Can You Guess The Headlights Of The Motorhomes At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh?

The recreational vehicle is actually pretty amazing when you really think about it. All of the qualities of a motor vehicle, with the basic amenities of a home, all hurtling down America’s highways at high speed. It’s even more impressive when you realize that RV manufacturers are not usually chassis builders, and thus, they build these coach bodies on top of a sourced platform. Until recently, this meant motorhome companies also raided automakers’ parts bins other necessary parts that would be far too costly to produce rather than merely procure – headlights, for one notable and highly visible example. I’m going to show you four RVs, can you guess their headlights?

Welcome back to Parts-Bin Puzzle! This series is dedicated to the great vehicles in history that borrow significant parts from other, often completely unrelated vehicles. I’ll show you a part, and you get to guess where it came from! Readers have been asking for the return of this series, and your wish is my command. To start us back off, let’s do a classic game of RV lighting guessing. I walked around Camp Scholler and snapped pictures of some sweet RVs.

Where I am

If you’re an avid camper, I highly recommend setting your stakes or stabilizers down in Camp Scholler at least once in your life. The official campground of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh turns into a city for about a month, with everything from a form of mass transit to even grocery stores. That’s wild!

Camp Scholler is also a fantastic place to be if you’re like me and you like spotting unique RVs almost as much as you like looking at planes. You’ll see everything in Camp Scholler, from some of the oldest Airstrams to adorable campers that were built by the hands of the people who sleep in them.

Now let’s look at some RVs!

Holiday Rambler Neptune XL.

This large Class A motorcoach rides on a Roadmaster Rail RR4R chassis and can be found with a rear-mounted 325 HP Cummins diesel engine and an Allison 2500 MH 6-speed automatic transmission. Holiday Rambler marketed the Neptune series as its line of dream RVs, and advertised fittings like washers and dryers, an external camera system, wood cabinetry, a central vacuum system, an aluminum superstructure, and more.

If you’re curious, Holiday Rambler was founded by Richard Klingler in 1953 in Indiana. Klingler spent the early part of the 1950s building trailer parts in his chicken coop. The first Holiday Rambler motorhome was completed in 1953.  The company is known for its aluminum “Alumaframe” superstructure, which as touted as making the Holiday Rambler several cuts above the typical motorhomes of the era. Today, the company is a division of REV Group, which is notable for its ownership of Spartan Fire Chassis, Fleetwood RV, and AEV.

This example appears to be a late-2000s model, and what really caught my eye here was its headlights. Take a look at this bad boy!

Where do you think this headlight came from?

Newmar Dutch Star 4369

Newmar, which is one of the handful of RV builders known for its quality, says that its Dutch Star is its best-selling coach in its lineup. The reason, Newmar says, is that the coach has seemingly endless customization options, from a choice of either Feightliner or Spartan chassis, 10 different interior floorplans, a floorplan with two full bathrooms, and a floorplan with a slide that runs the full length of the coach. Neat!

Family RVing Magazine says this about Newmar:

Newmar has a history of innovation rather than imitation. In 1991 the company unveiled the first motorhome with power slideouts. For the next three years, competitors tried to sell against that idea. By year four, most manufacturers came to the National RV Trade Show in Louisville, Kentucky, with slideouts in their floor plans. Newmar also introduced the flush-floor slideout in motorhomes.

In 1990 Newmar debuted the Dutch Star and Mountain Aire motorhomes, which remain in the company’s lineup today. The company also introduced Comfort Drive, a self-straightening steering wheel technology for smoother ride and handling; the STAR Foundation, a steel superstructure designed to strengthen an existing chassis frame; and cathedral ceilings, which increase headroom in rear motorhome baths and bedrooms.

Newmar was the first manufacturer to install awnings on the roof and incorporate them into the fascia, as opposed to the traditional practice of hanging them on the side of the coach. The company also launched the True Comfort ducted central air-conditioning system. Additionally, in 1998, Newmar pioneered the use of full body paint on a motorhome. And the company debuted the industry’s first nonretrofitted wheelchair-accessible Type A motorhome: the 2012 Canyon Star 3911. Today the Newmar Mobility lineup also includes the Ventana and Dutch Star 4311 diesel models.

