Chinook RV

My original post seems to have disappeared so I will try again:


I'm currently at the RV Show and wanted to track down the Chinook area. I spoke with the salesman who also happened to be a Salesman at the original company and he let me in on some upcoming news. He said that the new owner has the old moulds for the Concourse and Glacier. In 6 months they plan on coming out with those original models but with an updated interior of course. He said to expect as standard a tankless water heater, a TV antenna like what the Pleasure-Way uses, approximately 200 or 250 watts of solar with a quality inverter, and hopes to have it on a E450 chassis. The new owner is meticulous and a stickler for details so he expects it to be well-built. He said the owner understands he has a lot of expectations to meet. He also said there will be other vehicles coming down the line but refused to tell me what they would be. They will continue to put out the Chinook on the Sprinter chassis as their main seller. They know they have a fine line to walk because they do not expect to sell many Glaciers or Concourses. He said the fine line is selling it at a much higher price or accepting those two models will be losses on every sale.
He gave me his email address and as long as I don't bombard him with questions he will try to answer me as quickly as he can. I enjoyed talking to him and probably bugged him more than I should have! Here are a few pictures of the Chinook on the Sprinter chassis.

Thanks for the pics. Wish we were there

Yeah, turns out that when Phil Rizzio bought the rights to the Chinook name, Gary Lukehart insisted that along with the new Sprinter based models, the classic ones also had to be brought back.

The new Chinook company plans to begin building an updated Glacier first, then do the same with the Concourse. They hope to make 300 total a year.

They're setting up a 10,000 sq ft factory in Elkhart, Indiana.

Where the heck do you sleep in the Sprinter version?

My vote is for a Chinook body and quality on a Toyota Tundra or Tacoma cutaway. I don't like buying new, but with a Toyota engine I'd highly consider it.

SMan wrote:Where the heck do you sleep in the Sprinter version?

The first pic is taken from the rear bed. I think the second pic with all the rear seats is their "executive van," which is probably a fancy name for "tailgaters' dream machine." If I paid $150k for a conversion van, I don't think I'd be able to sleep at night anyway .

The awning is really wide, and I don't see any support bar. Any good in moderate wind like 10 mph? Put another one on the left side, I bet it can take off like a plane!

I'm kinda with you Xatlatc, but with a variation. I'm happy with my '99 Concourse on the E-350, but I wouldn't be excited about buying a brand new 2018 RV on what is essentially a dead/old, 1992 chassis. I'd probably vote for the Transit, but I can see your choice as well.

Yes, on a Transit it can't just be built super heavy (like it could on an E-450), but these days it's not that hard to build nice and light, and then you are hauling around less weight which to my mind is better anyway (and still have carrying capacity of course - no fun having an RV that starts out at max capacity before you even bring in a towel).

'course I'm not building them - only commenting.

I just read somewhere that the new Transits are coming out with AWD! I would have liked that on mine. As it is, I have a Jeep that is AWD full time and can go 4x4 when needed, so I love that concept. Much more on a bigger rig.