The year was 1963. Families had begun to discover a convenient new way to vacation. Pioneering folks purchased buses that had been decommissioned from their original roles of transporting schoolchildren or other passengers and then outfitted them as rolling homes. Many called them “house cars.”
Production motor coaches were just coming into being. Not everyone was a fan of the machines, though, and families sometimes faced resistance in the communities they visited.
Some pursuing this new travel form decided to band together. Among them were Bob and Jean Richter of Hanson, Massachusetts, who had converted a 1940 Greyhound bus with 2.6 million miles on it to accommodate travel with their four children.
They met a couple of other families who had similar conversions, and the Richters ultimately started a list of people with rolling homes like theirs. In April 1963, they mailed out a mimeographed letter inviting families to gather in Maine to view the solar eclipse that would take place in July.
The path of visibility of that total eclipse was so narrow that it would cross less than 1% of the entire surface of the Earth. The eclipse created a frenzy in Maine, and it served as an exciting reason for house car owners to gather. During that get-together at the Good Will-Hinckley School in Hinckley, Maine, on July 20, 1963, they decided to form FMCA.
“It was an experience impossible to describe as we first heard — and then saw — the 26 coaches arriving, one after another, with our new friends,” Bob Richter said. “The coaches varied from a simple school bus on its fifth engine with only a mattress, a crib, and a stove in it, to a lush executive coach costing well into the six figures.”
The Richters and other FMCA founding and early members set a firm foundation for the organization. In its 60 years, FMCA has welcomed more than 543,000 memberships. Six years ago, members voted to transition from a group of motorhome owners to an all-inclusive RV owners’ organization. Towable RV members continue to grow.
“One thing that has remained constant throughout six decades of FMCA’s efforts to enhance the RV lifestyle are the ‘great people’ Bob Richter described from that inaugural gathering in Maine,” FMCA CEO Chris Smith said. “While RVs provide the basis for the bond that ties the organization together, it is the people who form the fabric of FMCA. Thousands of RV enthusiasts have helped to write the story that began with a group of house car owners gazing at the sky one July afternoon, and dreaming of what could be.”
