History
In 1964, Travco Corporation (contraction of Travelers Company) took control, the windows were enlarged and various other cosmetic modifications were added. The mid-1960s Travco was offered in six colour combinations. The design changed very little from 1964 to 1980 except for a choice of grille designs that hurt the look of the well-designed RV. Four sizes were offered; the 21-foot 210, the 27-foot 270, the 29-foot 290, and the 32-foot 320. Out of the four, the 270 was the best seller, and the best selling color in the 1960s was white with a red band running lengthwise around the center. The popular colors in the 1970s were any shade of earth tone with or without a two-tone. Eventually, the "Atomic Age" design failed to impress most buyers, despite the more modern-looking grille introduced in the mid-1970s. As part of the Loan Guarantees to the Chrysler Corporation during its financial crisis in the late 1970s, Chrysler was told to abandon the medium duty truck market (including Dodge Motorhome Chassis) and concentrate on building light trucks- International Harvester was told to do the reverse, and get out of light trucks and concentrate on medium and heavy duty vehicles as part of their agreement with the US Federal government. This stopped production of both the very popular Dodge chassis, the 440ci big-block V8, and contributed to the demise of the Travco, which was identified strongly with the Chrysler Corporation. Other factors, including management changes and extraordinarily high fuel costs and interest rates in the 1979-era contributed to Travco's difficulties. However, the body shells were used by a luxury-RV maker called Foretravel until around 1990. The Travco body-shell molds have probably been destroyed, so no more replacement body parts will be made.
In a side note, Travco also offered van conversions called "Family Wagons" as well as class C Minihomes called "Family Wagon", with aluminum sides similar to Winniebago's "Minnie winnie" and a fiberglass version call "L'sprit"
Travco motorhomes, regarded as among the very best in the industry in contemporary reports and now considered a classic RV on par with Airstream, Avion, Silver Streak, Sportscoach and Spartan, were owned by both the famous and ordinary families. The country music star Johnny Cash owned and toured in several Travcos (many of which are included in documentaries and films about him) over the course of his career; William Shatner of 'Star Trek' had a specially customized 1979 Travco with four wheel drive. Travco was considered a leader in the industry, and was the first manufacturer to create a vehicle that defined the modern day Motorhome. Almost every feature regarded as typical of the class A motorhome originated with Travco and its Dodge Motor Home/Frank motorhome predecessors, from central air conditioning, to self contained electricity generation, to a toilet ("Destroilet") that incinerated its own waste.
In a recent survey of all time highest quality and desirable makes of RV on the RV.net website, Travco models were in the top three postwar RV manufacturers. Even within the Travco company, their product was affectionately referred to as 'the tank'- a reflection of its toughness and stout lifetime construction.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Travco- From Wikiapedia
The Travco motorhome was an aerodynamic Class A Recreational Vehicle built on a Dodge motorhome chassis from 1965 until the late 1980s. The Travco design originally emerged as a 1961 model called the "DodgeFrank Motor Home" and marketed with the assistance of the Chrysler Corporation, who were the makers of its chassis. One hundred thirty one were produced the first year, with an average price tag of $9000. The Travco/Dodge Motor Home design and fiberglass body were refinements by Ray Frank to the original Frank Motor Home, a conventional box-type design based on the Dodge chassis and built in Brown City, Michigan from 1958-1962. Ray Frank, founder of Frank Industries,also made up the name "motorhome" and went on to develop Xplorer Motorhomes. Mr. Frank has been inducted into the RV/MH Hall of Fame & Museum(RV/MH Heritage Foundation,Elkhart Indiana) as the father of the motorhome.
Travco enjoyed a large market share of the budding motorhome market, its success played a part in the demise of more established makes such as the Corvair-powered UltraVan, and opened the market to lower cost makes such as Winnebago. Travco's use of the Dodge Motor Home chassis established Dodge chassis as the most popular make of motorhome chassis for twenty years.
The original Dodge Motorhome Chassis used for the Travco and many other makes was powered by the Chrysler 318 "Polysphere" engine, many heavy duty refinements were made to this outstanding small engine to increase its durability hauling the heavy motorhome body, GVW's could exceed six tons, but the small and efficient 318 engine with the distinctive parabolic combustion chamber design netting around 200 horsepower could manage to keep up with traffic and had a top speed slightly over 70 mph in most configurations. The 318, and later 413 and 440 engines were mated to the Chrysler Torqueflite 727 transmission; until the 1964 model, these transmissions shared the 'pushbutton' selector quadrant used on other Chrysler Corporation vehicles. From 1965 on, Torqueflite used an instrument panel mounted selector lever similar to Corvair Powerglide. All Dodge motorhome chassis engines were specially improved 'truck' versions, that operated on regular gasoline, with special durability features such as improved valves and stress relieved castings and forged crankshafts. The Dodge chassis utilized a live dual rear wheel axle and an 'I'-beam front axle, suspended on semi-elliptic leaf springs, both ends.
Travco offered a variety of lengths and floorplans over the years, its 27 foot model was the most popular model.
The Travco Corporation challenged the tax law on RV chassis, which were considered 'trucks' and taxed at a higher rate than private motor vehicles- Travco won its case in 1971 and the IRS accepted Motorhome Chassis would be taxed at the lower rate. This was a significant victory that served all manufacturers in the industry.
