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Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » THE GMC MOTOR HOME, How it was, Then and Now. (Inquirery about all the stories, tales while becoming a great Motor Home.)
THE GMC MOTOR HOME, How it was, Then and Now. [message #127283] Tue, 24 May 2011 10:11 Go to next message
Larry C   United States
Messages: 1168
Registered: July 2004
Location: NE Illinois by the Illino...
Karma: 0
Senior Member
Hello Fellows
My passion for the GMC Motor Home began back in the 70's when I was starting out in the work market, fresh out of High School and not very educated on the real world.

GMC started manufacturing the GMC Motor Home and I turned my head everytime I saw one traveling down the street and every magazine ad caught my eye. This would go on Until the turn of the century when I would finally be able to own my own dream machine, a GMC Motor Home, Much like the GMC's I used to drool over in the 70's through younger eyes.

NOW, we are blessed with many knowledgeable people here on the GMCnet. I really enjoy listening to the stories of how the concept came up, stories of production and stories of people who were involved in design and of who did what. It's much like a novel story of a nothing to stardom fame, and holding that fame for 30 plus years.

We also have our suppliers that like to tell a yarn now and then, Jim Bounds comes to mind. Don't you all just get taken away with the moment when these people are telling a tale of how it was back and when??

I was wondering if anyone knows or a site where there might be a collection of these tales, or maybe contributors might like to offer a story now and then of how things were and how it became the GMC motorhome.

As it stands there is rumour and disconnected thoughts of how our world of the GMC became what it is, I'd like to see, if its at all possible, the stories that made it happen.

If we have no site, I'd be willing to collect the stories for contribution to an accessible site at some point.
I know the stories are out there, we hear them all the time as they come up in quiet conversation. Would you be willing to offer those stories to an archive for the group? it may not be a best seller but it sure would be interesting.

My thoughts, thank you for your perusal.


Gatsbys' CRUISER 08-18-04
74 GLACIER X, 260/455-APC-4 Bagg'r
Remflex Manifold gaskets
CampGrounds needed, Add yours to "PLACES" /> http://www.gmceast.com/travel
_
Re: [GMCnet] THE GMC MOTOR HOME, How it was, Then and Now. [message #127314 is a reply to message #127283] Tue, 24 May 2011 12:55 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Byron Songer is currently offline  Byron Songer   United States
Messages: 1912
Registered: August 2007
Location: Louisville, KY
Karma: -2
Senior Member

Larry,

You have a great idea. So here's a suggestion.

Stories like this could be posted at the GMC Registry. I think John
Shotwell, the new keeper of the Registry, would be open to that. They could
go under a "Stories" page with an index of authors and titles for the
stories.

I wonder how many people would take the time to send in stories.

Byron Songer
1978 Royale by Coachmen
Louisville, KY
Personal - http://web.me.com/bnsonger
Eastern States - http://www.gmceast.com



Larry wrote:

>
>
> Hello Fellows
> My passion for the GMC Motor Home began back in the 70's when I was starting
> out in the work market, fresh out of High School and not very educated on the
> real world.
>
> GMC started manufacturing the GMC Motor Home and I turned my head everytime I
> saw one traveling down the street and every magazine ad caught my eye. This
> would go on Until the turn of the century when I would finally be able to own
> my own dream machine, a GMC Motor Home, Much like the GMC's I used to drool
> over in the 70's through younger eyes.
>
> NOW, we are blessed with many knowledgeable people here on the GMCnet. I
> really enjoy listening to the stories of how the concept came up, stories of
> production and stories of people who were involved in design and of who did
> what. It's much like a novel story of a nothing to stardom fame, and holding
> that fame for 30 plus years.
>
> We also have our suppliers that like to tell a yarn now and then, Jim Bounds
> comes to mind. Don't you all just get taken away with the moment when these
> people are telling a tale of how it was back and when??
>
> I was wondering if anyone knows or a site where there might be a collection of
> these tales, or maybe contributors might like to offer a story now and then of
> how things were and how it became the GMC motorhome.
>
> As it stands there is rumour and disconnected thoughts of how our world of the
> GMC became what it is, I'd like to see, if its at all possible, the stories
> that made it happen.
>
> If we have no site, I'd be willing to collect the stories for contribution to
> an accessible site at some point.
> I know the stories are out there, we hear them all the time as they come up in
> quiet conversation. Would you be willing to offer those stories to an archive
> for the group? it may not be a best seller but it sure would be interesting.
>
> My thoughts, thank you for your perusal.


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-- Byron Songer
Full-timing to enjoy the USA
Former owner but still an admirer
GMC paint schemes at -
http://www.songerconsulting.net
Re: [GMCnet] THE GMC MOTOR HOME, How it was, Then and Now. [message #127318 is a reply to message #127314] Tue, 24 May 2011 13:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
hertfordnc is currently offline  hertfordnc   United States
Messages: 1164
Registered: September 2009
Location: East NC
Karma: 0
Senior Member
I would be happy to host such a collection

I'm developing a site celebrating all vintage RVs (oldrv.net)

But the GMC story is different. Through the miracle of wordpress software it would be very easy to assemble an archive that is readily searchable and editable by registered users.

