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Our "new" 1978 CORTEZ
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The Cortez is a small motorhome that originated with Clark Forklift Company, Battle Creek, Michigan in 1963. They designed a chassis from the ground up rather than use an existing truck chassis. The first model was only 18 feet, 6 inches long. It was 95 inches wide, however. To gain headroom without height, they elected to use front wheel drive. They also designed the chassis to have independent suspension on all four wheels. Suspension uses torsion arms with conventional shocks in the front, and air bag insice coil springs in the rear. The Cortez ride is most impressive. The independent suspension works like a big heavy VW van, floating over the rough road without a whimper.
The first units employed the Chrysler slant-6 engine and are noted for being ``patient up the hills''. In 1969, Cortez began using a V-8 engine, but still with a 4-speed manual transmission. Length grew a foot. Clark Forklift sold the division in 1970 to Alco-Standard (Kent Industires), in Kent, Ohio. Some had 383 Chryslers. Other's had 302 Fords. The entry door was moved from the rear to the side. All Cortez models have left and right front access doors.
In 1971, the Oldsmobile Toronado front wheel transaxle with the 455 cubic inch engine was used along with the GM 3-speed automatic. Length grew to 21 feet. In 1975, the company was acquired by 26 owners of Cortez coaches under the name Cortez Enterprises and production continued through 1978 when the company folded. The last units were completed by a bank in 1979. Only 3211 of the units were built from the 1963 model through 1979. Everyone who sees it is curious as to what it is, and impressed with the accommodations in the length. Compared to the ``big box'' RVs, the Cortez is a sports car. At this point, the Cortez is a classic that is still superior in many ways over current RVs. It's small enough to maneuver in town with a 136" wheelbase, and yet it holds it's own on a highway full of trucks. Cortez Motorhomes are very heavy: 12,000 pounds.
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Going back to the '60's I always liked the all-steel Cortez. After all, in those days there weren't all that many motorhomes around. The Open Road, I thought at the time, was a joke as was the Winnebago. I opted for a brand new, custom built Ford F-250 4X2 with an 8' Utility bed and Alaskan Camper which was propane powered. I think the whole rig cost $8000 including the Ramsey wench on the front and 16.5 wheels all round. Then came the first fiberglass coaches like the big Dodge.
Over the years there have been some other interesting RV's: The Superior is another one that is all steel construction like the Cortez. In the 80's I had a 26' Revcon with rear 'family room' which was just great. That one had front wheel drive as does the Cortez. But the reason I never owned a Cortez is that the early ones had only a 225 slant six engine. Not enough power to navigate California. While I knew the later ones had different small V-8's but somehow I missed the fact that the Cortez of the '70's was Oldsmobile Tornado 455cu. in. powered. So when this information popped up one night in January while I was surfing along it struck me, "We should try one of these."
It didn't take long to find one either. On the Cortez web-site I found one that looked promising for a decent price and got started with the e-mail exchanges. The very next weekend we drove up to Klamath Falls (We're on Clear Lake in Northern California) and took a look-see. Done.... ... well, not that fast. We made a deposit and drove back home the same way having made a commitment to come back in a month and take it away COD.
As soon as we were home I went to work to transform our 'fleet' into the new configuration. on the RV pages of this site you can see the pictures of our '76 dodge Crew and our '66 Dodge Muscle truck and '76 Alaskan Cab-Over Camper. all of the sudden, just like that, it was time to move along. It was an amazing month. I placed classified ads in the papers up and down the coast and included the web-site address. Bottom line: It worked! The camper went first - to a couple on a ranch in Montana. They'll be driving down in the Sprinig to pick it up. Then came the Crew Cab. I had thought that would be a hard-sell since it had a sick engine. Still, the price was right and along came a T-Sargent in the Air Force who needed it to tow his fifth-wheel back to Alaska from California. And the base has a fully-equipped hobbie shop where he was already building a big Dodge engine. Cool.
The last one to go was the '66 Dodge. This surprised me. I had thought it would go first. Good thing it didn't though, because we needed it to deliver the '76 and the we used it again to two our mule to Fresno where a fella from L.A. met us to take it back down there. He's a stunt driver and will use it to tow his "extreme Racing" Mustang. He's algo going to put in in a film or two.
None of these buyers argued the price. This was wonderful because I was then able to give each one extra stuff and happily deliver them. I'd say it's the way of the internet. So this past weekend just one month to the day we were again off to K-Falls to claim our prize. Before we left we had a mobile glass shop come and replace the two cracked windshields. The story continues with amazing twists and turns, but more on that later on. Right now the "Tez" is in the shop getting the brakes corrected (The coach had been sitting for ten (10) years! And on the way down we stopped in Redding to purchase four new tires - actually we suffered a tread separation up; by Mt. Shasta before we even got there. That too is another chapter.
We're looking forward to our first trip in the Cortez 21'. Our travel style is to live in the country and cruise in and camp in the city. We do it all the time in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Cortez will park at a single meter and we have several 'secret' camping spots around town to sleep in. OH yes - and now about the SAAB 95 (not 9.5). It's our new 'mule' and what a ride it is. I always wantd one of these since they het the showroom in Culver City, California - about $2,500 new. For a long time I've had some pictures of these on the dinette wall hoping one would come our way. Actually I wanted the Estate (Wagon) model and I'd pretty much decided we'd have to try to pick one up in Europe and ship it here. Then one night last month I was surfing around to relax and there it was - almost next door in Sacramento. I called immediately and made arrangements to look at it the next day. Yep, DONE - it was an immediate Done Deal... The following day we went back with a trailer and tow'd it home because it wasn't running. It only took six of us a day and wala - the perfect tow'd car at just under 2,000lbs. This one has the Ford V-4 engine with a four speed shifter on the column running to it's front wheel drive system. so now we have a front wheel drive Cortez and front whell drive follower. Just perfect. It tows like a dream too. On Easter weekend we did our shake down ride out to the coast at Fort Brag. The first thing that happened was to run out of gas on the grade up to Willits along 101. The guage said 1/4 but the tank was empty. Our Sprinit cell phone was useless as usual. I ended up walking four or five miles back to Shodakai Casino to use their phones which kept timing out just as I reached road service. Finally after four hours we were on our way again. Not to be defeated we made it to our camp site too late to look at the clock. But it was a nice leasurly morning - uneil we were pulling out that is. As we pulled forwqard we niticed a huge puddle of oil gushing out from under the coach. "Go back, go back" was the command. "Ok, we're not leaving just yet", was my remark... Up with the engine hatch to investigate. The oil pressure line to the guage had ruptured. "Fixable", I said to myself. BUT - it was Easter Sunday. I took the part to the office and discovered on the phone, that all the auto parts and hardware stores were closed. "Oh well, another night here won't be all that bad." Then the son of the owner of the park asked to see the part. He said go gack to your space and I'll be by. IN about 20 minutes here he comes with the exact part. Wow, an Eaqster angel. I replaced the part and off we went to a beautiful ride down the coast and inland to Ukiah where we had a late lunch overlooking Lake Menodino. Shake down it was - but a beautiful ride also.
In May we'll be going down to Newport Beach for the fifth annual Vintage-Vacation RV Rally. When the rally was up here in Northern California back in 2000, we took our Classic 1950 Spartan 33' Royal Mansion. We've been full-timing in this early "Park Model" trailer most of the time since 1977 and love it still. The difference between a Spartan and an Airstream is that the Airstream is truly a travel trailer. This one is made for living and that we do. We did purchase a '74 Airstream a couple of years ago and promptly sold it to a young couple starting out. To us there's no comparrison. The feng Shui of the Spartan is perfect.
