Interesting connection to Wally Byam found in Revcon motorhome

[RichardT]

I just found one of these today and I think I am going to pick it up tommorrow.
I was driving and had to turn around and look at it because for some reason I found it interesting. Turned out it was all aluminum! It is built in 71 as a 72 year model and is 25' long and I liked it so I did some reasearch and found out why I liked it, check out the connection to Airstream below. I highlighted in red the important connection.
Has anyone heard of these before or did you know this?

The Revcon Motorhome
The Revcon motorhome dates back to 1968, when a man named John Hall conceived the idea of a low-profile, front-drive coach with a lightweight aluminum monocoque body. This was not entirely a coincidence since John was the stepson of Wally Byam of Airstream Trailer fame.

Production started in Fountain Valley, CA, with the 1972 model using the Oldsmobile Toronado 455 engine and drive system. By the end of the 1970s, however, Olds had downgraded their drive systems, which were no longer suitable for motorhome use, so Revcon designed their own front-wheel drive system using the Chevrolet 454 engine. They also redesigned the nose of the coach at this time to the beautiful streamlined shape that was in use with minor variations until the end of production in 1989.

It's not hard to imagine the impact these coaches had 20 and 30 years ago when they were so far ahead of all the competition that they still do not look outdated in today's world.

Revcon site at http://www.revconeers.com and a picture of this style of coach is there.

Airstreams are of course still the coolest, but I thought some would find the connection to Wally to interesting not to post it.

[Stefrobrts]

That is interesting. One more thing to watch for on the road.

[87MH]

Originally Posted by richardt

...Has anyone heard of these before or did you know this?
.....
The Revcon Motorhome
The Revcon motorhome dates back to 1968, when a man named John Hall conceived the idea of a low-profile, front-drive coach with a lightweight aluminum monocoque body. This was not entirely a coincidence since John was the stepson of Wally Byam of Airstream Trailer fame.

PPL, a big Houston, Texas consignment dealer, had two of the late 80's models on their lot earlier this year.

I had no idea of their connection to old WB.

[RichardT]

Here are some pictures, I started stripping it to get ready to polish!
It is really cool.
The interior is super clean, and it runs perfect.



Interesting that it was concieved in 1968 the same year Beatrice bought Airstream, did this guy John Hall ever work at Airstream? It is like he could not do Airstreams anymore and started this company. It has a few interesting similarities, I am sure he was influanced by Wally and the Airstream design. And since he was family I would think he benifited financialy from the sale of Airstream and probably used the funds to start this company.
Does anyone know any history of this?

[rev1]

I have owned an '83 revcon for 3 years. I was intrigued by the story and very impressed with the design and quality of the coach. It drives better than most any coach even 15 years newer. Alas, I have moved and no longer have a place to keep her, so she must pass on to a new owner who will be delighted with what she has to offer. I'm asking $14,500, please email mark@volotrading.com with any interest.

[RichardT]

I posted some pictures above

[daveinet]

Don't know if old threads can be woken up by new posts, but today I just stumbled on a news article about John Hall from the early 70s. He actually did work for Airstream for 20 years. He worked as an engineer and later worked in marketing. The news article made the case for John Hall being the driving force at Airstream in trailer design. Putting that together with starting Revcon in '68 seems to make a lot of sense.

[Minnie's Mate]

Love to see some interior shots. What color will you paint her? Or will you go with polished aluminum?

[Distantdrummer]

Originally Posted by daveinet

Don't know if old threads can be woken up by new posts, but today I just stumbled on a news article about John Hall from the early 70s. He actually did work for Airstream for 20 years. He worked as an engineer and later worked in marketing. The news article made the case for John Hall being the driving force at Airstream in trailer design. Putting that together with starting Revcon in '68 seems to make a lot of sense.

Could you direct us to that article please?

Also I would like to hear from PeeWee on this , John Hall = stepson connection.
Is Mr. Hall still living ?
Would love to see him interviewed if so.

thanks

[Mike Leary]

Thanks for the info & links; those were very cool coaches, don't see many on the road ('course, don't see many AS mo/hos, either!)

[purman]

There's a huge AS motor home by my inlaws I never see it move but will take some pics so you all can see it....

[airbassador]

Neat info.

It also appears Revcon is still in business making neat RV's.

