How could the man who was responsible for the Ford Mustang Boss 302, the 1963 Corvette and 1968 Corvette be responsible for one of the strangest motorhomes ever conceived? Larry Shinoda’s body of work is filled with some of the best designs to come out of the 1960s, including the second-generation Corvair, as well as later vehicles like the precursor vehicle that became the Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ. But you notice, there is a wide gap in-between his last model for Ford, the new-for-1971 Mustang, and the Grand Cherokee. When Bunkie Knudsen got fired from Ford Motor Company in 1969 after butting heads with the like of Lee Iacocca, he formed Rectrans and Shinoda followed him out the door of Ford and onto the new venture. 

Knudsen’s first order of business for Shinoda was simple enough: make a 10,000 pound recreational vehicle that was capable of ten miles a gallon. An easy feat? Not in the early 1970s…this is when a large V8 was used for the grunt, and aerodynamics for recreational vehicles was non-existent. Shinoda got to work by carving up a 1/25 scale model and taking it to Fort Wayne University’s wind tunnel for testing. The real deal vehicle started life as a Dodge M-chassis with a 413ci engine, which got wrapped in a 25-foot fiberglass shell that encapsulated everything that made a recreational vehicle…and then some. For example, if you bought the option, the “Thermosan” system took care of the raw sewage by pumping it through the exhaust system, incinerating it. (Bet it smelled lovely.)

Around 3,300 of the funky Discoverers were produced before the ultimate stroke of bad luck hit. Rectrans became a part of White Motor Company, and with the energy crisis in full swing, recreational vehicles were not doing well, let alone luxury RVs that looked like a Dodge Tradesman was in the middle of an allergy attack. The company was looking at heavy losses right up until March of 1974, when the Brighton, Michigan factory was struck by lightning and burned to nothing. The history is interesting, the design is interesting (if polarizing) and it might be the closest thing to a musclecar version of an RV produced. Could you bring yourself to rock it?

Kijiji Link: 1972 Rectrans Discoverer 25 Class A motorhome