200 MacFarlane Dr
Delray Beach, FL 33483
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12,921 Were Produced 4,250 Have Been Found |
In 1993 I decided to look for the GMC Palm Beach I purchased new from a GM dealer in Liberty, NY in March of 1976. I had enjoyed this motorhome for over 10 years, and even though I was still a member of the working class, we managed to put some 70,000 miles on the old girl before we parted company. I conducted this search by stopping every GMC I encountered, either to quiz the owner about prior owners or, more typically, by raising the outside engine hatch and copying down the coach's VIN number. Before I realized it, I must have repeated this exercise on several hundred GMCs, and I had the beginnings of a "Registry"!
For anyone not familiar with the term, a registry is most often generated by classic or antique car clubs. Usually there is one national or international registry for each "marque". The main purpose is to locate as many of the special vehicles as possible and to try and document their history as well. The latter is really quite important for future owners of the vehicle as they can determine where the vehicle has spent its life and in case of celebrity ownership history, the value of the vehicle may be increased somewhat.
In the case of our GMC motorhomes, a Registry adds a certain cachet, which should enhance the value through increased interest and the resultant demand from the "Baby Boomers". Surely, there is not another brand of RV that has a Registry!
Another advantage of a Registry is the ability for future owners to know what model their new coach is as identity is often lost through remodeled interiors and exteriors. I have seen cases where an owner of a late 1977 or 1978 model thought he or she had the original 403ci engine in their coach when in fact it had been replaced by a 455ci engine.
The Registry has been helpful to new owner's looking for moral and technical support from fellow owners in their area, and we have been able to point them in that direction from data in the file. In some cases the data from the Registry has been useful to the GMC Chapters for their membership drives. Believing very strongly that membership in a GMC club is important for reasonably trouble-free enjoyment of our motorhomes, I usually refer new owners to a club in their part of the country and urge them to investigate membership. While clubs are not for everyone, there is usually a strong technical base among the membership that helps one find services, parts and solutions to problems. And one thing that is clear to me is that our GMCs don't like to sit in the barn!
The information
contained in the computer is held confidential and is not loaned,
sold, rented or bartered. The only entities that ever see any
details are the GMC clubs who cooperate with the Registry. In
no case is the VIN ever given to anyone. From time to time some
demographic information is published. Some of the following is
typical of what one will find in a magazine or newsletter.
There is a strong competition going on between Florida and California
as to which state has the most registered GMCs. A recent map shown
at the GMC Mart (www.gmcmart.com) shows that Florida and California
are neck and neck at 609 GMCs each. This revelation brought about
a huge response from the Western States GMC Club and individual
owners in California to the extent that the count from the "left
coast" increased enough to bring California to the front
of the pack!
The goal is to try and locate every one of the 12,921 GMCs produced between 1973 and 1978. So far we have uncovered the whereabouts of more than 1/3 of those coaches. Obviously, we have a long way to go, but I am confident we have a great number of owners and "wannabe" owners who share this goal, and they have been instrumental in bringing the Registry this far. Since the Registry has no budget for research and discovery, every bit of work is done on a least cost basis. Even if I had a telephone fund, I wouldn't use that resource, as I would hesitate to bother folks at home. We all get far too many annoying phone calls from solicitors anyway!
I have tried mail, but even if I enclosed envelopes with return postage, there is no guarantee I will get a response, and at 66 cents per mailing that is too expensive. The Internet has been a tremendous resource, and most of the huge gains in the Registry database have resulted from the low cost and ease of contacting owners by email. How, you may ask, do I find these owners?
I begin with the monthly FMCA magazine classified section and check every GMC that is for sale. FMCA requires, as a condition of placing an ad, that the listing include the last 5 digits of the VIN number. If the ad includes the model and year, I can reconstruct the whole TZE number. Then using a reverse look up feature for the phone number, I can pinpoint the person selling the coach. Now I have TZE, Model, owner and address with zip and area codes; the basic info I keep in the Registry database. I also scan other publications for coaches for sale although they don't provide all the info I need, at least I can identify a GMC and a location.
Another most valuable resource has been the on-line technical forum for owners and soon-to-be owners. The GMC Net is a stop along the Information Highway where folks exchange ideas and opinions about GMC motorhome problems, parts, sources, trip itineraries and the like. Many of the owners have visited with each other, and friendships have developed that are real and lasting.
The Net, as we refer to it, has been so helpful in searching out GMCs along the road, in feed lots, behind a barn or in the process of being salvaged for parts. Dedicated GMC owners have collected as much info as they can and sent it into the Registry. This often has meant they have stopped along the highway to make inquiries or have doubled back when they spotted the familiar GMC profile from behind a tall fence. I am indeed grateful and appreciative to every one of the owners and "wannabe" owners who have helped. For info about the GMC Net go to www.gmcmotorhome.com
Every day some GMC owner somewhere in the country will come across another owner who does not know there is an organization of GMC clubs, a GMC magazine, dedicated GMC repair shops or the GMC Motorhome Registry. In fact some have claimed they have never seen another GMC! Knowing what I know about the wonderful resources available to owners today, I can only feel sad to know what these folks have been missing - in some cases for many years!
I wish we had all of these resources when I first bought my GMC in 1977. Even the dealerships didn't learn how to repair them until near the end of the production run. By the way, I did find my long lost first GMC and know right where she is today! And the current owner (now #4) has a complete travel and repair history for the old girl.
So, in closing, I would only ask that you become a TZE Hunter and collect as much of the information as possible to send in for inclusion in the Classic GMC Motorhome Registry.
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Dave Greenberg 200 MacFarlane Dr Delray Beach, FL 33483 |
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