While Los Angeles was showing myriad cars and crossovers, the RV industry held its national trade show in Louisville. Here are just a couple of the interesting vehicles.
Lance Campers 1172 Dual-S...
Lance Campers 1172 Dual-Slide
Lance debuted the 1172 dual-slide camper with dry bath, plenty of window area, bed space for five or six, and 42 gallons of fresh water. You will need a truck with a minimum 4000-pound payload capacity.
Thor Industries joined the Super-C motorhome business with a 35-footer on an F-550 cab and chassis, while Dynamax has a taller-roof DynaQuest XL with floorplans to 39 feet on the Cummins-ISC powered Freightliner M2 chassis. Newmar's all-new Dutch Star offers 10 floorplans from 38 to 42 feet, some with bath-and-a-half, on Freightliner XCR chassis, with Cummins ISL 400- or 450-hp engines.
Spartan Extol Concept Cha...
Spartan Extol Concept Chassis
On the trailer side, Gulfstream incorporated a bathroom with a slideout in some Gulf Breeze and Streamlite trailers for more changing room.
Airstream brings back the Land Yacht name, though this time on a concept trailer rather than production motorhome. The 28-foot Yacht is the result of a partnership with Tecnoform and a designer from Riva yachts, and features teak trim and white inlay boat-deck flooring, a galley that can be hidden when not needed, and a front bedroom/rear living arrangement able to host five overnight.
Perhaps most noteworthy was the return of the Holiday Rambler Presidential name on new fifth-wheels from Navistar RV (formerly known as Monaco). Likely to retail for $100,000 and up, the Presidential is built on a new chassis with a curved front section for tighter turning; is filled with touches suggested by previous owners; has more insulation than most, and offers nearly 9 feet of headroom in some areas, stained maple cabinets, and a two-person shower.
For the parts you can't see, Power Solutions International and Spartan showed a new chassis concept called Extol. PSI's 8.8-liter V-8 gas engine, rated at 430 hp and 512 lb-ft in this application, is designed to replace GM's 8.1-liter gasser but claims 20 percent more power and 15 percent better fuel efficiency. Extol is designed for the 22,000-28,000 GVWR range and is highlighted by suspension with a new compression fluid strut that combines fluid spring, damper, and actuator functions in a lightweight, compact design. According to Spartan, the CFS engineered by Horstman requires no hydraulic flow to respond to load input for instant response, has better heat rejection and life than traditional shocks, and can be adapted to MacPherson strut, wishbone, and leading- or trailing-arm suspension architecture.
Spartan also showed a concept chassis called Revel, for low cab-forward Class A coaches with low costs. It's powered by a 6.0-liter V-8 and an Allison 1000 series transmission.