If you’ve ever seen a sleek, wedge-shaped 21-foot motorhome with a seamless fiberglass shell and rounded cab windows gliding through a campground like it owns the place, you’ve met a classic Chinook Concourse. For thirty-four years, from Nixon to George W. Bush, Chinook built what many still consider the finest compact Class C ever made. Then, in February 2005, the lights went out forever on the original company.
This is the story of the Concourse before the bankruptcy — the one enthusiasts simply call “the real Chinook.”
1971 – The Birth of a Revolution
In the summer of 1971, a small company in Yakima, Washington unveiled something the RV world had never seen: a one-piece, two-part molded fiberglass motorhome body. No roof seams, no wood framing to rot, no caulk to fail. The top and bottom halves were chemically bonded into a single monocoque shell stronger and lighter than anything on the road.
Mounted on a Dodge B-series van chassis with a 318 V8 or the legendary 225 Slant-Six, the first “Chinook 18-Plus” weighed less than 5,000 pounds and returned 12–15 mpg at a time when a 27-foot Winnebago was lucky to see single digits. A pop-top roof option gave 6′4″ of headroom, and the rear gaucho sofa unfolded into a 74-inch bed. The wet bath was comically small, but the message was clear: you could drive this thing anywhere a car could go and still sleep in luxury.
1975–1984 – The Concourse Name Arrives
By the middle of the decade the model was officially badged “Concourse,” a nod to its upscale positioning. Dodge remained the primary chassis, but Ford E-350 and Chevy G30 cutaways joined the lineup. Two floor plans dominated:
- The Club Lounge: swivel captain’s chairs behind the cab facing a removable table and a rear sofa that made into a king-width bed.
- The Dinette: a side dinette that converted to a second bed for occasional guests or grandkids.
Standard equipment grew quickly — roof air, 4 kW Onan generator, 6-gallon water heater, and hand-built oak cabinets that looked like fine furniture. During the 1973 and 1979 oil crises, Concourse sales actually went up; people traded their 8-mpg land yachts for something that could still tour the country without mortgaging the house for gasoline.
1985–1996 – The Dual-Rear-Wheel Sweet Spot
In 1985 Chinook stretched the body to a full 21 feet and moved exclusively to one-ton dual-rear-wheel chassis (Ford 460, Chevy 454, occasional Dodge 360). The extra footprint allowed a larger fridge (6–7 cu ft), a real porcelain toilet, and Corian-look counters. The ride and handling improved dramatically — owners still swear these DRW Concourses corner better than most modern Sprinter B-vans.
This is the era most people picture when they dream of a “classic Concourse”: tan or champagne exterior, rose-and-mauve interior fabrics, curved wrap-around front cab windows, and that unmistakable wedge profile slicing through the wind. Build quality was obsessive: up to 900 labor hours per coach, roughly double the industry average.
1997–2005 – Peak Luxury, Final Chapter
The late 1990s brought the Ford E-450 Super Duty chassis with the Triton V10 (Chevy 8.1L Vortec until 2003). GVWR climbed to 14,050 lbs, towing jumped to 7,500 lbs, and the feature list read like a 30-foot diesel pusher’s brochure:
- 4.0 kW Onan MicroQuiet generator
- Ducted 13,500 BTU roof A/C
- 16-foot power awning
- 32–40 gallon fresh-water tank
- Dual 6-volt house batteries + factory 100 W solar panel
- Central vacuum system
- Leather upholstery option
- Day/night pleated shades
An 18-inch body extension created the Concourse XL with a true walk-around queen bed. New, these coaches stickered between $89,000 and $112,000 — serious money in 2004, roughly $160,000–$200,000 in 2025 dollars.
The End – February 2005
In 1999 Chinook had been purchased by Trail Wagons, Inc. (a subsidiary that also owned Four Winds and Thor brands). Production moved from Yakima, Washington to Elkhart-area plants in Indiana. Quality slipped, costs rose, and the 2003–2005 recession crushed compact motorhome sales. In February 2005 Trail Wagons filed Chapter 7. The molds were scrapped or sold for pennies, engineering drawings vanished, and the original Chinook Concourse died at age 34.
Legacy
Roughly 8,000–10,000 Concourses rolled out of the factory between 1971 and 2005. Today the 1997–2004 Ford V10 models are the most sought-after — parts are plentiful, the chassis is bulletproof, and low-mile examples still command $40,000–$75,000 on the private market.
Walk up to one at a campground and you’ll still see the original fiberglass gleaming like the day it left Yakima, interiors that look barely aged, and proud owners who will happily spend an hour telling you why nothing built since comes close. They aren’t wrong. The real Chinook Concourse wasn’t just an RV — it was proof that small could be beautiful, tough, and luxurious all at once.
(Note: In 2013 a new company bought the Chinook name and now builds excellent modern Class B+ vans on Sprinter and Transit chassis. Those are great coaches, but they are not the Concourse your dad or grandpa still talks about.)