Newmar’s newest Dutch Star coaches use more generic headlights that give the motorhomes a slightly more bespoke look. However, the coach that you see today, which is likely a mid-to-late 2010s model, has headlights taken from a car. Which car is that?

Jayco Alante 29 F

This Jayco, which was built in the 2020s, represents the opposite end of the Class A motorhome spectrum. The Holiday Rambler and Newmar above are considered luxury coaches, but this Jayco? It’s less about luxury and more about family. This rig rides on a Ford F53 chassis and sports Ford’s Godzilla 7.3-liter V8, tuned to 350 HP and 468 lb-ft of torque in this configuration. This one is a front-engine coach, which explains the huge grille up front.

This Jayco offers an interesting proposition for the value-oriented buyer. A diesel would get better fuel economy, but runs generally more expensive fuel and is generally more expensive to operate. This Godzilla has no complex diesel emissions equipment to fail, no diesel fuel filters to replace, and no diesel exhaust fluid to refill.

Jayco says that the Alante 29 F has a GVWR of only 18,000 pounds, so it’s relatively light for a Class A motorhome. Features do include some nice touches like hardwood used in the interior, a water filtration system, dual air-conditioners, a built-in device charging station, and more. But make no mistake, the guy rolling in a Prevost probably won’t even notice it.

Here’s a bit about Jayco, from Jayco:

Peace and love were in the air—and so was entrepreneurial spirit. In 1968 Lloyd and Bertha Bontrager set out to make a family dream a reality in their quiet corner of Northern Indiana. Let the fun begin!

1968:

Lloyd developed his own prototype camping trailer with a unique lifter system for fold-down campers.

1969:

In January of 1969, Al Yoder joined the company as a partner. During this first year, we grew to 15 employees and sold 132 camping trailers.

Anyway, let’s take a look at this coach’s headlights? Where do you think these came from?

Tiffin Allegro Bus

This coach comes from the 2010s, and Tiffin pitches the Allegro Bus as a high-end luxury coach. The brochure talks about hardwood cabinetry, porcelain tile, seven feet of standing room, a home theater system, and a residential stainless steel refrigerator. This is one of those coaches that someone like Jason Torchinsky might say looks like a casino inside, and I can’t say I disagree.

Here’s what Tiffin says about its story:

In 1941, in the small North Alabama town of Red Bay, Bob Tiffin’s father, Alex, began the Tiffin legacy with the establishment of Tiffin Supply Company. This store was a one-stop-shop for all your house-building and furnishing needs. A year later, in March 1942, Bob Tiffin was born to Alex and his wife, Katie. During his boyhood, Bob enjoyed playing football with the local boys, eventually becoming part of the Red Bay football team. Their remarkable success included winning every game except one in 1959, followed by an undefeated season the following year.

As Bob matured, he actively contributed to his father’s business. In 1965, the family business expanded with the acquisition of a cutting-edge cotton gin. At just 23 years old, Bob took charge of its operations under the guidance of his father, Alex. He took to the machinery and management like it was second nature. Fast forward to 1972, and Tiffin Motorhomes was born in the heart of Red Bay, Alabama.

Tiffin is one of the manufacturers that used to make its own chassis, and this one rocks a Tiffin PowerGlide chassis featuring a Cummins ISL9 diesel with 450 HP and 1,250 lb-ft of torque. This is backed by an Allison 3000 MH six-speed automatic transmission.

Alright, enough of that. Where did these headlights come from?

Click the button to see if you were right!

While it is neat to see that RV manufacturers are moving away from jacking lights from cars, a part of me is sad. RV light spotting is such a fun game to play, and I have so many more sets of RV lights saved on my phone, so if you like this, let us know and we can do more!

Likewise, if you have a great candidate for a future Parts-Bin Puzzle, drop it in the comments before or in an email to tips@theautopian.com.

Photos: Author