1987 Winnebago LeSharo

[@sparkysarcaderestorations2903]

I love this. 1- I could listen to Steve all day with interesting car facts. and 2- I LOVE that he goes over these almost forgotten, neglected vehicles that don't fit in the classic car mold. Sure... many can talk about a Shelby GT500. But to see a video on a Le Sharo, or Dodge Caravan, or a De Soto.... GOLD.

[@SteveMagnante]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@MicroSoftner]

Million's of subscribers eventually!!

[@michaelnelson9140]

Some of them had diesels. I would get stuck working on them! The injector pump was a beast to get at! You would cry when you went to work, and saw one there, waiting for you!

[@dirkbonesteel]

Sliding roof Studebaker wagon in back? LOVE them

[@SteveMagnante]

Hello, I did a Junkyard Crawl on that very Wagonaire. Please check it out on the Playlist. Thanks again for writing, Steve Magnante

[@dirkbonesteel]

@@SteveMagnante Thanks

[@fk4515]

I currently work at Winnebago, about 1/2 our current production is class "B" units built on Ram Provans and Mercedes Sprinters. Our headquarter is now in Minnesota but the big plant is in Forest City Iowa, but on the Hancock County side of the line. We do have a B van assembly line in Lake Mills which would be in Winnebago county. The original plant was in Winnebago county and on the grounds of what was the Oldsmobile/International Harvester dealer the Hanson family owned. We also did a similar conversion on a VW Eurovan platform. Those were interesting as they came into the plant as Siamese twins joined at the butt in a push me-pull me arrangement, one frame with a cab and drivetrain at each end. They'd get cut in half and get two chassis from each received unit.

[@barbmelle3136]

From Leo: I met a man in Indiana that pulled the front subframe of a LeSharo out and slid in the whole subframe and drive train from a FWD Pontiac Bonneville. The over 200 HP engine completely changed the driving characteristics. It ran comfortably on the highway, climbed hills easier and he said it really got the same mileage on level highway.

[@fk4515]

I heard the most popular swap was the Chrysler LH swap as they were longitudinal engine and transmission.

[@mikes9971]

I heard another popular conversion was a Chrysler minivan drivetrain with a 3.8L V6

[@JoyceEllis-y3h]

I own one of these right now 1986 can't give it away. But I love it and would like to get it fixed up and running but can't find anyone that can help I thought for such a classic everything's original in it just needs a little tender love and care which I hope I can give it😊😊😊

[@markwheeler8462]

Steve, Best wishes to you for a successful time at the upcoming auto auction. I always enjoy watching the program, especially with your excellent commentary.

[@SteveMagnante]

Much appreciated

[@benbrown2119]

Good point mentioning the nationwide 55 mph speed limit. I believe this law allowed the US auto makers to avoid developing overdrive automatics for about a decade, because the 3 speed automatics with highway gear ratios were good enough to get decent mileage at 55 mph

[@googleusergp]

That, lock up torque converters on the three speeds (such as the THM350C, THM125C, etc.) also helped along with putting the cars on a "diet" and shedding weight all helped for a time as well.

[@markdodd1152]

I took care of a friend in the 80s who had one of these. He was a quadriplegic. 6 ft 4 250 lbs. Paralyzed from the neck down. He had the sif-and-puff chair with the two little tubes to operate it. And one of these motorhomes. I would drive him to concerts in it. It will do 70 all day. Might take a while to get there but it will. And one of the craziest memories is the front row of AC DC in 1988. The crowd was getting kind of wild and almost tipped over his chair. I'm a fairly Stout guy and it was all I could do to hold his chair down from tipping over. I'll never forget the look on his face like man just don't let me fall. A lot of great memories of that man. Rest in peace. Don Burthume . And on a side note bless you for putting up with that Renault Le car. That was the most hated car I've ever known in my life. I never had one but my friend did and I hated that thing

[@zeon5323]

Steve, please do a show on the Studebaker Wagonaire you were right next to.

