First trip.......the good, the bad and the ugly!

I decided to take the Travco on a trip to Camden, Maine for an extended Labor Day vacation. It might have been optimistic on my part but I trusted that all the work done by Henry's Diesel, in Westport, Massachusetts, would make it road worthy for this trip. That was my first mistake.

I gave the inside a superb cleaning and checked out the electric and air conditioner to make sure they would work. The electric was fine, the interior air blowed cold air, but the dash air was warm. The days ahead called for record heat but I thought, since I was roughing it, I would make do.

I loaded up the dogs, who were as excited as I was.



Took off and stopped at the local station for a fill up.



Looks good, so far, doesn't it? Drove to the Orient Point-New London Ferry and waited on line.





Still, so far, so good. The route I decided to take was a long one, backroads, little use of Interstates, One of the problems I encountered was the Travco had a tendency to backfire. When I was driving slow and people were tailgating me, I would let off the gas and BOOM. It did stop the tailgating and scared the crap at more than a few people, including me. I thought that is something that definitely needs to be taken care of. Maybe a new carb would help. The backfire reared it's head at Henry's but Henry could not find the cause. They adjusted the carb, thought it might be a vacuum leak but nothing could be found.

One thing I noticed before the I left was that the coolant level in the expansion tank said "add". I pick up a gallon and added some. The temperature gauge has showed hot since I picked up the Travco, but Henry's explanation was the the idiot gauge was not correct. He said the gauge is old and was not reliable and everything was OK. Mistake #2.

I stopped for gas and noticed coolant blowing out the expansion tank. My initial thought was, maybe it was because I added some and the Travco was mostly running great except for the backfire. I drove on, mistake #3. You probably get were I am going with this.

I guess it was bound to happen, traveling backroads, I got lost. I found a state park in Massachusetts along the way, stopped and gave the dogs and me a good break and dinner.

Moved on. I thought I would be optimistic and hopefully get to Southern Maine for my first night. Mistake #4, the Travco is 41 years old and should not be pushed like that. Like I said, I was lost and broke out the GPS. It put me on Interstate 93. Being a little frazzled, I hoped on the South exit instead of North... ugh, but the good news was a sign for Interstate 95 and I knew that would take me on my way North to Maine.

Now for the bad news. As I was approaching New Hampshire. still on Interstate 95, I smelled burning coolant. Next thing steam coming for the engine compartment. I pulled over. I was about a mile away from the NH rest stop and I was planning a stop there, but for now the side of the road would have to do.

I gave the engine a good hour to cool and added the gallon of coolant I had to the radiator. Unfortunately, I could see it drip slowly down on the ground. Major problem, I thought. I checked my GPS and saw there was a Walmart, also about a mile away. I thought that would be my better choice to access my problem. It is great of Walmart to allow RV's to overnight in their parking lots and this night it was much appreciated.

There was about 8 other RV's there.





I filled up the radiator with another gallon of coolant and about 1/2 gallon of water. I also added Prestone Stop leak and crossed my fingers one time.

In the morning I took off to find a mechanic. Went to one only to find they were closed, early start to the weekend. Stopped at the second, he could not help but gave me the names of 2 others. I went to #3 but there were the biggest assholes (I wish I could remember their name). Told me there was nothing in it for them to help me out........ another ugh.

The radiator seemed to be holding up alright at this time. I saw no leaks and behold, the temperature gauge was reading normal. Thanks Henry for the misleading advice!

I decided to try and make the next mechanic recommended by stop #2. He was about 10 minutes away on the Interstate. On the way there was a NH Liquor Store, so I pulled in just to check things out. Ugh....... I could tell we were running hot. I gave the Travco a rest, hoping to make it to the next mechanic. I made it about another mile, overheated and pulled over.

This time a police officer stopped and asked if I need help. He said he heard the backfire, LOL. With the overheating problem the backfires were the least of my problem. I sensed he wanted me off the road, so I agreed to a tow. Another mistake, this one #5. It cost me $240 for a mile tow. I have Coachnet and should have waited and called it in myself.

We towed the Travco to Frank's Auto Repair in Hampton, New Hampshire. Frank seemed like a very nice guy and a fellow dog lover. He had 2 dogs sitting with him at his desk. He and one of his mechanics took a look. The found a hole in the radiator, which they felt was caused by the fan clutch. They said the fan clutch was to close to the radiator and worn a hole into it. It seemed like henry's put in the wrong fan clutch. The radiator would have to be pulled, sent out and re-cored and the right fan clutch would have to be installed.