The 1962 Dodge Motor Home (later Travco) design was revolutionary due to its shape and fiberglass-over-steel construction, thus eliminating paint jobs and dry rot. It was sold as the Frank Motor Home from 1958 to 1963 until the company went bankrupt. Two investors bought the RV body molds and the patent rights, and opened up Travco Corporation a short time after, incorporating as PRF Industries.
A little known fact is that Travco's sister company, Gemini, built the interiors of the GMC Motorhome between 1973 and 1974 in Mt. Clemens, MI. Production of GMC Motorhome interiors shifted to GM's own factory in Pontiac, MI with the 1975 models.
Travco enjoyed a large market share of the budding motorhome market, its success played a part in the demise of more established makes such as the Corvair-powered UltraVan, and opened the market to lower cost makes such as Winnebago. Travco's use of the Dodge Motor Home chassis established Dodge chassis as the most popular make of motorhome chassis for twenty years.
The original Dodge Motorhome Chassis used for the Travco and many other makes was powered by the Chrysler 318 "Polysphere" engine, many heavy duty refinements were made to this outstanding small engine to increase its durability hauling the heavy motorhome body, GVW's could exceed six tons, but the small and efficient 318 engine with the distinctive parabolic combustion chamber design netting around 200 horsepower could manage to keep up with traffic and had a top speed slightly over 70 mph in most configurations. The 318, and later 413 and 440 engines were mated to the Chrysler Torqueflite 727 transmission; until the 1964 model, these transmissions shared the 'pushbutton' selector quadrant used on other Chrysler Corporation vehicles. From 1965 on, Torqueflite used an instrument panel mounted selector lever similar to Corvair Powerglide. All Dodge motorhome chassis engines were specially improved 'truck' versions, that operated on regular gasoline, with special durability features such as improved valves and stress relieved castings and forged crankshafts. The Dodge chassis utilized a live dual rear wheel axle and an 'I'-beam front axle, suspended on semi-elliptic leaf springs, both ends.
Travco offered a variety of lengths and floorplans over the years, its 27 foot model was the most popular model.
The Travco Corporation challenged the tax law on RV chassis, which were considered 'trucks' and taxed at a higher rate than private motor vehicles- Travco won its case in 1971 and the IRS accepted Motorhome Chassis would be taxed at the lower rate. This was a significant victory that served all manufacturers in the industry.
The 1962 Dodge Motor Home (later Travco) design was revolutionary due to its shape and fiberglass-over-steel construction, thus eliminating paint jobs and dry rot. It was sold as the Frank Motor Home from 1958 to 1963 until the company went bankrupt. Two investors bought the RV body molds and the patent rights, and opened up Travco Corporation a short time after, incorporating as PRF Industries.
A little known fact is that Travco's sister company, Gemini, built the interiors of the GMC Motorhome between 1973 and 1974 in Mt. Clemens, MI. Production of GMC Motorhome interiors shifted to GM's own factory in Pontiac, MI with the 1975 models.
Friday, May 28, 2010
my "new" travco
Not sure how it happened, but somehow a couple of months ago I came across a Travco on ebay and fell in love. I started doing some research finding Travco websites and blogs. I had to have one! One day I came across an ad for one on a Travco site. It said:
"Hello. I fell in love with a 1969 Travco motor home that I saw in a used car lot. It had originally been garaged for 20 years by it's previous owner. I impulsively bought it telling myself it was going to be my retirement home. However, I was not really near retirement. So it has been sitting in my yard now for three years. I feel terrible about the neglect and I just want to get it a good home with someone that will care for it. It is so "60's. Was like a time machine for me. Has 51,000 miles on it and had been very well taken care of. Definitely needs new tires. It is white with a green stripe. If anyone is interested in it I will provide pictures. I live in Mass. Hope I can find it a new home."
So, I replied for more info and started an email dialogue with the owner. Then I decided to take a look and my friend Toni and I took a trip to Massachusetts. As soon as I saw her I knew she had to be mine.
Well, the journey begins! I left her (need to find a name) in Massachusetts waiting for a mechanic to take a look see. I need to drive it about 100 miles and hopefully I can get it road worthy there. Stay tuned for the latest.
"Hello. I fell in love with a 1969 Travco motor home that I saw in a used car lot. It had originally been garaged for 20 years by it's previous owner. I impulsively bought it telling myself it was going to be my retirement home. However, I was not really near retirement. So it has been sitting in my yard now for three years. I feel terrible about the neglect and I just want to get it a good home with someone that will care for it. It is so "60's. Was like a time machine for me. Has 51,000 miles on it and had been very well taken care of. Definitely needs new tires. It is white with a green stripe. If anyone is interested in it I will provide pictures. I live in Mass. Hope I can find it a new home."
So, I replied for more info and started an email dialogue with the owner. Then I decided to take a look and my friend Toni and I took a trip to Massachusetts. As soon as I saw her I knew she had to be mine.
Well, the journey begins! I left her (need to find a name) in Massachusetts waiting for a mechanic to take a look see. I need to drive it about 100 miles and hopefully I can get it road worthy there. Stay tuned for the latest.
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