FMC – aka the Food Machinery Corporation – has a remarkably entertaining history. One that kicks off with killing bugs and goes through almost 140 years of successfully branching out into oddly different products. From amphibious military vehicles to RVs.
Established back in 1883, FMC was initially an insecticide producer. The company continuously expanded its scope and vision and by the time WWII hit they were capable of delivering amphibious stuff for the War Department. Afterward, as the contracts dwindled a little, FMC decided to try its luck with the recreational vehicle market.
Such an interesting lineage, it is no wonder there was something special with the vehicles created by the company’s dedicated motor coach division in Santa Clara, California. Popular among affluent motorhome buyers, FMCs were owned by stars like Parnelli Jones, Mario Andretti, Clint Eastwood, or James Brolin.
This 1976 FMC 2900R is naturally a 29-foot (8.83-meter) example that looks ecstatically pristine and ready for many summer road trip adventures in a tri-color paintjob. It’s currently on sale from Bring a Trailer user Travalon out of San Rafael, California. Just to take the nastiest secret out of the way, this rig has 97k miles (over 156,000 km) shown on the odometer – but they’re of the TMU variety.
Now for the decidedly great things. As one might have noticed from the title, this has an engine swap, and now rides far into the sunset courtesy of a 6.6-liter Duramax turbodiesel V8 that was mated to an Allison six-speed automatic transmission. The cream with blue stripes wonder has a mixed cloth upholstery inside, as well as several other custom additions.
Chief among them would be the AirLift suspension system, the Hydoboost braking system, dual roof-mounted air conditioners, a GMC Yukon instrument cluster, or a drinking water filtration system, among many others. The seller has a clean Montana title, and the current highest bid has reached just $24k... although things could still go haywire during the next three days left on the auction clock (at the time of writing).
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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