GM designs and manufactures a product which will break/fail on purpose so as to require replacement.
I would never buy any GM product.
the only brand new vehicle I bought was a GMC Vandura.
the problems started right away.
never again gm.
the worst vehicle I bought was a ‘ford’ courier aka mazda 4 cylinder pickup truck.
the problems started way before the ownership was in my name. an example: the grease nipples werent.
they used BOLTS instead, thus no lube jobs until sucker me bought the thing from a
dealer (who LIED on the fitness report and went outta business).
never again ford.
Maybe it’s 6mpg highway mileage hurt a bit? Or maybe not; all RVs got awful mpg. They never made a diesel version or had an aluminum block to save weight. And with an aluminum body they couldn’t have been more crash-worthy than a paper bag.
The video says the demise was due to bean counters, but seriously, 12,000 units in 6 years works out to 40 built per week, which is beyond pathetic unless they were hand made by a small team.