Since Henry's had just installed the fan clutch and worked on the radiator, I decided to give him a call. He was not there but I left a message with Stephanie and she said he would call me back. Good thing I did not hold my breath. I guess after spending close to 8K with him, he offered no help and no return call. I will follow up, once the final verdict is in on what was wrong, but if Henry's screwed up he will hear from me. Funny thing about the internet, google Henry's Diesel and see what comes up first. It is my blog and my previous post about Henry's Diesel.

Now back to the rest of the story. The dogs and I were stuck at Frank's. I will not bore you with all the details, just the condensed version. The Travco was going to be left and I needed to find a way home. I called friends that were not far away but that was not going to get me home. Tried my son in Rhode Island, but he was on duty for the next 48 hours, he is a fireman. Called friends back home but either there vehicle was too small for all of us or the needed a few days to come. I thought about staying at a hotel but my problem was no car to get me there. Did I say there were no rental cars avaible in the area.

My sister came to the rescue. She rented a SUV and came to get me the next day. Frank allowed me to stay overnight at his Dad's storage facility next to his shop. In the back it was really peaceful and the dogs and I spent the next 26 hours.



Now the good. My sister, Theresa, got there, we loaded up the SUV and took the trip to Maine. We did not make it to Camden but went to Freeport. We shopped, ate good food, and did doggie stuff. Everybody, including the dogs had a great, great time.

I usually go to Freeport every year. I stay at a cabin at Recompence Shore Campground. I called to see if a cabin was available and there was the one I usually rent was available for one night. Well, good luck must have shined on me a bit because right before I got there there was a cancelation and we were able to rent it for the rest of our stay.

The good............ I love the Travco. It is perfect for me and the dogs. Hopefully Frank will get it all straightened out. Besides the radiator, I asked him to find the cause of the backfire and fix and to get the in-dash AC to work. The other good was the rest of my mini vacation, spending time with my sister and my dogs.

Homeward Bound

The day finally came, the Travco was ready to come home from Henry's Diesel. I went up to Westport, Massachusetts with my friend Sherry Pickerell and 2 of my dogs, Arlo and Louie. Stupid me, I forgot my camera, so the photos are from my cell phone.



It was a rainy day as I traveled down Interstate 95 to New London and the ferry to Long Island.



I was happy to have the company of Arlo and Louie.



The Travco did great. It was a little noisy inside, I think new tires might help that. The only hiccups were the fuel gauge does not work, even though a new sender was put in and I had a backfire when I let go of the accelerator exiting the highway twice. But we made it to the ferry save and sound.





So here is a list about all the work that was done in no particular order.
1. Tow to Henry's.
2. Removed grill to remove radiator for cleaning and repair. New radiator hoses.
3. Engine tuneup. Replaced distributor cap, points, rotor, condenser, sparkplugs, wires, air filter, fuel filter, PCV valve, all belts, rebuilt the carb, new water pump, timing chain, a bunch of gaskets, and thermostat.
4. New water pump.
5. New fan clutch
6. New pushrods for the engine. Old ones were bent. Adjusted valves.
7. Replaced all brake lines. New wheel cylinders.
8. Cleaned and repacked wheel bearings.
9. Installed new choke exhaust tube and adjust choke tension.
10. Removed gas tank. There was 1/2" of solid sludge residue that needed to be removed. Cleaned tank.
11. Installed new sending unit in gas tank. Replaced corroded wires under chassis. (unfortunately, gauge still does not work)
12. Transmission serviced and new filter.
13. New wiper blades.
14. Replaced light bulbs on exterior that were out.

I am sure there were a bunch of other things done, but I think you get the idea. There was a lot of work done and I feel safe to drive the Travco anywhere.

Now back in Greenport, I parked the Travco in Claudio's parking lot last night. I could see it from my window and it did attract a crowd of people checking it out. They are a little unusual and that is why I fell in love with them.




The next few days I am going to be cleaning it up. Next Tuesday, I am going to take my 5 dogs and the Travco on a little vacation. We will be staying in Camden Hills State Park in Maine. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Travco at Henry's Diesel

I was up in Massachusetts and decided to take a side trip for a visit to see the Travco at Henry's Diesel, where they are doing the mechanical work.



