Wow, an opportunity to express an opinion. This is my viewpoint:
I have an old FWC Grandby. As a child and a kid I camped an Alaskan 8ft Cabover. Both have been around a long time and either are a good choice in my opinion, but how I'd choose would depend on what I wanted to do and needed for comfort.
The Alaskan is, or was an all wood constructed camper, as such they are heavy like a big, hard sided camper. They are made in the NW out of NW materials, like Douglas Fir and I think pretty sturdy. The FWC is an welded aluminum frame with a plywood bottom and quite a bit lighter. I don't remember what grandpa got for mileage with his 67 Dodge 200 with the camper, but it had 3 fuel tanks and we'd go through all 3 of them in a big weekend trip to the woods and back. My FWC loaded for a weekend on an F250 only cuts my mileage 3mpg of so on average. I wasn't of driving age till he upgraded to a self contained Chinook, but as a passenger his pickup felt loaded with the Alaskan. I had an old Caveman hard side camper and my pickup feels feels nowhere near as loaded with my FWC.
If you are planning to do a lot of cold weather camping, by that I mean low teens F. and lower, the Alaskans tend to be warmer by virtue of having a fully insulated top. If you tend to need a lot of "stuff" the Alaskan of my past had better storage than my Grandby. The Alaskan lift system will need re-o ringed at some point and if the cylinders get out of sync it's a pain to 1-get the top up and 2-get them back into sync. My grandpa ended up putting individual valves for each cylinder on the manifold to keep his sync-ed up. My FWC top just lifts by my pushing up on it.
The Alaskans over time tend to "come loose" at the window and end joints requiring periodic attention in the form of a screwdriver and sealant. A lot of the old used ones you see have water staining on the end panels or below the side windows from this. I've never had a joint issue with my FWC but the soft side on mine is worn and while patched and patchable, really needs replaced. Grandpa's Alaskan had to be parked pretty level side to side wise or the top door would hang up or the uphill side would kinda drag when lifting the top. I've parked mine on all sorts of angles and only need to get mine level to use the 3 way fridge.
For overall toughness that 8 footer went anywhere you could drive, and now would be illegal to drive, in low range without tipping over or knocking a hole in the side with a limb just fine. Same for my FWC. FWC's have been all over the world including a trans Russian crossing. Alaskans have been in production since the 50's so God only knows where all they have been!
Neither the Alaskan of my past or my current Grandby have hot water or a plumbed in toilet so I can't comment on that aspect. The upper bunk on the Alaskan could almost accommodate a regular mattress and sleep 4 kids north to south or longways but don't think of putting something on the roof without a rack. I've built a bed extension to sleep N to S but my FWC cannot hold a thick mattress and still close but my FWC has a foot or better of top clearance and while I have a small rack on the rear I've tied on float tubes and wader bags from one end to the other and in a pinch an 18 foot Grumman aluminum canoe directly on top without ill effects. The Alaskan's can have gorgeous interiors, my FWC cleans easily with a dish towel.
So to close I wish you well in your decision because it really is a tossup and depends on what is important to you.
Oh, welcome to the site, but beware it gets addictive.