[@ordlay23]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqvFinSspJeHZtE

[@peterkovacs8654]

“I had a Renault in high school and I’m still scarred from that” lol! 😂🤣

[@danweyant707]

One of our high school buddy's parents had a small newspaper and they bought 3-4 LeCars for company cars. There was no end to the shenanigans.

[@kentkirkpatrick7953]

There's one of those floating around the RV facebook groups with a whole Pontiac 6000 front end grafted onto it! (I think it was a Pontiac anyway,)

[@corey6393]

I could not help but notice the Wagonaire parked next door. Hope to see that one featured, too.

[@iamrichrocker]

this junkyard is museum, a time machine of sorts..and if this junkyard is realizing sales of parts, Steve deserves 10%..another great look in the past..

[@ChaChiVooDoo]

Love the sticker in the Studebaker window. “ I’m not speeding, I’m qualifying “ 😂😂

[@douglasnicholls1366]

My dad had the turbodiesel LeSharo. Accelerate, it did not. But it did manage highway speeds pretty well, and they drove it all over the country many times. I was very impressed overall at the driveline package. And he managed a bit over 20 MPG in it.

[@dustyweasel41]

I just picked up two of them with titles. One has a turbo charger on it! I’ll be selling both. I’m out here in the Hugh plains desert of Colorado. Yes, that means zero rust

[@iFixJunk]

Sometime last year I learned about these by stumbling upon a Craigslist ad. There was another of the same called the Itasca Phasar. Wikipedia has some info on them. Never knew about them before. Thanks for the close-up, Steve.

[@Mike_Hoffmann]

I hope the two Studebakers make it into a video.

[@brunoroberge900]

i think Its a Wagonaire

[@crustyoldoffroader7436]

I’m fairly certain that I saw a sliding roof on the wagon

[@jimrky6062]

Never saw one of these before. Thanks! From Boston down through the South Shore to Plymouth, in the early '60s, there was a spurt of popularity for the Renaults - little buggy positive ground monsters. My Dad worked on them for a couple of years - we weren't allowed to talk Renault in the house 😂 In fact I had top really push to get him to talk Fiat (and I knew the many issues with the various models) decades later. Great content.

[@jamesh9678]

My neighbor bought one new, was his daily! Drove it for years.

[@richarddavis5542]

Winnebago's main headquarters are still located in Forest City, Iowa. I remember when Motorweek did a road test of the La Sharo.

[@alexsandersmith1880]

Steve just discovered your channel about a month ago. I've been watching your videos nightly. Had to laugh when you said you had a Renault 5 in high school and was scared. We are the same age, and I had the Renault 12 in high school. I then went down the British sports car lane.

[@dubiousf00d]

The optimism in that gauge panel is absolutely hilarious.

[@joen2418]

Aww Steve... I was and still to this day a huge Le Car fan. Great little cars...not fast but you can squeeze 50 mpg from.them. You have the ultimate dream job. Romping through the junk yards with all the history and engineering from days when cars were fun.

[@mexicanspec]

If you want LeCars, they are just the R5 here, Mexico is full of them, a lot in really nice condition and cheap.

[@Funsho97]

Wow I would imagine that with only a 4 cylinder engine that thing was a snail on the road but it is pretty cool. Way back in the 70s, my family had a Winnebago Chieftain and it was huge, slept something like 8 people and if I recall correctly, I think it had a Chrysler 440 in it. Good stuff!!!

[@michelletaylor5691]

and 4.mpg at 70 mph

[@TheMotorman80]

@@michelletaylor5691 That’s the beauty of it!

[@michelletaylor5691]

@@TheMotorman80 years ago we had one as well, with a good wind on the Interstate you could almost watch the gas gauge go down, glad that gas hog is a distant memory

[@tomlewis3658]

This was an interesting vehicle. And I hope you will give us a video about its neighbors, the 2 Studebakers, the wagon and the sedan.