Revcon Motorcoach, Inc. - 4x4 Motorhomes

[Mike Leary]

The Foretravels were cool in that era, too.

[daveinet]

That new Revcon company is a not really the old Revcon company. Even though the website exists, I'm not sure they are still in business. I've talked to a 4x4 owner, and the fit and finish is not the same as from the 70s and 80s. Revcon went belly up in 1990, closed its doors. The website is from someone who took over the old stock and building and started over.

I'm a big Revcon fanatic and stumbled on an eBay listing for some Revcon brochures. They arrived in my mail box Tuesday, so hence the timing of the post. I received a 3 page news article that told of the Airstream connection. Also I received a 3 page interview with John Hall, from shortly after he started Revcon. Photos from that article would suggest John was in his 50s back then, so I doubt he is still living. Amongst Revcon owners, it was well known John Hall was the stepson of Wally, but what was not known till now was John's position at Airstream. Of course these articles were written from the perspective of promoting Revcon, so one does not know to what extent John's position was embellished or a solid description of fact. I'm working on taking photos of these articles and will publish them to the net sometime this weekend. When I get them up, I'll post a link here.

[daveinet]

Oh, I noticed one other thing I need to clarify, the photos of the Revcon above are not mine. They belong to RichardT. Unfortunately it was in an accident, so I believe it has been sold. There are pics of RichardT's crash on my website, as well as interior shots.
New Page 2
Mine is an '83 shown here:
New Page 2

[PeeWee]

Originally Posted by daveinet

Don't know if old threads can be woken up by new posts, but today I just stumbled on a news article about John Hall from the early 70s. He actually did work for Airstream for 20 years. He worked as an engineer and later worked in marketing. The news article made the case for John Hall being the driving force at Airstream in trailer design. Putting that together with starting Revcon in '68 seems to make a lot of sense.

The earliest possible time that John would have worked at Airstream is 1950 and his tenure would have been over in the mid-50's, possible late 50's, but not past then. His time at Airstream was 5 to 10 years.

[PeeWee]

Originally Posted by Distantdrummer

Could you direct us to that article please?

Also I would like to hear from PeeWee on this , John Hall = stepson connection.
Is Mr. Hall still living ?
Would love to see him interviewed if so.

thanks

For many years, too many years, I had heard that John Hall had been murdered in Mexico City. Which I found to be tragic.

Then plus two years ago in talking with Fred Coldwell, I found that John was alive well and living in the state of Washington.

I made contact with John and had a very nice conversation with him. Since then he has disappeared off the face of the earth. I have not been able to find him. John's age is somewhere between very late 70's and early 80's.

I mentioned is one of the other threads that John worked for a very limited time with Airstream. However he did supply Airstream stainless steel water tanks and the first electronic control panels. I'm not sure for what period he was a supplier.

As far as Stel's financial status and John's inheritance I know absolutely nothing about their personal affairs. I believe John problably invested his inheritance and had partners to fincance Revcon. The idea was novel.

That's all I know about this aspect of John Hall.

I did, on another thread not in this series, mention my relationship with John Hall.

Pee Wee

[daveinet]

I finally got to creating a copy of the interview with John Hall. I reformatted the original brochure into a PDF format.
http://www.geocities.com/revconprinc...s/JohnHall.pdf
Here is also a txt version of a different article that speaks of John Hall's connection with Airstream. i was going to send the high res photos, but I ran out of space on my web hosting site, so here is a text only version.
http://www.geocities.com/revconprinc.../Revcon250.txt
The date on the brochure was 1970, so if you work backwards, you can figure out when he was with Airstream.

[PeeWee]

http://www.revconmotorcoach.com/index.html

http://revconeers.com/forum/

http://www.cifumotorsports.com/revcon/

http://www.aircraft-electrician.4t.com/

[59ona64]

So many of these links are down. Daveinet are you still around but at a new website? Wordpress blogs are free and easy. and Facebook pages are really free and easy. Is anyone there on FB?

I'm interested in purchasing at Flatnose Revcon or a 24' Argosy or an FMC. Airstream is out of my league price-wise, but I love some funky styling. The FMC owners group/forum is super-active, so though they seem more complex than the Revcon or Argosy, maybe the forum help will make maintenance more feasible. Any hints/suggestions/leads/cajoling?

Thanks,
Dave