Road Icon: The Vixen Motorhome was a Beautiful Land Yacht
The coach was sleek, fast, wild, and ahead of its time.
Image Caption: Photo Credit: Vixen Motor Company
If you could ask Bill Owens what inspired the Vixen Motorhome, the automotive engineer might tell you about his dream of owning a cruising boat with his wife, Nina. He might also mention he helped design the slickest sports cars in the ’70s and ’80s—like the fabled DeLorean—and that he’s known as the father of the Pontiac GTO, which ushered in the era of American muscle cars. Owens, who passed away two years ago, would probably also tell you about a napkin.
In the summer of 1981, after resigning his post with the DeLorean Motor Company, Owens grabbed the nearest paper product and sketched designs for a 21-foot motorhome with unprecedented aerodynamics, a powerful rear engine and every modern feature of RV living. He envisioned a rig that would get at least 30 miles per gallon and fit in a standard garage—a radical concept for its time.
Once final designs were in place, presumably sketched on something more permanent than hand tissue, building the thing became a family affair. Nina helped him construct a chassis in their garage outside of Detroit. Their youngest daughter chose the name, Vixen. And before long, Owens was standing in a wind tunnel at the University of Michigan, perfecting his tapered design and achieving one of the lowest coefficients of drag the RV industry has ever seen. Once he dropped in a BMW turbo-diesel engine, the Vixen—with top speeds exceeding 100 mph—became perhaps that fastest motorhome ever built, too.
Photo Credit: Alexander Migl via WikiMedia
Between 1986 and 1989, 587 Vixens hit the road. Although Owens expected to eventually manufacture 5,000 per year, that market never materialized, and he folded the company after only a few years of production. But Vixens are still out there, and the motorhome’s legacy is kept alive by a small, fervent group of owners.
John Ruhland, who serves as president of the Vixen Owners Association, owns two Vixens and organizes an annual meetup. “Pretty much everyone is attracted to the design,” Ruhland says. “The fuel economy. The small size. It’s efficient. It’s fast.”
Today, the association boasts 138 closeknit members. Ruhland, who lives in Seattle, plans to travel with another Vixen owner up to Alaska in the coming year. “I’ve made many lifetime friends,” he says. “It’s more like family than a car club.” And that family even wants to reboot production. Ruhland says that he and other owners had conversations with Owens about creating an all-electric Vixen 2 before his death, and the dream is still alive. “I’d love nothing more than to see this happen,” he says.
This article originally appeared in Wildsam magazine. For more Wildsam content, sign up for our newsletter.