[@jamesplotkin4674]

My best friend from HS days had a LeCar and it was a fun cool car.

[@aaron71]

Neighbor down the street has been trying to resurrect one of these for a long time now... been curiously watching the progress!

[@ccg1171]

Another great video, learning alot about these old vehicles. Greetings from Fall River Massachusetts.

[@Threesixty31]

The Renault van which this is based on is the Traffic.... If you care ☺️. They were everywhere in France in the 80's.

[@MechaFenris]

I didn't own a LeCar in high school and I'm still scarred that other people did. :)

[@capeway07]

I’ve wanted one of these, too bad it’s just a bit too far gone. Outstanding job as always Steve. I have to make a cross state trip and check that yard out…..

[@80fordmustang6]

My grandfather has a itaska phasar same thing as this it’s really cool I remember my dad borrowing it to take us all camping as a kid and grandpa would take us all to Chicagoland speedway to watch nascar races with it grandpas is the manual variant which was very fitting for him when he still drove it

[@Tomcat71]

you can run a sawmill off a pocketwatch it you have enough gearing.

[@feelinfine1973]

The "Van community" would go crazy for this gem! It's a perfect size for the people that live the lifestyle! Once again another great upload Steve!! Much appreciated from Iowa!!

[@ccpgmike620]

Is that a studabaker wagon with the sliding roof panel behind the Winnie??

[@dhackens]

I going buy one , it had a blown head gasket ! They blow head gaskets a lot if don't keep a clean coming system .

[@johnwinkler6575]

There were some V-6 conversions done in Colorado many many years ago. And the people who had The V-6 conversions love the additional power. I almost bought a diesel one and southern Colorado back in the mid 90s.

[@markgrace659]

I bet Mags knows more about me than I do.

[@tony66au]

The USA still had the best options when it came to mobile homes and touring, Australia had Camper Vans which were as with the LeSharo a commercial Van type conversion with fibreglass modifications but until recently not as much custom coachwork but more along the lines of 70's through 90's Toyota Hiace vans with fibreglass high roof options and pop up style roof and the Hiace along with the venerable VW Kombi were the rule. Both donor bodies were also horribly slow and with the added weight slower still often struggling to meet the Max speed in Aus of 62 Mph (100 Kph) and are horribly noisy at highway speeds as well. So the LeSharo spec would fit right in here and in fact many Euro cargo vans are still converted or used as a base for this type of conversion although todays Vans are way better engineered and with greater power like the Fiat Ducato and Renault Vans being the "Gold" standard. The norm though for holiday touring still today is the Caravan (AKA Wobble Box) hauled behind the family car, truck or 4x4 which is a recipe for disaster IMO. I recently inspected a Car Club members 1970's Winnebago import for Club permit road registration and I have to say that it was a great design compared to our Aussie offerings of the time and the 440 Cube / 727 Torqueflite combination and whatever Dodge truck chassis the thing was built on had held up very nicely and with some love and a ton of time and cash I passed it on inspection after the 50km test drive with flying colours and my Car Club has a lot of RV's both Foreign and Domestic along with the usual 25 year old plus Classics, exotica and of course.... US Imports :-) And I get to play with them all as Scrutineer.

[@robertperillo8738]

Funny how the guy who pronounces every other consonant in his name pronounces the L and the T in “Renault” I kid I kid, love the channel keep up the good stuff

[@jonathangehman4005]

First, I'm assuming you're going to show us the Studebaker with the retractable roof tomorrow(you better). Second, if you don't have ANY fond memories of your LeCar than you must have never discovered how much fun it was to howl one of them there crapboxes up on 3 wheels in a turn(it was SOOO much fun). And third, it's pretty obvious why the inside of that Winnebago is trashed, some poor family spent one day too many imprisoned in that thing some hot summer w French A.C. Some stories tell themselves

[@SteveMagnante]

Hello Jonathan Gehman, if you like the Wagonaire, check out the Junkyard Crawl video I did on it a few months ago. It'll appear in the Playlist. Enjoy, Steve Magnante

[@ordlay23]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqvFinSspJeHZtE

[@JT-un7dc]

I went on a road trip in French crap box. The AC was worthless! The desert was brutal!

