Idiosyncrasies. Everyone’s got ’em. I have a lot of ’em. For example, I urgently and irrationally want a 1970s Winnebago, and why not? Look at that big green “W” on the side. Look at that reverse canted windshield, which is simply a safety glass finger in the face of aerodynamics. Face it, a 70s Winnebago is hideous, but I don’t care. Who hasn’t loved something or someone they shouldn’t?
With my idiosyncrasies come some semblance of rationality. I have absolutely no need for a large motorhome. My precarious relationship with the other folks in my neighborhood might would be irreparably damaged if I left one of these toasters on wheels in front of my house. My wife may beat me senseless. After all, we camp twice a year, in a tent. Maybe. Just think of all the wood paneling and dirty carpet I’d have to clean or replace. It just makes no sense at all.
But I don’t care. I’m so Winnebago sick that I borrowed the manual above from my library this past summer, just to see what repairing a Winnebago would entail. I fascinated myself by reading the section about how the refrigerator operated; who thought of that? It’s a miracle of science! At the risk of sounding like I’m ready made for a straitjacket, I’ve been at a fever pitch–I’m Winnebago crazy!
I’ve talked to people who have owned 70s Winnebagos, and they look at me like I’m delirious.
Fortunately, I found an acceptable alternative/outlet for my craziness: the Tonka “Mighty Winnebago,” introduced in 1973. Or rather, my mom and dad found it for me. They witnessed my looking over one at the local antique swap meet one year, and by the time I made up my mind to buy it, it had sold.
So it was a Winnebago Christmas! It may not have a 413 Chrysler rumbling beneath the doghouse, but it doesn’t take up much space, and it doesn’t use any fuel. It also doesn’t frustrate me with mechanical woes, upset my mold allergies, or get me in hot water with my spouse. My parents are so smart.
So, I’m a happy man living in the best of both worlds. My Winnebago is a fun Tonka toy like the ones I remember from my childhood; it has a movable awning, which provides hours of fun for childish men (OK, maybe not hours); and it fits in a corner of my car room. Everybody’s happy.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t park one in my driveway.
Winnebago history and F-17 CC here
Oh my! I had one of these,,,the toy that is.
It took me weeks but I saved up and bought one of these in 1973 when I was 10. I must have put a million mini miles on it – it was my absolute favorite toy. Best of all – I still have this and just acquired a 1966 Winnebago F-17! I wrote about it here: http://bit.ly/winnechron
My friend in grade 2 had one, around 1973.
Just like customized vans and CB radios, there seemed to be a big mid 70s fad towards motor homes and the RV lifestyle, in North America. I think Charles Kuralt’s show “On The Road” helped play a role in promoting the lifestyle.
As a kid, one of my favorite Saturday morning kids shows, “Shazam”, featured a motor home. As did the 1975 series ‘Three for the Road” with Alex Rocco.
I’m just glad someone else remembers “Shazam”.
Shazam. I remember it too. I also had a CB radio. No motorhome though.
Ditto..CB radio in Volkswagen bus, no trailer. I do remember Shazam.
I had one too. I think it came from a garage sale. That thing was built pretty tough. We could sit on it, no problem. Great toy.
I just saw this in an episode of Seinfeld.
The Tonka version is cool! I had, probably still have somewhere, a similarly sized RV by Ertle, I think. Except it had a Dodge van front with the sleeping quarters above the drivers seat. Was that a class “C”? I don’t remember my motor homes… Similar white with green paint scheme too.
This is perhaps one of the few vehicles that is equally (un)aerodynamic from the front, rear, sides, top, and bottom.
Have you thought about painting and decorating your car room like a Winnebago interior? It would allow you a test drive of sorts and it could show your wife what you are both missing. Just trying to help. 🙂
Now THAT is a great idea. I’ll run it by her…but not before I turn on the camera to record the look on her face. 🙂
And then mount a couple of big screen tvs where the windows would be, and take a virtual tour of…wherever you want to go. Just need to find the right videos 🙂
Seriously, I came up with that idea back in the seventies, when I was hitchiking and camping out of my backpack, and I’d see a big Winnebago pull into the next campsite, start the generator, and I’d never see the folks outside.
