Perusing Craigslist as I am wont to do, I was stopped in my virtual tracks by this offering and figured it had to be shared. This is a Great Dale House Car. I had never heard of this before but it is an interesting story made even more so by my immediate recollection of a comment that Mr. J.P. Cavanaugh made at the Midwest Meetup last month where he pondered the most interesting or significant vehicle made in every state. I didn’t immediately have an answer for my home state Colorado but perhaps now I do!
At first I thought this was some sort of a one-off home built job, it turns out that is not the case at all…
While in this case the donor car appears to be a 1966 Buick Wildcat, Great Dale House Cars were actually built using a wide variety of vehicles as donors for a very good reason. The company was owned by Dale Wasinger in Denver, Colorado. Dale had been (among various professions) a used car dealer as well as in the auto body repair business and had developed something of a specialty in finding two damaged vehicles and making one good one out of the pair.
At one point he apparently acquired a 1961 Cadillac that had been rear-ended and decided he wanted a camper for himself and his wife. After approaching a local camper manufacturing company and leaving the car with them, he became disenchanted at their lack of progress (i.e. they weren’t getting started on the build due to being busy with other work) and decided he could do it faster himself. So he did and the first Great Dale was born.
It is believed that between 52 and 56 Great Dales were built in total. Apparently the first two were built as sort of a side project without any plans or patterns, however the rest of them (i.e. almost all) are virtually identical in regard to the camper portion, at least the exterior. Supposedly the first cars were built in 1962 and production ended about five years later, which would likely make this one of the later ones, the donor being a 1966 model.
Apparently he never advertised them and sold them all via word of mouth, producing about one a month. Prices were between $4800 and $7200 depending on the build date and options such as a shower, refrigerator etc. He estimated his actual cost to build at around $2200, but I have no idea if that includes the donor (wreck). He and his wife handled the production and never looked into increasing the volume or scale of the operation. Eventually his costs increased more than his sales prices could and he ended it.
Legend has it that Dale preferred Oldsmobiles but has built them using Cadillacs, Buicks, Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs, Fords, Mercurys, and Lincolns, and Dodges. None used AMC donors. At one point Dale even approached GM to ask if he could purchase front clips and chassis but GM demurred due to the low volumes.
The cars themselves were cut behind the driver’s seat and then were mated to a 3/4 ton Chevy pickup chassis. Apparently the camper modification ended up not weighing significantly more than the original vehicles, and as such no further chassis modifications were needed. The first few were built and titled using the original VINs but then the Colorado Motor Vehicle Department insisted that all further builds be issued new VINs through the state (which is what happened henceforth).
The Wildcat 465 engine installed in this one would have been good for 340hp and 465 lb-ft of torque (i.e. plenty) from its 425 cubic inch displacement paired to a Turbo 400 three-speed automatic transmission. Here’s the ad for this particular one, it appears that the seller is mainly trying to sell the drive train but will happily toss in the rest of the House Car if you prefer:
“1966 Buick Great Dale Housecar with 425 C.I. Motor. – $4000
I have a rebuilt 1966 Buick nail head engine in a Great Dale house car. It is in front of a turbo 400 transmission. These were called switch pitch with a 2 speed torque converter. I can sell you the entire vehicle or pull the power plant for you. The price shall be the same. The front end of this great dale house car is a 1966 Buick. Any questions, give me a call. Wish to drive the House Car? I can replace the tires and get it roadworthy for a price of $4,500.”
So I guess getting the whole thing roadworthy is an extra $500. Of course it’s likely negotiable…
See the original ad at https://denver.craigslist.org/cto/d/1966-buick-great-dale/6721611416.html
Sadly those above are the only pictures included in the ad. However scouring the internet turned up a few other examples of Great Dales.
Here’s a Coronet.
A Cadillac. I especially like that Dale would coordinate the camper trim color to the car color.
Another Buick. There are various sources of information about these but it’s a charming story about an entrepreneur in Denver that I knew nothing about prior to seeing the ad on Craigslist. It’s almost tempting me to go and check it out, thankfully it’s down in Denver and not closer to me. If you end up buying it drop us a line, we want more pictures!
These vehicles certainly disprove the old adage that you “can’t take it with you”!
Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the Coors brewery was also headquartered in Colorado?
