Oldsmobile Toronado-Powered: 1973 Revcon 250
A front-wheel-drive motorhome? This 1973 Revcon 250 is revolutionary in more than name (Revcon = REVolutionary CONcept), it’s an aluminum-skinned, aluminum-framed, front-wheel-drive, Oldsmobile Toronado-powered motorhome invented by the stepson of the founder of Airstream. The missing grille piece is included, by the way. The seller has this interesting motorhome posted here on craigslist in beautiful Tucson, Arizona and they’re asking $4,500. Here is the original listing.
The photos leave much to be desired, at least the exterior photos. There isn’t one photo showing the whole side, either side, so it’s tough to tell what’s going on here. But, for $4,500, it may be worth a gamble if a person is mechanically inclined and talented, as there is an issue with the power brake booster that would need to be fixed before you can drive this one home.
Here is a photo showing most of the right rear side and in looking at the photos a few times, there doesn’t appear to be a major issue anywhere that I can see. The Revcon is really an interesting motorhome. The founder of the company was a gentleman named John Hall, the stepson of the founder of Airstream, Wally Byam. Mr. Hall knew that wood-framed motorhomes built on heavy truck chassis weren’t really what would give buyers the best ride so he came up with a different idea.
Here’s the rear portion and hiding behind that faded REVCON panel is the spare tire, nice. Rather than using a standard truck chassis, Revcon used a custom chassis with an Oldsmobile Toronado drivetrain, including its front-wheel-drive system, which was pretty creative. The long driveshaft was eliminated and it gave the Revcon somewhat of a lower profile.
The cab portion is about as open as it gets. We don’t see the passenger side, unfortunately, but typically they have a unique two-seat configuration as seen here. There’s some work to do upfront as you can tell, and a few updates and other work is needed in the living portion, too.
There appears to be a missing dinette on the right side unless I’m mistaken. The cabinets should be honeycomb aluminum with formica, so they were much lighter in keeping with the forward-thinking of the company. All of this weigh-saving typically gave owners two to four more MPG than other similarly-sized motorhomes. There is a full bathroom and the seller gives a video here on YouTube showing part of the unique bathroom features.
The engine… er… well, this is the generator, but the seller does provide a video here on YouTube showing a cold start of the Olds Toronado engine, complete with the Toronado air cleaner such as you’d see in the car. Very cool, and it sounds great. The rooftop AC blows cold and this looks like a nice project for not much money. Have any of you heard of a Revcon motorhome?
Comments
My younger brother worked for a private investigation team on a contract with Greyhound Bus Lines, mostly in SoCal. His 4 man team had a new one of these provided by the PI firm and preferred using it to staying in a motel-especially when they went to places like El Centro, etc.
It was all they needed at the time as it was quiet and comfortable. However they quickly discovered the cardinal rule of RV parks is the resort has to be near a freeway, train tracks or airport-and sometimes all three!
RevCons and other gas motor driven units like it aren’t great for interstates with any sort of serious mountain range, though..
I knew a GMC that had a 500+ inch Cadillac replace the Olds.
Had an uncle with one of these. Nice interior for the time period. Pretty peppy for a motorhome.
These and GMC motor homes were the best quality and state of the art.
Maybe just a bad pic but looks totally uncomfortable to drive.
With 30 years of rv’ing i have read quite a few articles and what i remember is the revcon was the pioneer of the fwd motorhome and was copied by gm for their line of revolutionary rv’s and the gm line looked way better and caught on
I always enjoy Scottys posts. They have a certain sincere tone to them, as if it’s his for sale, even though, I know a vintage motorhome is pretty far down on his want list. I’d like to, at this time, tell of an experience my neighbor had camping last week. He has a small camper he pulls, and went to a flower festival not far, Crested Butte. I also must say, our area is inundated with RVs. After all, it is the Rocky Mountains in the summer. My neighbor got to a designated campground early, as did others. Naturally it filled up quick. A young couple with a tent, set up next to him, all was well. Then,get this,,,a family in a motorhome, pulling an atv, wheels in, no spots, so MUSCLES IN ON THE TENT CAMPERS! The young couple said politely, “I’m sorry, this is our spot, you’ll have to leave”. The guys response was, “well, all the spots are taken, you’ll just have to share”,,,,WHAT? They refused to move, and the young couple ended up leaving. Clearly, there isn’t enough room for all these ultimate behemoths, but they, the owners, feel they are better and therefore “deserved” that spot. Isolated incident? Perhaps, but just so you know, I fear that is the next thing in camping, or glamping( camping with all the luxuries). I equate Colorado today with the movie “Tommy”,,,”There’s more at the door, there’s more”,,,,
That would not have gone over well. The mentality of half the contry has turned camping into a politcal a hole fest. I’ll probably sell ours if it stays this way. It is already work just to get there, get all set up, and then to have a jackass pull a stunt like that, not the way to relax.
Apparently, the guy had a wife, 2 kids and 2 dogs. The kids were pre-teen, and what message does that send to them? I also want to make crystal clear, camping can still be a lot of fun, it just takes a lot more patience. Now with Covid over, it’s as if the floodgates have been opened up, and there just isn’t room for everyone, like the RV ads depict. I’ve met some great folks, “passin’ thru”, from all over, and it’s unfair to rope those folks in with this one guy. What’s unsettling, is if this guy thinks it’s okay to do that, what else do they do?
As far as a vintage motorhome such as this, RV dealers have literally ACRES of unsold RVs, some can be had for $5/day,( the ads claim,,,think Simpsons, maybe?) with all the amenities. In this apparent cost no object world we live in today, why would someone go this route? Retro is okay for a select few, but with repairs and parts that may or may not exist today, I think for most, swipe the card, and enjoy RIGHT NOW,,,that’s mighty hard to compete with. To be honest, the only plausible use for this stuff, is a final ride( or tow) to some lot up nort’, up on blocks, pull the wheels,,home sweet home,,,be good enough for me.
Beautiful looking RV. I can see this making a great resto project. I’d buy it if I had someone to share the experience with. I’d keep as much original as can be, while also upgrading what needs to be upgraded.
Well the unit has potential. Lots of work getting it to useful, or even basic habitation. Which makes the contradictory statements by the seller interesting. Either he has no place to store or energy to restore, or it’s going to be easy for him to furnish and AirBNB.
It starts. Needs brakes, and a driver’s seat to go anywhere on its own. If I had the space, I would be getting it to habitable and testing the exterior to see if it could be a polished aluminum box, blinding people with glare everywhere the sun was shining.
Fortuitous that this shows up here! I just saw my first one a week ago in Akron CO at a family reunion. It was sitting across the street from the only hotel in town and was in a private collection. I talked to the caretaker of the property and he said that was one of the few in the collection that could not be bought.
This is my idea of what a motorhome should be. I find it more attractive than anything Winnebago offered at the time.