We always make the same comment when we go camping. Everyone brings their 480 ft. pullout with a satellite dish, and they just sit inside and watch TV. Different strokes, I guess.
As far as the virtual tour goes, we need to make this more my speed. I have one of those old “canvas” screens for watching reel-to-reels and slides. If I get one more of them for the other window, that could be an experience.
C – Class campers are regular cab & chassis with a camper mounted directly to the frame behind the cab .
Many have the back of the cab opened up for a ” pass through ” .
My Father bought a smaller Winnebago in 1969 and we traveled across America , Canada and Mexico in it , that was much fun if cramped quarters .
-Nate
I used to have one of these as a kid in the mid ’70s and they are tough! I used to ride mine down our rough driveway
My uncle had a Winnebago. My dad said his had a 440. After driving on the highway, the exhaust manifolds would be glowing. It got 10 MPG after a tune-up, which quickly fell to single digits. It spent a good chunk of its life parked in Key West. The salty air ate the aluminum body. My uncle squirted silicone rubber into the holes to seal them. It looked like it had acne.
Here is my Winnebago. It is a Tomica.
Oh my. I have to find one of them…that is awesome.
Big Jim ! (somewhere in the mid seventies)
The one my brother drove:
The Big Jim Sports Camper was a badge engineered Barbie camper introduced around 1974 or so. A new line of full-size action figure campers introduced right after OPEC One was another bad ’70s break for Ma Mattel. Add to that the criticism that the design was a rip off of some of Tonka’s 1971 designs.
When the economy improved, Mattel got a break and some of the Broughamier versions of the Barbie camper sold reasonably well around 1977. Mattel likely got a few backlash sales resulting from Tonka’s introduction of the down-sized Minnie Winnie.
Eventually sales for Mattel’s full-size action figure vehicles totally tanked, so they introduced the new “R” rescue series vehicles in the late ’70s. Another bad break for Ma Mattel, OPEC Two occurred with the introduction of the Rescue Rig.
Throw in a reputation for quality problems with the “Rs” and Mattel’s popular new CEO for the ’80s canned the “R” body, causing Mattel to exit the full-size action figure vehicle market for a long time.
The R series Rescue Rig…………
The one that I drove:
Ah yes. I had plenty of early Tonka trucks as a kid (’60s/’70s rigs in the late ’80s/early ’90s), and they were great… but never had I seen a camper like the featured one.
However, whenever we went to Grandma’s, there was an old toy of Dad’s that filled that niche: a black Blazer/Jimmy type vehicle with a massive slide-in camper on back. It was a Mattel product, but had no names or action figures to match (just a small lion insignia on the roof), so I never knew what it was rightly called. Until now.
Turns out it’s the Big Jim BEAST Truck. And it still exists today, helping little sis play out her camping scenes on Grandma’s living room floor, marred only by the addition of four tin Hot Wheels caps which I once thought made good wheelcovers 🙂
The brown sports camper was a bit odd. It had some sort of plastic skin, as you can see here.
Fun to play with though, complete with a ready-to-use campfire. And you needed more room than with the 1:50 diecast trucks.
Funny, that’s like a toy version of the real life Blaze Chalet and Jimmy Casa Grande.
I got one of these Tonka Winnebagos new when I was a boy. It was one of my favorite toys. I kept it well into my teen years. I might still have it had Mom not cleaned out my closet and donated a lot of my stuff to St. Vincent de Paul.
The outdoors show “Gun It” features the host driving an old Winnebago he dubbed The Toaster. It breaks down, a lot. He frequently drag races it against vehicles like school buses and an old Honda 110 trail bike. Talk about a cripple fight.
As an owner of a 70s motorhome (Dodge Chinook), I understand the spell they cast. But pick wisely; at least my fiberglass-bodied Chinook is essentially waterproof. When I see these old RVs built from stick framing and aluminum siding, I can just start smelling the mold inside. They invariably leak.
Once camping season rolls around again, I’m going to have to do an article on the slide-in camper I restored for the family camping trip last summer. Now *that* was a hell-project… not only did I start it on short notice, but the more you dug into it, the more rotten wood you found.
