Cortez Motorhome was a Class-A motor coach made in the United States between 1963 and 1979, with 3,211 units built.
11-486: The Clark Forklift Company began making these small motorhomes in 1963 in Battle Creek, Michigan, and are commonly referred to as Clark Cortez motorhomes. The entire body of a Class-A motor coaches is built as a recreational vehicle, whereas Class-B motorhome are built in a van body, and Class-C motorhomes add a recreational vehicle coach body to a truck chassis and cab. A four speed manual front wheel drive transaxle
22-679: A devoted following. Aficionados prefer its all-steel body despite rust issues, its smooth ride, and its moderate size. Clark Cortez Story Clark Material Handling Company Clark Material Handling Company ( CMHC ), also known as CLARK or CLARK the Forklift , is an American manufacturer of forklift trucks based in Lexington, Kentucky . The company has manufacturing facilities in Changwon , South Korea , Lexington, Kentucky , Qingdao, China , and Hanoi, Vietnam . CLARK currently (2023) offers one of
33-561: The Duat tow tractor. This internal combustion truck with hydraulic lifting mechanism became the forerunner to modern forklift trucks. The company began as the George R. Rich Manufacturing Company, a manufacturer of steel products, which was purchased by the Illinois Steel Company in 1897. In 1904, they tasked Eugene Clark, a young engineer working for the Illinois Steel Company, with improving
44-411: The broadest product lines in the industry, with products covering all five forklift classes, ranging from hand pallet jacks to 18,000 pound-capacity sit down forklifts. According to the company, there are over 350,000 CLARK forklift trucks currently in operation around the world. CLARK is credited with having invented the world's first truck with a hydraulic lifting mechanism in 1924, an attachment to
55-673: The company the Clark Equipment Company, after Eugene Clark. In 1917, the Clark Equipment Company invented the Tructractor, the world's first internal combustion shop buggy. As interest in the Tructractor grew, Clark Equipment Company split into two branches: Clark Equipment and Clark Tructractor Company. The current CLARK Material Handling Company is a direct descendant of the Clark Tructractor Company division. Clark continued to innovate, introducing tow tractors, and, in 1924,
66-485: The first forklift - a modified Duat tow tractor with a hydraulic lifting mechanism. As Clark continued to grow and diversify its product line, it became known for producing the highest quality, and durable trucks on the market. Clark has been the leader in safety, innovation, and quality for the material handling industry for over 100 years. In 2003, Clark was purchased by the Young An Hat Company of Korea, which owns
77-561: The late 1990s. Clark management had envisioned a variety of uses for the Cortez. They were made as mobile offices, classrooms, and ambulances. NASA used a Cortez to take astronauts from Apollo 7 through STS-6 to the launch pad, which now resides in a museum at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center . Cortez motorhome owners included Vincent Price , a devoted fan of this early motorhome. Cortez Motorhomes still enjoy
88-532: The product, facility, and prosperity of the George R. Rich Manufacturing Company. Eugene Clark refined the product, improved facility efficiency, and rearranged the staff to optimize productivity, and under his leadership, they renamed the company to the Celfor Tool Company in 1907, after their staple product, the Celfor Drill. In 1916, after enjoying many years of success, growth, and expansion, they renamed
99-529: The tooling, spare parts, and a few unfinished units around 1980 and moved operations to Lafayette, La. There under the name Cortez Inc., he sold parts, performed service, and did robust drivetrain conversions to earlier model Clark Cortez units, converting them to the V8 automatic transaxle, similar to that found in 1970+ models. Operations ceased in Lafayette around 1990, with Krantz scrapping remaining parts and drawings by
110-470: Was used to eliminate a driveshaft tunnel that would have increased height or diminished interior headroom. Early units used a Chrysler 225ci industrial slant-6 engine . In 1969 a V-8 engine was introduced, using a Ford 302ci engine but still using the 4-speed manual transaxle. In 1971, the Oldsmobile Toronado front wheel transaxle with a 455ci engine in conjunction with a GM 3-speed automatic
121-530: Was used. In 1970, Clark Forklift sold the Cortez Motorhome division to Alco-Standard's Kent Industries located in Kent, OH. The motorhomes produced from 1971 are commonly referred to as Kent Cortez motorhomes. In 1975, the company was acquired by 26 owners of Cortez coaches and production continued through 1978 when the company folded. A final batch of units were completed by a bank in 1979. James Krantz purchased
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