Off Road Action reader Rod Hafner sent us this great photo of the Condor off road racing motorhome. He took the photo in the 1969 or 1970 Mint 400. I have seen a few photos of the Condor, but have very little information. This is probably the best photo that I have seen. Can any of you tell us about this oddity? According to this photo, Wes Thomas and Don Bass drove it. I assume that Condor sponsored it? What running gear did it use?
I don’t think that photo was taken in 1969. The air conditioner’s shroud looks too recent in design. I have a 1965 model of the Condor motorhome that has the same driver’s compartment design. I recall some years ago seeing this thing offered for sale for a substantial sum. The ad referred to the 460 V-8, a nitrous bottle, and Eaton axles. It is four-wheel drive. It has to be entirely custom. The rear of the motorhome has been cut off, for one thing. My motorhome extends a good six feet past the rear wheel wells and is a total 26 feet in length. By 1969, 28 foot Condors were standard.
The Condor of that time was made by a company completely different from the Condors of today. The original Condor company was Kelson Manufacturing in El Monte, CA. It went defunct in the mid-1970s. My father recalls reading that the company was bought by a man who took a trip in a Condor of the time (like the one used in the movie Christmas Vacation) and it was so troublesome he shut the factory. Condors from the 60s and 70s were built on very tough Ford 1.5 ton truck chassis. Mine is a P-500 chassis. Later, they were M-500s.
My Condor was originally owned by my dad. It had a 300 cid straight six and a C-4 automatic with 6.2 ratio rear-end. I’ve put in a 460 cid V-8 with a C-6 tranny and 4.33 ratio and climbed a 14% grade without a problem at 20 mph. I’ve had to repair some rot and re-paint but the old bird’s in pretty good shape.
Byron, thanks for all the information! The Condor was a different beast! Were they all 4×4?
i have a article in 1972 trailer life mag, that tells about the 4×4 condor production and racing history. the condor was powered by a 390 ford c6 trans and ford wide trac frontend.
The 4×4 setup is completely custom. The original rear axle was probably a Dana/Rockwell like mine. My front axle is a solid I-beam.
Something else I recall is that this race motorhome did a truck race up Pike’s Peak.
Now that is something I would love to see pictures of!
http://www.webglider.com/terry/condor/condor_6x6.jpg
Great shot! Thanks!
the condor was built by bill stroppe in long beach for condor it had abig industrial v8 and ran on lp.
Hi Sandy,
I did not realize that Stroppe built it. I would love to see some of your old racing photos of when you ran the Jeepster!
This is an awesome Condor camper!! Go to http://www.napco4x4.org to get more info on that front axle. The front axle is a NAPCO axle they made kits to convert a two drive truck into a 4 wheel drive truck with just using the existing factory drilled holes in the frame. They were used on Ford, Chevy, GMC and Studebaker from simple half ton all to earth moving heavy equipment and also military applications like tanks and 6×6 trucks. I bet that NAPCO 4×4 system would still hod up today if it was another Baja 500!!