It is a shame this didn’t come up before Paul N got so far building his own. This could have been quite the upgrade from his Chinook.
The big advantage would have been easy under-hood access. And the choice of front end styling. 🙂
Jim, I can’t believe you haven’t already scooped this. It’s perfect for you, both a classic car and real estate… sort of.
I’m surprised that the cost for just the drivetrain isn’t more than the entire vehicle. First of all there’s some labor to pull the engine, and secondly the value of the resulting hulk would surely be negative, you’d have to pay someone to dispose of it.
that Coronet looks like a Charger.
all of them are kewl
Oh, man! I’m sorely tempted to rewrite history and make a Great Dale using an AMC platform. I’m thinking the 1967-1974 Ambassador sedan would do the trick. The mind wonders!
Putting something like that on an AMC unibody would certainly be a project. The Dodge does show it is at least possible, but I think there must be a reason that Dale seemed to favor body/frame cars.
How cool is that thing! What a unique vehicle. It would be so weird to be driving it and see out of that armored car style windscreen. I wonder how bad the wind blows it around on the highway. May be better than a taller truck-based RV if the springs and shocks are up to it. Money well-spent to get the whole car and not just the drivetrain. You could put any kind of platform back there if campers aren’t your thing. A heavy-duty El Camino type thing…
The springs are nice too
For some reason, the Dodge version tickles my fancy the most today.
The maroon Buick advertises http://www.housecar.com, a 100% wind powered web site featuring the Great Dale and other housecars.
The Dodge is beautiful, but also surprising. GM and Ford were still using full frames by this point, but Chrysler was all unibody. I’m not sure how you graft on the frame of a 3/4 ton truck to a unibody.
“I’m not sure how you graft on the frame of a 3/4 ton truck to a unibody.”
I don’t know all the details, but Jeep did it with their Commanche pickup- The rear section had a separate frame under the truck bed, while the cab and front suspension used the unibody structure from the YJ Cherokee. As always, there’s probably some other examples floating around as well.
The Commanche as well as the 70’s-90’s Dodge and GM cutaway vans used the same basic stamped sheet metal frame “rails” and much of the floor that it is mated to in the SUV/full bodied vans.
With a welder (and some steel).
These must have worked pretty well. All the pictured units have clearly been used often!
Good thing it’s in Colorado so I won’t be tempted. There is a really clean 1980 Toyota 4 cyl 5 speed motorhome for sale down the street for $3500, I should take a picture of it.
Here is a restoration write up of a ’66 Dale built on a Dodge Coronet, also purchased in Colorado in 2012 from a guy that had 3 Dales, wonder if this CL seller is the same person?
http://greatdalehousecar.com/1966-dodge-coronet-great-dale-house-car-history/
I could have used one of these when I got divorced in 1992. Cool!
Great find!! Certainly far more appealing than this Dale:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-1974-dale-the-drag-coefficient-chimera/
I knew I couldn’t possibly be the only one who thought that when I first saw the name. I actually wondered at first if Jim was trying to prank us and the “Dale” part of the name was a subtle hint.
Someone needs to give this a new home and use it (no, not me!)…
Can they do this with an Austin-Healey Sprite?
I suppose it could be outfitted with a cot and a Coleman stove…
There is something about this that just says Kleinmobile. Not sure what it is, but it definitely is not the blue oven or purple polka-dot curtains.
It would be a blast to see a modern version on a Panther chassis Lincoln.
I remember being upset when I saw someone use a ’71 Chevelle coupe to make a motorhome. They used wood. It had a pitched roof. Watching it yaw side to side on a crowned road showed how top heavy it was. Total waste of a cool car.
Very cool that these were built in numbers, similar vehicles have been seen here but they are one offs and home built and not mated to a heavy duty chassis either, I’d take one as a pet.
I wonder if it would have been that hard to find a van as a base vehicle rather than have 6 feet of hood in front of the living space, but then I could see it being an attractive option if you were doing more travel than stopping.
It reminded me of the 50s Cadillac versions from an earlier post.
The Cadillac, with its 50s baroque styling, draws more attention to itself. The Dale-mobiles seem a little more demure.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/the-cadillac-of-rvs/
I’m in love! My dream of a whale of an old GM wagon may be shoved aside by one of these magnificent monstrosities!!
I just bought one today. 68 chrysler 300