1971 

1972 Chevy G30 Balboa Motorhome

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What is a Balboa?

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Balboa motorhomes were built by Jensen Marine in Costa Mesa from 1968-1974 there was a few thousand made.  Today they are very rare.  They are 18ft fiberglass campers that have no seams and don't leak or rust.

Where did you get it? 

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In 2013 after a long trip in our Toyota Sunrader (which is also fiberglass, and sparked my interest in fiberglass motorhomes) we came across this Balboa on Craigslist San Diego.  We called and set an appointment.  It was an older couple who owned it for most of its life.  They had a matching dune buggy that they towed behind it (I couldn't buy the dune buggy, as we had a newborn baby). They drove it to Montana every summer and loved it.  After another buyer swooped it out from under us, that buyer called us the next day and said she had buyer's remorse and would sell it to us if we met her with cash at the original seller's price.  We jumped on it, as we were so upset when she swooped on us.  After restoring at least 10 other awesome vans including 5 other Balboa's, we continued to hang onto this one.  We have done so many great beach trips and adventures in it that I don't think we will ever sell it.  It is a family van, man!

Here is a link to one of our adventures on our Youtube Channel