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1985 from Larchwood Iowa
#1

This story goes a bit deeper than just a mere Newell sighting. This is the story that Clarke, Tom and some other have heard about how Dawn and I came to not only know about Newell, but to then eventually own one. As some of you know from the first rally I have family that lives in Spearfish, SD. Spearfish is about 12 miles away from Sturgis, SD which is home to the famous Sturgis Motorcycle rally, which BTW is holding its 75th next summer.

A few years ago while visiting my folks in Spearfish we were on our usual morning walk through the Spearfish campground about the time the rally was taking place. The campground is a beatiful park system which includes trails and a 100 year old trout hatchery so its a great place for walks. Dawn started looking at all of the large RV's camped at the park and began wondering outloud if we could rent something like that to see if we would like it. This stemmed from her pleading with me for 23 years about camping since she never did that as a kid growing up. My running joke was that i did that growing up and that I had pledged never to camp in a tent again so if she wamted to go camping it needed to be in an RV with a satelite dish and all of the comforts of home. Of course these large rigs also spoke loud to my male genetics so I was an easy sell on the idea!!

When we got home to Sioux Falls we called the local RV dealer and posed the rental question to them...of course it was no. However, they shared they had a used RV we should look at due to the price..yes it was a Newell. It was the 1985 Newell that our former governor had owned. He had passed away earlier in the year and the RV dealer was selling it for the family.

Well we fell in love with the classic look and started to look around on the internet to find more out about what Newell was and what a fair price might be for the 85. That is when we discovered the Newell guru site which was just a fledgling at that time ironically. The long and the short of it is that we became convinced that a Newell was for us after visiting with Tom, Clarke and others on the site. However, the 85 was an interior work in progress that worried me (insert laughter here for those of you who now know me). While researching we found our coach in Lubbock, Texas and eventually struck a deal with the owner and drove it home. Needless to say my initial concerns about the state of the interior of the 85 were probably unfounded given that on ours we have not only now remodeled the interior completely, we have also rebuilt and engine and completely rebuilt a waterbay as well.

Where is this leading you are wondering? Well camping this weekend at the Lewis & Clark Recreation area (by Yankton, SD on the Missouri River and highly recommended) we decided to go biking on their bike trail...which is awesome Richard and Clarke! On our way back from the dam area I thought I saw a classic Newell out of the corner of my eye parked at the campground. I swung back on my bike and saw a fellow there checking things out with engine running ready to depart. I rode up and spoke with him and sure enough it was the 85 classic I orginally looked at.

As it turns out the owners Dan and Mary (can't recall their last name) live about 20 miles from us in Larchwood, IA!! They stopped by our site on their way out and inspected our coach as they are planning on interior work on theirs as well. They had never heard of Newell Guru's so I highly encouraged that he log into the site and he seemed very excited to do so because he wants advice on things so watch for his "howdy". Dan is a very nice fellow and a former truck driver so very experienced with working on the mechanics of these types of vehicles, but he is looking forward to advice on these things as well as sourcing parts etc...

I look forward to having another classic owner join us and one that is only 20 miles away from me with mechanical experience!!! Now the post script to this story is that later in the day yesterday as we are driving home we spot Dan and Mary along the road. They blew their drivers side front tire out! Dan handled the issue perfectly and it appeared no other damage was sustained...bring back any memories Clarke?? and yes he was aware of date coding and the tires were OK accoring to him so he thinks maybe a belt just let loose.

Todd & Dawn Flickema
Former owners of a Classic 1984 Newell
71 Karmann Ghia
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
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#2

Great story, thank you for taking the time to post.

Jon & Chris Everton
1986 40' Dog House #86
450 hp ISM 5 spd ZF Ecomat 2
2004 Range Rover L322 Toad
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#3

Glad to hear Dan got through his blow out ok, were looking forward to him joining and sharing his adventures as well. Thanks for the post Todd!!

Love old schoolHeart
1976 Newell 8.3 cummins allison 6spd
1977 Newell 8.3 cummins allison 6spd
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