[@anibalbabilonia1867]

Lol 😂 hey Steve! You forgot to mention 0-60 took forever! God those things where hideous! But then again what mobile home wasn’t! Great video and history!

[@timothydockery534]

Steve I worked on winnebago's in the late nineties and early 2000 and there was only very few people that could work on these. There was a guy named John Gross where I worked at and he was grumpy everyday he hated them things

[@thedelawareranch2379]

As bad a Renault was with cars I can only imagine getting parts or working on this was a joy I’m glad I never had the pleasure of seen a lot of them

[@diegosilang4823]

This vehicle is in good shape nearly rust free, it would be nice to restomod this bad boy with more reliable and powerful engine.

[@strongereveryday2302]

Look up the happy bumble bee. Its a 4x4 conversion of a lesharo. Its currently in Washington state and was sold not far from my home in new york in 2002

[@DK-ox3ox]

I'm originally from Massachusetts, northern Worcester County. I once owned a 66 caddy and there was this salvage yard in either Petersham or Hubbardston ( towns border each other) that I would go to for parts. The majority of their business was older classic and vintage automobiles. I used to love walking around and looking at the rusted shells of old Mustangs, Cadillac's, Chevy's etc. Not sure if it's still in business but since your based nearby if it is you would know about it.

[@terrystewart2070]

My Mom and Dad had one of these POS things for a short time back in the day. They left Santa Rosa Ca. via Calistoga road on their maiden voyage. About a mile out of town, there is a fairly long, twisty, fairly steep up hill grade about a mile long. The pig made it most of the way up the grade, then totally ran out power and just stalled out. Leaving my Mom to back it down to the bottom of the grade, all the while dealing with traffic. They were traumatized to say the least. Flat landed back to their home on Oregon and sold it.

[@mexicanspec]

Not only where they under-powered, they had to pass a smog test as well. I am sure on top of everything they were chocked with US emissions.

[@customkey]

"Leaving my mom to back it down to the bottom of the grade." Now we know the reason for the rear windshield wiper.

[@BojarskyLeGrand]

Great Renault Trafic you found here Steve, what a beast it was.

[@spencerforsberg4594]

I learned something; Winnebago headquarters as of 2021 is now in Eden Prairie MN.

[@verticallyimpaired2978]

Another great video! Couldn't imagine highway driving that bathtub with 100hp at best.

[@tracyschmitz9192]

Steve can make even a Winnebago sound interesting. Great line about never owning another Renault after owning a Renault LeCar in HS and still being scarred. That happened to me later in life with a Dodge Neon and then a PT Cruiser. Nothing will bring me back to late model Chrysler's after those debacles. Challenger's are tempting while we can still buy gas powered cars but everything is too expensive these days. I'll just keep buying older Hondas and Toyotas and be happy that I owned all of the awesome American cars I did back in the day, before 4 cylinders and front wheel drive.

[@myexescallmetictac8297]

We have some hemis in at work (newer) with gnarly upper end noise. Everything new sucks

[@myexescallmetictac8297]

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Steve Magnante is my spirit animal

[@stevehartz178]

I had one it's a hard time getting someone 2 work on it.it ran great great mpg.

[@Tony_in_AZ]

Arizona took the 55mph speed limit serious. I received a speeding ticket back in the day near Munds Park.

[@SleepyUncleSam]

VAN LIFE..... "21,000 people thought THIS was a good idea"

[@Nick_S_21]

Great content! Your videos are the first thing I view every morning it is a great learning experience, your knowledge is amazing!

