This Adorable Station Wagon-Length RV Is One Of Winnebago’s First Ever Motorhomes

Something that I was surprised to learn during my visits to RV shows is that there’s a sizable demographic of people who want a motorhome, but don’t want it much larger than their car. Many people aren’t as limber as they used to be and don’t want the work involved with owning a bus with a bed and a toilet in it. Some RVers also want a rig that doesn’t handle like a bus. This Winnebago F-17 for sale is an example of what a small coach used to look like and it gets better with every picture! It’s just 17-feet-long, and Winnebago marketed it as being just as long as a wagon.

Smaller RVs are a smash hit in the industry right now. In 2022, the RV industry scaled back, with most categories of campers losing some of the ground that they gained during the pandemic. Sales of some categories are even expected to return to pre-pandemic levels. However, smaller RVs such as slide-in truck campers and camper vans actually increased sales numbers with double-digit percent gains, indicating a possible shift in the market. There are some neat variations out there, like the Wingamm Oasi 540.1, a motorhome that looks like a Class C but comes in at a length that’s shorter than a full-size pickup.

This 1968 Winnebago F-17 is an example of what a small coach looked like 55 years ago, and it’s a total delight. Check it out behind David’s borrowed BMW i3. It’s not a wagon, but it was the closest thing we had on hand:

The wonderful RV was found by our David Tracy near the beach in Santa Monica, California. David gave me a bit of a treasure hunt, providing me with nothing but pictures. Through some sleuthing, I figured out that this is a Winnebago F-17. With the model name in hand, I took off to Facebook and Craigslist, where I found a listing for the rig. I’ve also discovered that this isn’t its first rodeo getting sold online, and it showed up on Bring a Trailer, selling for $28,500 in 2019. Today, its current owner wants $25,000 for it, so what are you getting for that kind of money?

Among The First Winnebago Motorhomes

This RV comes from a period of explosive growth for motorhomes. The concept of sleeping in a self-propelled vehicle for recreation goes back well over a century. Back in those days, RV designs were wild as individuals and companies all tried to build the ultimate travel machine. House cars, as they were called back then during those formative early decades, varied in design from vehicles best described as a “boxcar bolted to a truck” to an art deco streamliner. Then Raymond C. Frank came around in 1958 with his “Motor Home,” giving travelers the comforts of home in an attractive package. His creation was so popular that with time, the term “house car” faded into the pages of history while motorhome became a part of the American vernacular.

Winnebago is another creation of 1958. Founded that year as a branch of California trailer company Modernistic Industries, the company started with just 17 employees building Aljo travel trailers out its Forest City, Iowa location. The campers were just $895, or just $9,362 in today’s money. Now long after Modernistic moved into town, John K. Hanson became president and set the company on a new path. Hanson didn’t have a background in building campers. Instead, he was a funeral home manager with a degree in mortuary science. His experience with RVs was in selling them for a year before joining the company.

Iowa’s Modernistic branch wasn’t successful at first, finding itself with a few dozen unsold campers and tens of thousands in debt. Hanson decided to move forward by introducing innovation in the RV world. In 1960, Modernistic became Winnebago Industries, named for the river that flows through Forest City and Winnebago, Iowa, the county where its stakes were planted. Hanson adopted mass-production methods used by the automotive industry while also designing dedicated RV components that better fit in the RV setting. One of Winnebago’s innovations was the Thermo-Panel, which was a wall that consisted of exterior aluminum paneling, a foam insulation core, and interior paneling.

Winnebago says that its first motorhomes left the line in 1967 (though it appears that some were built in 1966). These first units were F-17 and F-19s and rode on Ford P-350 chassis. Winnebago says that by using those mass-production methods, it was able to produce a motorhome that cost about half that of the competition. That’s pretty awesome, but Winnebago is selling itself short because the F-17 was more than just a cheap motorhome. Winnebago saw this thing going anywhere you could take your car, but coming with the amenities of home:

“Winnebago’s F-17 is a full-featured motor home, yet is no longer than today’s compact-size station wagons. Parks anywhere with ease. Goes anywhere a car can go. Cruises at turnpike speeds. Winnebago’s F-17 provides luxurious travel-living accommodations for as many as six. Carpeted driver’s compartment has deluxe six-way adjustable bucket seats upholstered with quilted heavy duty vinyl. Roomy convenient kitchen has full-size LP gas appliances. Rear dinette is a wonderful day-time lounge for games, reading or watching the miles roll by. Available self-contained.”

That paragraph makes this little 17-foot, 4-inch-long motorhome sound like a dream. Who wouldn’t want to lie down during a road trip and just watch the world go by through some sizable windows? Some automakers add fluff to their brochures, but Winnebago seems pretty honest here. I mean, this thing was parked on a Santa Monica street among regular everyday cars and it didn’t look like it was a struggle to get it there.

This Winnebago F-17

When this F-17 was sold in 1968, Winnebago was just a year into motorhome production, making it among the first of many Winnebago coaches. It joined a lineup that included everything from truck toppers and travel trailers to 27-foot motorhomes.

Looking at the brochure, it looks like Winnebago didn’t skimp on features to reach the low price. Standard, you got the Thermo-Panel walls, ashtrays, a sink, a stove, sleeping areas, a kitchen, a wet bath, heated and pressurized water, and more. For holding tanks, you got a fresh tank with 17 gallons and a waste tank with 25 gallons. Also onboard is a 6-gallon water heater. An air-conditioner was not an option on the little F-17 and you couldn’t get a generator, either. Indeed, boondocking with one of these would be a little weird as you’d have to run the engine to keep the house battery topped up.

Thankfully, this 1968 Winnebago F-17 is well-optioned. When it went up for sale on Bring a Trailer in 2019, the listing indicated that the motorhome was refurbished in 2016. That refurbishment saw a refresh of the camper’s tri-tone white, gold, and aqua paint scheme. The refurbishment also included the interior, which matches the exterior with its white and aqua colorway. The appliances are noted to be original and include a sweet aqua-colored refrigerator and a three-burner stove with an oven. The bathroom is present, too, and the lovely aqua carpet is noted to have been replaced during the refurbishment.

The seller uploaded photos in the wrong orientation and from weird angles, but the camper looks the same inside as it did when it sold in 2019, so here are those pictures:

 

This equipment is noted to be in good condition, though the RV isn’t perfect. On the drivetrain side, the vehicle’s automotive heater doesn’t work and neither do two clearance lights. Its windshield washers also do not work. Thankfully, the rest of the bits underneath seem to be in good shape. This F-17 rides on a Ford P-350 chassis and is powered by a Ford 300 cubic-inch straight-six. Those engines are known for their reliability and this one should be making 170 horses. What surprised me was the weight. Unloaded, this RV weighs just 4,890 pounds!

According to the 2019 Bring a Trailer listing, this camper was sold new in Oregon in July 1968 and stayed in the original owner’s family until 2015. Then it was passed on to the Bring a Trailer seller in 2016. It’s not said if the seller of this Winnebago F-17 was the buyer from the Bring a Trailer auction, but it still comes with service records and its original purchase paperwork.

[Editor’s Note: I’d just like to give credit to the owner for the Life Magazine there in that brass-colored storage rack on the wall. Nice touch! -DT]. 

As of right now, you can get it from the seller for $25,000, which is less than what it sold for on Bring a Trailer in 2019. That’s a lot of money for a 55-year-old camper that doesn’t even have an air-conditioner. Really, this would be great for a camper museum or some RV nut like me who likes pieces of history. It’s also just a great time capsule into how small motorhomes used to be!

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