1988 Fleetwood Background Info
The 1988 Fleetwood Vibe
Welcome to 1988, the year of big hair, bigger shoulder pads, and the undisputed king of the open road: the 1988 Fleetwood Motorhome. This was the era of the "Land Yacht," where luxury meant having more square footage in your RV than most New York apartments. The color palette from our database tells the story of the late '80s perfectly-we've moved past the "everything is brown" 1970s and into the age of sophisticated metallics and experimental hues. We've focused on the survivors of the era, like the iconic Light Teal and the high-end Heather Firemist. If you're driving one of these today, you aren't just traveling; you're piloting a metallic time machine.
Paint Health Check
Being a product of 1988 puts your Fleetwood right in the middle of The Peeling Era. This was the Wild West of paint technology, where manufacturers were transitioning from old-school single-stage to modern basecoat/clearcoat systems. The result? A little thing called "delamination." On a Fleetwood, especially the motorhomes, the sun is your absolute worst enemy. By now, the clear coat on the roof caps and side panels probably looks like a bad sunburn-it starts as a white, cloudy haze and eventually begins to flake off in sheets. Once the clear coat decides it's done being friends with the base color, the paint underneath is left defenseless against the elements.
Restoration Tip
If you still have original paint, your mantra is "Seal it or lose it." Because your Fleetwood uses an early clear coat system, any rock chip or scratch is a gateway for moisture and air to get under that top layer and start lifting it. Seal chips immediately before the clear lifts. Use a fine-tip brush to fill the chip with a matching base coat and then a high-solids clear. If you see the clear coat starting to "edge up" or look silvery around a chip, sand the loose edges back very gently with 1500-grit before touching it up. You're not just fixing a spot; you're stopping a peel that could eventually cover a whole panel.