Photo: YouTube.com/Drew and Gabs (edited by autoevolution)
People in the van life or camper life scene love to one-up each other. Whoever has the biggest, most unique, and most luxurious homes on wheels gets extra brownie points in forums and subreddits across the internet. No one can ever truly win this game, but this 1969 Dodge M400 Chinook gets pretty darn close. From the same era as the zenith of the first muscle car renaissance, the charm this motor home exudes simply can't be copied.
Coming to us on Craigslist out of Tempe, Arizona, this particular heavy-duty Dodge-based Chinook motor home comes from one of the most celebrated manufacturers in the industry. Founded in 1938, Chinook made an art form out of taking pre-fabricated heavy-duty chassis and building innovative motor homes over top of them. With quantum leaps like one-piece fiberglass body shells and aerodynamics honed in a wind tunnel to their names, it was Chinook, along with their rivals at Winnebago, who became the pre-eminent titans of American motor homes.
These days, Chinook bases the bulk of their motor homes on modern chassis hardware, primarily in the form of the Ford Transit and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. But back in the late 1960s, you could have this Dodge M-Series chassis, complete with either a Dana 60, Dana 70, or a Spicer M70 rear axle and one of three Chrysler V8 engines ranging from 318 to 440 cubic inches. With low-end torque for days owing to that thumping-great V8, Chinook wasn't the only motorhome manufacturer to fall in love with the Dodge M-Series chassis in the 60s and 70s.
Winnebago also famously used the M-Series chassis from the early to mid-1970s to great effect. However, only 1500 of these special Dodge M300-based motorhomes left the factory floor in 1969. Of those, who the heck knows how many are left that are road-worthy? One thing's for sure: that number's bound to be tiny. Among that even smaller group, this Arizona-native example has to be the best of the best. With less than 100,000 miles on the clock and more storage on hand than a Sprinter or a Transit, the only thing a modern van has going for it over this one is marginally acceptable fuel economy.
But still, a modern camper van can never match the ambiance and the vibes of genuine 60s hardware. With genuine wood paneling for the walls and ceiling along with all the amenities a camper van needs, the amount of value for your dollar that goes into purchasing a van like this is only hampered slightly by the wi-fi hot spot you'll inevitably have to buy. Still, a going price of just $28,500 makes this classic Dodge a better value for money than just about any self-propelled motorhome built today. Check out a YouTube profile from the seller down below if you want to learn more.
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