Had the pleasure to meet Stephanie, who has been very helpful in coordinating the move to Henry's.



Also, had the pleasure to meet Henry. He was kind enough to explain what he has done and what he is going to do to the Travco. Henry said overall, considering its age, the Travco is in excellent shape. I wish I was more knowledgeable about mechanics, but unfortunately, I know next to nothing about engines, brakes, transmission.........etc.



Henry said the brakes needed new brake lines and new wheel cylinders. The brakes, he said, are as new.



The engine needs new push rods, the old ones were bent.



Henry showed me this, said it needed to be replaced, the seals were shot:



The water pump needs to be replaced. Henry said it was in a very difficult spot to work on. Since there is a small hole in the radiator, Henry is going to pull it and have it repaired making getting to the water pump that much easier. They took off the front enclosure.



The wheels are the infamous suicide rims/widowmakers. The tires, Henry said, are in good condition with no rot, the rims, no rust. I have to make a decision, whether to buy new aluminum rims and new tires or wait until later when I near the end of my renovation. Though I am not going to do a lot of travel I will need to drive the Travco around getting from shop to shop, having things repaired/renovated.



I was really pleased to see the Travco being well taking care of. I have complete confidence in Henry and his team to get the job done perfectly. I was quite lucky to find them. If you ever need your Travco, motorhome or truck serviced, I do not think you could be in better hands. Henry said, "When I am finished you will be safe to drive the Travco anywhere." I believe him.





Besides the above, here are a few other things Henry's Diesel will be taking care of:
-replacing all hoses and belts
- complete tune-up
- replace all fuel, gas and oil filters
- transmission- new fluid, filter & clean the screen
- probably much, much more that I can't think of, but will fill you in as time goes by

Travco On The Move

Well, yesterday was the big day! I had arranged for the Travco to be picked up by a tow company at Joe & Charlene's home, the previous owners. The Travco has been sitting idle the last 3 years and I did not want to chance hitting the road without a mechanic checking out the engine, transmission.......................

Joe did get the Travco's engine running and it was sure tempting but better safe then sorry. The tires, though looked like new, there was no way of telling how old they are and if there is rot. Like I said better safe then sorry.



Trying to figure out how to get the Travco to Long Island was my first challenge. At first I thought a local mechanic in Massachusetts might be my best option, getting it road worthy, then driving it to the New London-Orient Point ferry. The first mechanic I tried was unresponsive and I decided another route might be best. I checked with RV transport companies to get quotes and they came in between $1200-$1400. Still checking out other options I called Marty's USRV, a RV dealer in Berkley, MA. Spoke to their service department and asked if they could help. They said what I wanted was not what they do but were kind enough to recommend Henry's Diesel in Westport. Got in touch with Henry's and spoke with Stephanie, she was very helpful and we arranged for their towing company to bring the Travco there.



After spending 5 hours waiting in line at Motor Vehicles for the plates, I was off to give the Travco a wash down before the towing company came. I have to say she cleaned up very nicely. It was great giving her a scrub down, starting to sink in that she is mine and the exciting adventure ahead.







Please realize this is my first motorhome and there is so much I do not know, but I am willing to learn. I took some photos of the interior, but I have not started to clean the inside yet.

Here is a photo of the bedroom. You can see the original owner (I think he was the original owner), Dr. George Whiting, did some customization. It looks like there was a double bed at one time but it was turned into a funky single. Kind of U shaped. Not sure if I will return it to the double design or keep it as it is.



The fridge seems in good shape except for the door, it is warped and does not have a good seal. Not sure if it works or if I need to replace it, time will tell. It did come with a small funky, ice tray.





Here are photos towards the front and towards the back.





The driver's seat, where I hope to spend many hours.



It looked liked Dr Whiting took out the heater and put in an air condition unit. I will have to do a little more research on that, but if anyone can enlighten me please make a comment.



There is a water heater in the outside front, driver's side, storage. It says instant so hoping that works. I don't think it was original from what I read on other Travco restoration blogs.



As you can see this Travco was well taken care of, a real gem. I should hear back from the mechanic this week and will take it from there.

Travco brochure

Here is the original brochure for the Travco 210 swiped from myrtleandme (hope you don't mind & thank you)

Travco Wikipedia part 2

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.

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.