Hi new to this forum, and new to working with Oldsmobile's, I am more of a mopar guy, but I got this last year, and it is powered by a 455 olds, as I plan to upgrade and renew the powertrain, it is a bit weak right now, but I will fix that, have been gathering parts, and knowledge, before I dig into it.

 

I've always thought those were pretty cool. I think I had a Hotwheels version of it long ago. They still have a following that I read about awhile back. There is a small firm or two that restore and sell these things.

 

welcome! and cool ride. Im sure the 455 powertrain just needs some freshening up and will be more than enough to power that beast.
Is that by chance Northern Cali ? Looks just like my old hometown in Southern Oregon with those hills.

 

this is in merit bc Canada

 

 

If you're a MOPAR guy, you should have gotten one of these-



The Cortez, made by the Clark equipment division of Chrysler in the 1960s. My grandparents bought one just like this and took us kids all over the US and up to Canada in it back in the '70s. Incredibly slow, very reliable, compact and low so it will go where others didn't and FWD so it was a bit better in the rough. It even fit through those big Sequoia trees you can drive through and had no problem going down Lombard St in San Francisco. For an RV, it also got pretty good gas mileage. It officially sleeps four, but we managed four plus two kids. One in a special bunk over the driver's seat and the other on the counter top. Attached is a picture of the one we had accompanied by the wood scale models my grandfather made for each of us kids for Christmas one year.

 

I'm glad that I'm not the only one that thought about that.

 

Wow, thats in awesome condition, post some pictures of the interior. Welocome to the site.

 

you have to ride in one to understand, the box motorhomes ride like tanks https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j...RGlJ8NYA0N2ZJE

 

cortez is also olds toronado drivetrain not dodge

 

lots of parts suppliers for them, very strong community of gmc owners out there.

 

Not the one we had. Ours was a '65 I believe and it had a slant 6 engine just like the ones they were putting in the pickups and vans based on the Dart/Valient at that time. It had a 4 speed manual with a granny gear and it was FWD. Definitely not Tornado and all Clark equipment. However they may have gone to a Tornado drivetrain later on and that would have been smart move for more power and the automatic.

OK, I got curious, so I Wiki'd the Cortez and it turns out, we are both right. Here's what it said-

 

I was only funning you about the Cortez because you said MOPAR. I think those GMC motorhomes are straight up awesome. Yours looks super clean too. Good choice.

I'm not an RV kind of guy, I guess because I got all the "hit the open road" and "road trip America" out of my system when I was a kid, but if I were to buy a motorhome, I might look at some old Cortezes. I was truly impressed with the compact FWD design and ability. I would also check out the GMC. They look super cool and I've never been in one. I'd love to see pictures of the inside of yours!

Since others have shared screen shots of probably the most famous GMC motor home, I'll share pictures of the most famous Cortez. It took all of America's astronauts on the first leg of their journey to the Moon!

 

Well I was expecting to see a 60s era land yacht, but even those are small compared to your behemoth!

 

I will have to take some interior pic's I don't have any it seems, I will take some when I get it unwrapped for the summer, have to do the brakes, would like to do the engine, the smog era 455 doesn't have enough jam for my liking, have to crank up the volume, I will post some pic's along the way

i'll start with this, toro manifolds suck

 

Wow you are right, I was expecting to see a 76 98 from your title, but your motor home is for sure the biggest!! Very nice!

 

Very cool. I was expecting a 71-76 Olds Custom Cruiser but that motor home definitely takes the cake. Oh yeah!

 

Wait till you pull the motor out the side door. You have to make a trolley system for it to work.
Gerald

 

That should be interesting to see. Is it possible to put the engine in from below with a lift?

 

oh I am aware of it, should be loads of fun

 

it's too big for most hoists, well too big for mine anyhow, it's not too bad to pull from the cab hole, lots of room

 

Have you taken your Olds RVing yet? I bet it is a hit at the RV park.

 

I did some camping and touring with it last summer, get lots of attention, people taking pictures, thumbs up and stuff, lots of people have never seen one, when you roll into the rv park everyone turns and looks

 

Do you ever have trouble getting into an RV park due to it's age? Here in California, some of the private parks have policies against old RVs and don't allow them. It's a way they keep the riffraff out and all the crap that can follow the riffraff around. I understand the policy to a degree, but I wonder how they enforce it with people like you that obviously have lovingly restored their old RVs?

 

That's horrible!

Like you, I can see the logic behind it. However, someone doesn't need to do business with a place like that. Why not require all tenants of an RV park to drive a $300k+ motor coach with multiple slides? Jeez...

My dad; Oldsguy, has a bumper pull RV that he and my step mom camp in every spring/summer. I've thought about trying it out. It would be cool to get an Airstream to tow behind the Olds. Hmmm...

 

I have not had any trouble like that yet but have seen places that say 10 years or newer, don't quite agree with them, sort of prejudice if you ask me.

 

Had a guy call looking for an exhaust manifold for a '73 motorhome chassis with a 454. Being a Chevy dealer I had both sides in stock.
He drives about 70 miles thru Cape Cod summer traffic, and when I show him the manifold he yells that it's the same wrong one another dealer tried to sell him and can't any of you idiots read a parts book!
Thought about it for a second then asked him where he added the oil, valve cover or a tube up front. You know the answer.

 

 

 

Nice! How many does it officially sleep? 6? Are you going to redo the interior, or leave it as is?

 

the interior has been redone, the pictures are just not good, just a few details are not to my taste that I will change, just concentrating on the mechanical issues first, and yes sleeps 6

 

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