It turned out nice, but I ended up ripping more than half of the $@*%^&# thing apart before I was done! Never again…
Yep, I had one of these as well, I think I picked it up used sometime in the late 70’s. Lots of fun loading it up with stuff and just playing around with it. When I got into RC cars later I toyed with the idea of mating the body of it onto one, that would have been a lot of fun had it worked but in my case the wheelbases of my donor cars were too far apart. And then I discovered girls…
Nice Toy. Now you need to find the Cousin Eddie Christmas Vacation action figure next to it so he can drink & smoke as he empties the septic system on it 🙂
I’d totally rock one of these made up as the Eagle 5 from Spaceballs.
Funny how the manual has the Catalan flag (well, with an extra red bar).
The Winnebago is so lovable 🙂
One of the other long serving motorhome toy designs was the GMC Motorhome, it served everything from HESS trucks to Barbie.
I have a Hot Wheels GMC motorhome. Unfortunately, it is by-far the most beat up Hot Wheels car in my display case.
Wow, a great Winnebago – I love it. Never had one but then I was probably in graduate school when these toys were made. Here is my 1950′s equivalent – a well-worn Wolverine tin toy car and trailer.
I remember this toy. Seemed like every kid in town had one but me. Was often used as an oversized G.I.Joe armored car. 🙂
Takes me back to the days of Dad’s 72 Brave. 318 2 barrel single exhaust auto. The nylon tires would flat spot overnight and the thing would blur your vision for the first few miles. We lived in So Cal and it was new, so never got to the smelly,moldy point while we had it. Used it to tow my VW Bus into auto shop (a lot). Once the principal called Mom because Black Sabbath was blasting out of the 8 track and some funny smoke and a few girls were going in and out. Mom just said, yeah he has permission to use it. (Maybe not exactly like that, though).
A friend of mine had one of these exact models. The Indian was not that common here on the Cdn prairies.Good memories.
There was even an RV in Escape to Witch Mountain.
I had this guy. I think it was called a “Minnie Winnie”.
Ah, I have one of those, too. It actually sits atop the big one. Love it!
I dont think they are hideous.
Ahhh, the fearsome Brontosaurus of the KOA Kampground.
Slab-sided, moronically boxy, aggressively ugly, it’s like a Kindergartener’s drawing of a city bus. A truly dreadful looking contraption, it’s hard to believe that the original Winnebago was ever actually designed in any meaningful sense of the term. The “styling process” seemingly consisted of measuring how long/tall/wide the thing needed to be, and then hammering together some aluminum siding to those measurements. Then take a plate-glass window from a shopfront, and angle it downward for maximal anti-aerodynamics. Now run to the nearest Pep Boys to pick up a pair of sealed beams, paint a big “W” along the walls, and call it a day. For the inside, call your Lodge buddy whose previous interior-decor experience was limited to picking out the wood paneling and the terrycloth curtains for rec rooms at VFW halls and gun clubs.
For me, it’s gonna be either the sleek, beautiful GMC Motorhome or no motorhome at all. Which, in this lifetime, will probably mean no motorhome at all.
FUN FACT: In my Google search on “1974 winnebago interior ugly”, an amazing nine out of the first 15 results were for various CC articles (including non-Winnie vehicles like Mustang II and VW Thing). Either we talk about Winnies a lot, or we talk about ugly interiors a lot, or maybe both.
I will forever associate the W on the side with the camper in Disney movie “Escape to Witch Mountain, ” which I was obsessed with as a kid.
A buddy had the subject Winnebago camper – it was tough and we got multiple rides down our steep sidewalk on it. The opening top was cool.
I eventually had the Big Jim camper – which was an obviously badge engineered version of my sister’s Barbie camper. My dad cut pieces of scrap shag carpet for both campers and turned them into disco era sin bins.
I found one of those winnies at a flea market with a busted roof for $5. I bought it on the spot not knowing what I’d do with it. After moving moving to another state & buying a house I decided I needed to find some use for it. So it became a planter, which gave me a great excuse to display it in the living room without upsetting my girlfriend.
I both remember the “Shazam” and Isis power hour and had one of these Tonka masterpieces. I loved playing with the moving pieces, opening the bathroom door, swivelig the front seat.
Now we need a toy red ’74 Firebird that gets painted yellow by a car thief ring…