It could have it's own domain name - gmcmotorhomestory.com or whatever anyone comes up with.

This group of people is another major part of the story. I don't beleive there is anything quite like it.

Look at the ongoing saga of Marsha's coach. When did a group of Airstream people raise money to help someone else preserve a trailer?



Dave & Ellen Silva Hertford, NC 76 Birchaven, 1-ton and other stuff Currently planning the Great american Road Trip Summer 2021 It's gonna take a lot of Adderall to get this thing right.
Re: [GMCnet] THE GMC MOTOR HOME, How it was, Then and Now. [message #127335 is a reply to message #127318] Tue, 24 May 2011 15:47 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Larry C   United States
Messages: 1168
Registered: July 2004
Location: NE Illinois by the Illino...
Karma: 0
Senior Member
I am interested in this project and anyone that may like to contribute.

I will offer my service to collect the stories, anytime anyone wants to sit down and jot some things they remember and send them to me, pics would be nice but the story is priceless.

I would be happy to retype the story ,unless you ask me not to, and it would be passed along to the archive. I'd be happy to include memos here at the GMCnet when additions have been made.

I know there are a lot of folks that know facts and stories about the GMC or design or even things that did not work, I'd love to hear it all.

For those that do not care to type, hand written, sound recording on cassette, MD, CD, DVD, Reel to reel, ALL ACCEPTIBLE... I will type it up for you. The story is the main focal point, if you know names and dates, even better, but if you don't, just pass the story, thats the important message.

Take your time, write it down, or record it and send it to me, do tell if you want credit for your story.

My addy to send to is SLAWRENCE111 (at) Yahoo (dot) COM ( make the obvious corrections ).

I thank you for your thoughts....


Gatsbys' CRUISER 08-18-04
74 GLACIER X, 260/455-APC-4 Bagg'r
Remflex Manifold gaskets
CampGrounds needed, Add yours to "PLACES" /> http://www.gmceast.com/travel
_
Re: THE GMC MOTOR HOME, How it was, Then and Now. [message #127358 is a reply to message #127283] Tue, 24 May 2011 18:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Andrew is currently offline  Andrew   United States
Messages: 213
Registered: April 2011
Location: Connecticut
Karma: 0
Senior Member
This is a really great idea.. I would love to be able to read the collected lore from the folks who were there (or at least heard about it a few decades before me!).

Sounds like a fun project at rallies too -- gather up audio recordings of stories and put them up for listening online, or crowdsource transcription, etc.

One of my favorite sites for late-70s early-80s computer industry history is http://folklore.org/ . It was created by Andy Hertzfeld who was part of the team that created the Macintosh computer. It's worth a look if you're interested in that era/industry, or as an example of how one guy collected stories that would otherwise be lost to time.

Larry, let me know if I can help. I can transcribe or wrangle software or what have you. I have a fast server with tons of disk space and unlimited bandwidth, if that's useful.


1973 Sequoia 260 (since 2011)
Re: THE GMC MOTOR HOME, How it was, Then and Now. [message #127369 is a reply to message #127283] Tue, 24 May 2011 20:41 Go to previous messageGo to next message
JohnL455 is currently offline  JohnL455   United States
Messages: 4447
Registered: October 2006
Location: Woodstock, IL
Karma: 12
Senior Member
Excelent. Enjoying the MAC website link as well. Hey, another American company.

John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II
Re: THE GMC MOTOR HOME, How it was, Then and Now. [message #127513 is a reply to message #127283] Thu, 26 May 2011 07:49 Go to previous message
Larry C   United States
Messages: 1168
Registered: July 2004
Location: NE Illinois by the Illino...
Karma: 0
Senior Member
I was wondering, if in addition to the old " Shop Talk ", if there might be interest in a section of Out owned GMC MotorHomes, How we found them, what they looked like, condition, how we got them home, how trouble free the trip was, any upgrades added or full blown rebuild.

This is another area of, we know the stories are out there, we have all lived them. The question is would you be interested in putting it to print for the enjoyment of the community?

The stories do appear from time to time on the GMCnet, just as the old " Shop Talk " stories do.... I am asking if an interest might be there to put it on a web page...

Just general comments, No slamming the PO, well not too bad. But if you know of a timeline with various PO(s), mentioning is ok.

Pictures would be nice but not required, I wonder if pics can be attached to docs?


Just another attempt to keep the GMC MH spirit alive



Gatsbys' CRUISER 08-18-04
74 GLACIER X, 260/455-APC-4 Bagg'r
Remflex Manifold gaskets
CampGrounds needed, Add yours to "PLACES" /> http://www.gmceast.com/travel
_
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