Great West Classic Sport RV (based on Dodge Ram)

[chriswgawne]

Not a Lancia I know for which I apologise but this might be of interest to a LMC Forum member.
We have a Dodge Ram Great West Classic Sport RV luxury 2 person van which was sold new in the UK in 1994 for around £45,000  and at the last MOT 2 weeks ago it had done 77,774 km = approx 48k miles.
 We realise we hardly use it these days so maybe someone else would enjoy it?
The overall condition is very good  and the engine is barely run in - these engines routinely do >250,000 miles in the USA before the heads need lifting. And the general quality of manufacture of the base vehicle is the best of the USA being simple, very heavy duty and strong whilst the conversion is top quality and uses solid wood cabinet doors etc. I have been told that today this van would be approaching £100,000 new.
Everything works - we have just been at the Goodwood Revival for 3 days where we had warm and cold weather and as always we were very comfortable.
The settee converts to a full double bed, the front seats spin around and there is a table which fits in the floor by the settee to eat off.
The roof is double skin insulated and there is a lot of foam insulation under the floor so it is eminently suitable for cold and warm weather use. It was built to cope with the Arctic Circle and Florida in the summer.
The first owner was a one legged waterskier (apparently) and the second owner (who I bought it from to tow my historic race car throughout Europe) was a technical  official in the Historic Motor Racing world who liked to stay on the circuit for the social life on the big race weekends and we have owned it since 2003.

It’s a petrol 5.2 litre V8 automatic with overdrive which cruises happily at the legal limit and is also an excellent towing vehicle (the tow bar was fitted by RV Gold in Alton who I use for jobs which I either don't want to do or cant do on the van). Dodge Ram spare parts are cheap and readily available.
Fuel consumption is about 20mpg driven calmly on a run without a trailer. With a trailer it depends entirely how fast you want to go - we tended to travel around 65 mph whilst towing as that felt very comfortable and quiet.
It has hot air gas fired heating, air con, a multi speed ‘Fantastic Fan ‘ in the roof which runs in both directions for extraction or the opposite (which is very useful), a fridge which runs on either 12v, 240v or gas – whichever you select, hot ( gas boiler) and cold pumped water, 3 ring gas burner in the kitchen area with extractor fan, coffee machine, microwave, bathroom with flushing toilet, shower, basin and lighted wardrobe.
There is an external electrical hook-up facility (all cables and plugs supplied)  as well as an awning and the only thing shown in the photos which isn’t there today is the locker on the roof.
All of the above work and the general condition of the vehicle inside and out is very good and the tyres are top quality Michelins..
There are no mechanical issues  and its an easy drive being virtually the same overall width as our Toyota Landcruiser. Its easy to reverse with a trailer attached and as a matter of interest, whenever we travelled to a far flung circuit in the UK or Europe towing our B20, Jacky did most of the driving.

I don’t have the vans paperwork to hand here in Italy but all of the original manuals (for the various appliances) and paperwork which came with it when new are in it.

I have just spent £1,700 having new front brake calipers, discs, wheel bearings, brake hoses, brake pads etc fitted by RV Gold and last year RV Gold fitted new front shock absorbers.
Price in non negotiable @ £8,500 and it can be seen stored under cover inside in the Woking, Surrey area.
Any interest please send me a pm.
Chris