Here’s another new one for me: the 1973 Sportswagon. It’s a bit hard to put this in proper context, but it’s something of a cross between a regular full-size American van and a small RV. It’s low enough (74″ with the extending roof down) and short enough (224″) to fit in a garage, but at 90″ wide, that better be a modern, wide one. That’s…wide, and mostly explains how they fir so much inside.
This has seating for eight, a galley, shower and toilet, and its seats fold down into two double beds, the one in the rear running cross-wise. And room for the motorcycle too.
The brochure describes the Sportswagon as “a unique and versatile station wagon for daily family use and a camper for weekend or vacation touring”. Sounds familiar.
Power was by a Dodge 360 V8. No word on the chassis; undoubtedly a ladder frame and components from Dodge or someone else. The body is apparently made of a plastic from Uniroyal. Its styling is pretty advanced for the time and from a small outfit. It clearly reflects some elements of the GMC motorhome.
Very nice. This would fit a typical 2-car garage (but turn it into a 1-car and 1-motorcycle garage)
Only 2-car garages with a single wide door. Many of them have two separate single-car doors side by side with a post between them.
With its 90″ width, shouldn’t it have clearance lights?
Yes, front and rear; and front and rear identification lights.
Was it ever produced?
IIRC two recent ACCD grads were responsible for all the ID work on this vehicle. Justin Dantzler and Craig Valentine were their names, I believe. They were two talented and hard working Industrial Designers. 🙂 DFO
Wow! This is the kind of minutiae that only CC brings!
This thing is about a foot and a half too wide to fit in my garage, but it sure looks cool.
Would be perfect in a mid-70s science fiction movie like Logan’s Run or Death Race 2000.
Completely agree on the 70’s movie prop looks.
Neat! Looks like this was built by Majestic Motorhomes of southern California, and unfortunately they built only a few prototypes, so it never went on sale.
Oddly, the company resurfaced the same idea three years later with another vehicle, which looked mighty similar, called the SL-18. That was written up briefly in Popular Mechanics in 1976, below:
Looks like a scaled down GM motorhome.
That is pretty cool looking.
Ahead of it’s time in many ways I think.
I wonder about the specifics of the “plastic from Uniroyal” body.
Always nice to have a shower along.
I always needed a 7000 pound RV for daily use. You have no idea how many times I needed a nap and a shower on the way to the bank or Walgreens.
Jeep is making the Grand Wagoneer just for you, then!
It was finally brought to market by GM – they called it the Pontiac Aztek.
The front end looks similar to this 1973 Sport Wagon:
Which looks similar to the 1967 Chevy pickup trucks which look similar to a 1966 Studebaker.
That top photo has all of the style earmarks of an early 70s Chrysler brochure – only the vehicles shown are different.
That photo of the guy with the bike is probably of him backing it back down the ramp as there is no way it was going to fit through the opening. Not up right anyway.
In 1973 I was seriously looking at vans and especially van conversions. I wanted a van that could convert from hauling vintage car parts, to a place I could sleep/live in while I vended NOS car parts at various car shows. I attended a Van conversion show at the big Capitol Center in Landover, MD. I do remember seeing the White one at the show [but don’t remember the blue stripes].
My memories of this monster:
It was truly W-I-D-E at 7′ 6″. I had 2 Packard limousines at the time, and it was longer than either one of them. The fit and finish was horrendous, especially interior panels. Had to slam the driver’s door to get it to close. My thought back then was if this one is the show vehicle, what can I expect from one I bought? Built-in A/C was not available, and I needed a vehicle with A/C. And the last memory: It was incredibly expensive at about $5,000.
A couple of months later I ordered a new Dodge Tradesman B-200 LWB van, loaded with most options except for rear side windows and rear seats. Driveline was 318 & stickshift. I even opted for the chrome trim package, as it was under $25, including chrome bumpers! Total negotiated price was $4,000. Factory A/C was over $450 of the cost of the van.