Vintage GMC Motorhome Caravan Makes Stop in Wheeling
Kailey Carpino Trending
WHEELING -- A vintage GMC Motorhomes club stopped in Wheeling Sunday before heading to a 50th-anniversary celebration in Pontiac, Michigan.
Club member Dolph Santorine of Wheeling said that about 180 motorhomes will be at the celebration with another 300 people attending.
Santorine shared what it is like living in a motorhome. He said that the vehicles were made in 23-foot and 26-foot lengths. He said that the small living space does not bother him.
"It's a little snug, but you don't feel claustrophobic, and there's good ventilation, so that helps," he said.
He said that the vehicles sit very low to the ground, and the extra headroom helps the space feel larger.
Santorine also said that despite the small living space, he finds the storage space more than adequate. Along with storing personal items, Santorine said that people also have to carry spare parts with them to keep the motorhomes in good shape.
"Everybody travels with parts because you can't go to AutoZone and find them," he said.
Santorine said that many people make modifications to their motorhomes to match their lifestyles. He said that one member of the group travels with five dogs, so he added built-in dog crates to the interior.
He said that many people hook up televisions and other technology in their motorhomes, but he likes to keep his motorhome a little more simple.
"We don't travel with a TV at all. Some people do and some people have TVs built into theirs, but we have no TV. We'd much rather be running our mouths so we don't need a TV," he said.
Santorine's motorhome is from a GMC Royale from 1977, and he boasted that his motorhome came with dashboard air conditioning and seat belts.
"Most of them didn't have a/c back then," he said.
His motorhome has original upholstery on the built-in furniture and original cabinets.
Santorine also said that the bathroom in the vehicle is a little different from what most people are used to.
"We have what's called a wet bath, so the whole bathroom is the shower. So it's a little bit different style," he said.
Santorine said that most of the built-in furniture in the homes serves multiple purposes and can fold or transform to make the most of the small space. His home has a kitchen table with benches that can transform into a bed. He said that other vintage motorhomes have bunk beds where the top bunk folds into the wall to make more space.
Santorine pointed out the large windows near the front of his vehicle.
"Now as far as privacy goes, this is like being in a fishbowl. So as soon as the lights go off outside and on inside, everybody can see in. So, they all have curtains, and there's a curtain track around the interior," he said.
Santorine said that many motorhomes from the 1970s originally came with shag carpet. His coach originally had green shag carpet to make the plaid green upholstery on the furniture.
"They also had built-in vacuum cleaners in them," he said.
During the five years of production, 12,921 motorhomes were made at the GMC plant in Michigan.
The motorhomes were manufactured between 1973-78 in Pontiac, Michigan. GMC stopped production after a major decrease in demand for the vehicle.
"They actually sold really well, but in the late 70s, everybody went to little tiny cars and little tiny poorly built cars. People stopped buying motorhomes and RVs or recreational anything at all for a long time. So that was a big economic crisis at the time, and this vehicle did not survive that," Santorine said.
After their stop in Wheeling, Santorine and the rest of the caravan will continue their journey to where the motorhomes were originally made.