[@intrusiveoogle]

Steve - Take it from a guy who was born there, Winnebago industries has been based in Forest City Iowa for 60 years. In 2016 they got a shiny new CEO who lived in Minneapolis. he never moved. A few months ago he "moved the headquarters" to Minneapolis. a few dozen stuffed suits and some secretaries in a rented office building that... guess what.... happens to be a few minutes away from the CEO's McMansion. Other than that joke, and a metal Fab facility in Blue Earth Minnesota, Winnebago industries is definitely not based in Minnesota

[@sandwichbar8226]

There's still a few of these knocking around in the UK 🇬🇧

[@Scalihoo]

My friend had one he dubbed as " The Rolls Canhardly " ..Rolls down one hill could hardly get up the next

[@joelbrand5362]

I had a Le Car myself. I think in total I drove it for 10 hours and walked for about 2 months. They were great little cars. With slip in cylinder bores that when you rebuilt the engine you had to stagger in height, in order to get proper a proper head gasket to seal. Great little cars.

[@WieDrDerJonge]

These are based on the Renault Trafic. Parts for these old Trafics are very, very rare. Renault made them in FWD, RWD and 4WD, all with the same base gearbox.

[@1Also]

What’s the fenderless roadster on the Le’Sharo passenger fender???

[@nhra7110]

0 to 60 with a sundial lol. Love the channel, Mags!

[@smithp573]

Ahhh, the Renault Trafic. The panel van versions were absolutely everywhere In the UK and Europe until suddenly - boom - all gone. Good vans but had the build quality of a shoebox.

[@jimsloan8549]

My friend still owns a operational one of these

[@Rammstein56]

The Renault Van was called the Trafic, we are now on the 4th or 5th generation and that is a hughe difference for the good with this rattle can.

[@scootergeorge7089]

Even more interesting is the Studebaker Wagonaire parked next to the Winnebago. By the way, between 1977 and 1980 I made several cross country trips on I-40. The 55 speed limit as not strictly enforced.

[@randyauer7303]

Get well soon Steve

[@joebarber4030]

I see nothing but possibilities a little buffing and a eldorado power train swap ! 👍

[@bretholland8452]

My step grandparents had a 1984 Itasca Phaser which was the same one, theirs was the Renault Diesel, and I remember it cruised the Highway at 65 MPH all day long, but once you had to go up any steep hill, everyone inside except the driver might as well got out and pushed the thing.

[@bluehillcemetery2887]

They also made a Dodge van based model called the mini Winnie(this vineyard's nicer than mine)

[@redram5150]

I couldn’t imagine how awful that thing would be climbing the Rockies at over a mile in elevation

[@fastinradfordable]

Cadillac compared to a rialta

[@Freedomquest08]

I remember road trip vacations in the 70's-80's where behind a convoy of motorhomes was the last place a person ever wanted to be on sketchy two lane roads like climbing out of Hoover Dam, or Battle Mountain, NV, etc. (at least in our car it wasn't good). Like a bad episode of Wonder Years, my dad would shake his fist as he recited every swear word he knew over and over, and even invented some new ones as the family cringed. The malaise big blocks that should have had power were slow too from vapor locking, out of tune, overheating, and then the roadside dead ones sporting the new 8R19.5 tires that were all but guaranteed to explode once they were 3 years old... I guess some memories are better left in the past-lol.

[@maxboya]

I don’t even want to imagine😂🤦‍♂️

[@mexicanspec]

The hazard light switch was the most important switch on the dash.

[@robertspear9134]

One of our Scout Masters had one, as I remember it was diesel. It was "neat", but he said the drive train was unreliable. Winnebago did a similar treatment with the VW Eurovan I think. Same problem.

[@philtowle4683]

The vw was the rialto.

[@brianjacobsen5762]

Gm had one tornado front wheel drive.

[@brianjacobsen5762]

Robert in today society a Scout master with a winnebago doesn't look good.

