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Comment by larry roberts on November 23, 2011 at 11:38am

Hey William.  I hear ya.  I did the same thing when I turned 62 three years ago.  Birthday is next month.  I just worked on my stuff for two years and went back to work last November.  This spring I had to move and have no place to work on anything.  Most of it is in storage untill....... don't know when.  For me retirement is kinda Catch 22.  Plenty of time, little extra money---Money from work, little time????  I like my Pace Arrow but need a lot of work.  Doesn't have all the frills yours has.  Kinda a basic coach.  Looking at the pic, mine does not have the driver door either.

Comment by William Briggs on November 22, 2011 at 11:31pm

Larry, I gathered pics from every model year the Pace Arrow was manufactured. It helped me understand the body style changes from model year to model year. Before deleting the pics off my hard drive, I thought I'd upload them here, in case someone else wanted to see the body styles.

I guess you already know this, but in case you don't, for several years Pace Arrow was considered the "Cadillac" of motor homes (excluding, of course, the conversion buses like Silver Eagle). This was a marketing decision. Winnebago held so much of the market in those days, Fleetwood (after buying the Pace Arrow rights) felt they needed to distinguish themselves from the Winnebago motor homes.

So the Pace Arrow got luxury upgrades whenever possible, to attract the high-end buyers away from Winnebago. My old beast has a "Food Center" built into the cabinets, and a central vacuum system, and little lights along the hallway baseboards (like a movie theater), and when you open a closet door, a light automatically turns on, etc.

It had a power door-step, which I don't think Winnebago offered back in those days. It also has a passenger door--but that wasn't thought through. Can you imagine a lady trying to climb up into the rig using a passenger door? Even for me, I mostly use the side entry door instead of climbing the little ladder-step using the grab bar, to get into the driver's door.

Mine has power windows, stereo system with speakers throughout, cruise control, wiper delay, and other features not typically available on standard motor homes in 1985.

Add to that the weird "designer" color schemes -- mine has rust-colored carpeting, gold velvet upholstery, and pink draperies. Back in 1985, it must have been a luxury model. But old Pace Arrows are like old Cadillacs--they are interesting but aren't nearly the "cutting edge" which they were the year they were manufactured.

Fleetwood discontinued manufacturing the Pace Arrow several years ago. The Pace Arrow always had a gasoline engine, and the diesel-pushers simply took over the high-end market. Fleetwood also manufacturers the Southwind, which effectively grabs the middle-range of the market, so there's absolutely no place for the Pace Arrow any more.

I got this old beast for a deal, planning on using it for a camping wagon, but then changed jobs and had to move to western Oklahoma. Since there are TONS of nice RV parks here (oilfield workers live in RVs so they can travel from job to job), and I didn't want to set up housekeeping permanently in this town, I set up the RV in a local park a year ago. I planned to stay in it a few months until I found a house. But I'll never live in a house again; I enjoy the RV living too well.

I'll stay in this old RV until I get a few years closer to retirement age, then I'll change it out to something more modern and dependable (maybe even a fifth-wheel arrangement) and the day I turn 62, I'll be telling everyone "adios" and hitting the road.

Comment by larry roberts on November 22, 2011 at 11:02pm

yep thats what I got but with ugly green stripes!!!!