Aluminum or Fiberglass?

[k1100lt]

I am preparing for retirement by purchasing a used/Classic Motorhome. Recently discovered that in the ealry 90's Airstream began making some of their rigs out of fiberglass. Why? Was it a cost saving measure? Are these as good as the aluminum ones? I imagine this may be a matter of opinion but I am looking for knowledgable input for my first motorhome. Please help. Thanks, Glenn.

[85MH325]

Having had an '85 325 moho and having looked at a number of the Airstream fiberglass sided mohos over the years, it is my guess that a couple of things happened. First the aluminum silver bullet style moho was very expensive to produce, and other mohos in that price range became high-end diesel pushers while the Airstream remained on the P30 gas chassis. Second, Thor already had a number of mohos in production, so it was no great trick to slap Airstream stickers on a current production product, and sell it at a competitive price. There's nothing wrong with the fiberglass LandYachts per se, but there's nothing special about them when compared with other offerings from other companies of the era. They're just not the aluminum mohos.

Roger

[StingrayL82]

When I retire from the Army, I want to start looking for a MoHo and it's definitely going to be an aluminum body. Correct me, if I'm wrong, but didn't some of the P-30 chassis have the Cummins in them?

[85MH325]

I think that the 280 could have been had on the P30 chassis with an Isuzu diesel. There may have been one or two of the 390s that were built on a different chassis with the Cummins in them... but that was at the very end of the moho production in '91 or so... I recall an ad for sale with one 390 that was built with a Ford 460. I can't remember if the chassis was Freightliner or Spartan or just what they used for that one.

Roger