[@fastinradfordable]

But the Eurovan was actually beefy. …. And had a 200hp v6 Not really comparable to a 100hp 4cyl…. Not to say the Vr6 didn’t blow up too. And all auto trans are trash. But not comparable

[@robertg.3555]

Yes , my friend also had a le'car in high school. Boy , did it lean bad in turns

[@RC-cc4rv]

Get well Steve!!!

[@ronaldjohnson1474]

Sorry Steve, a Class B motorhome is a van conversion. A Class C is built on a van/truck cutaway.

[@blakedawson2129]

that slide top Studebaker next to it!

[@saxongreen78]

Strip it, clean it, dry it out for a while and that could provide someone a comfortable home. (I live in a Mazda E Series van...just a bed in a van.)

[@randymack2222]

Those must have been sold as busses, to be classified as class B. Motorhome class comes from the vehicle origin. Class A = Bare chassis, Class B= Bus conversion, and Class C started life as a chassis cab!

[@PaulHoskinson]

I drive and maintain an 87 ITASKA, PHAZAR. Great ski rig , front wheel drive . Slow on the hills, but whats the hurry. Parts are a little tough to get and nobody makes a 2200# load rated winter tire. Shout out to Washington Auto Carrige, Spokane, WA to keeping it on the road.😂

[@RobertPlattBell]

The big problem with these motorhomes was the transmissions - and gettng parts for them. They would beak and break bad in the middle of nowhere and good luck finding a mechanic who would work on it or be able to get parts from France. They worked their way down the food chain pretty quickly. Folks would put a rebuilt tranny in it and then sell it to the next sucker. The tranny would then blow out again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. The drivetrain just wasn't meant to haul around three tons. Winnebago tried again, years later, with a VW van chassis motorhome (The Rialta) with similar results. Of course, today, you can buy a new Class-B on a Mercedes, Ford Transit, or Ram chassis and they are fairly reliable - and get 20 mpg in diesel form (I am told). These newer Class B's are designed to carry the load.

[@larryhagen3788]

That’s awesome! The @buoy4ak channel needs to see one of these!!

[@robertmedsker5305]

You always bring crazy info and now an odd duck . You must spend all day at the YARD .

[@Richard4point6]

Great presentation. I am sorry for your LeCar experience. I am certain that it caused PTSD!

[@travelingfool9096]

mm going down Donner Pass on 80, breaks will be screaming!! that stubabaker Lark is nice, as well as that wagoner next to the rv

[@rickbledsoe5064]

The real windshield wiper what do you good, in the slow lane LOL. Love the series Steve.

[@waveranger4974]

Always informative and entertaining! Thx

[@jodycalhoun6319]

Wow! I've never seen one these before

[@ditherdather]

My first car was a Renault Encore.

[@thomasconnolly7452]

Again I learned something new!

[@oops1952]

I never heard of the LeSharo before. Interesting. Any thoughts on the gas mileage for one of these? In the early '60s dad took us camping in a vw van. 55 happened when you had a tail wind or a down grade.

[@Barry101er]

Wikipedia says 22mpg (diesel)

[@wildman510]

I've never heard of these before, something like this might be worth restoring but who knows.

[@gwarrichmond6232]

*Might reach 110 MPH falling off a mountain !!!!* 👍🏼😁👍🏼

[@warrenbuchanan8602]

in about 1989 i was working for a guy and he had one of those , it had caught fire and most of the back half was burnt . it had the diesel engine and if i remember right it had a manual transmission

[@simonpoudrette]

There's one in working order in my neighborhood in Chambly Qc.

[@Mercmad]

7:16 in the spirit of the 1970's oil crises the car next to the Leshonk has a sticker saying " I'm not speeding,I'm qualifying"... The camper with a Mercedes OM 606 diesel and a decent trans would make an economical and reasonably speedy camper,Just the thing to go visit the family in LA and park in the street .

[@captlazer5509]

It's the Delorian of RV's. No chance of 88 mph but nice looking.