Now that the camper market has exploded, any car nut doesn't want to show up in the field with a soulless white box. While Googling for a camping equipment in a striking color, the GMC Motorhome kept coming to Dick Heemskerk, until he succumbed to the attraction of this extravagant colossus from the seventies. This gave him a task of more than eight meters, but you don't just become boss of boss.
Text: Aart van der Haagen • Photography: Aart van der Haagen, Dick Heemskerk
Heemskerk does not call himself an outspoken USA fanatic. “My previous camper, a modern Knaus, ended abruptly when someone carelessly merging in Italy ripped out the entire side. I said to myself: 'Now I don't want white ones anymore, like all those others.' In my search I came across the GMC Motorhome, built from 1972 to 1978. Not exactly the model that would have first come to mind, but somehow it popped up every time I was searching the internet. Actually, I couldn't ignore it.” The love now runs deep. “I recently used it to camp at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort and every year we take an extensive holiday trip with it, usually to France.” Don't think that the 7,5-liter V8 engine burns cheap LPG. “For those 4000, 5000 kilometers, I don't think it's worth it.”
Corona
One person has an asset scored on eBay shipped from the United States, the other takes a more thorough approach. “I decided to have a quiet consultation with a specialist in Orlando who had a few such GMC Motorhomes on consignment. This particular one from 1977 was in fairly good condition and everything worked. I thought it wise to have the 455 engine and automatic gearbox preventively overhauled in America. After that, my wife and I thought it would be a nice idea to travel around the United States with the GMC Motorhome. When corona broke out and we were no longer allowed to fly that way, I brought the camper this way.” There was quite a list of points of interest. “The interior in particular had seen its best days. I chose a different atmosphere that was also in the catalogue, namely Sequoia.” Because of the deteriorated chipboard, Heemskerk rebuilt the interior from the ground up. “All measurements are exactly correct, with the exception of the bed in the back: which is slightly higher to create more space underneath in the 'garage'.”
Didn't fit
What an appearance, that apple green GMC Motorhome. The seventies really shine. “The shade the factory used was brighter,” says Heemskerk. “More 'Kawasaki green', which I thought was a bit too much. I still had to have the correct tint mixed by the painter, Peter Popeijus from Autoschade Wielhoven in Dordrecht. The GMC didn't fit in his cabin; he had to do the job at a neighboring company.” What a device: 8,15 meters long, 2,44 meters wide and weighing 5,7 tons when fully loaded. “With the monopoint injection I installed, I can achieve no better fuel consumption than 1:4. Oh well, who cares? Everything is better than a white camper.”
Would you like to read more about this impressive camper? The complete article, with restoration photos, can be found in the October issue of Auto Motor Klassiek. It is still in the store now.
EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle 😎
Beautiful shapes!
Green is the color of hope, an impressive adventurous project
great, I had a 1975 Olds Toronado, same front end. Even then the petrol was hard to come by, I enjoyed it for years.
There are a few here in Tsawwassen, where Citroen active suspension is substantiated.
Hans te P once had such a thing in Hilversum.
I think they are beautiful and especially with such a calm color on them, you can almost travel incognito.
Kudos to the owner and his wife, without her this device would really not have been shipped to the Netherlands.
Bass.
Cool camper! So you can see that greening can also be a lot of fun 😉