Streamline RV Was Designed By The Man Who Invented “Motorhome”

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When the topic of vintage RVs come up a large amount of individuals will feel of greats like the GMC Motorhome, an Airstream, or probably a common Winnebago. There is yet another attractive unit truly worth contemplating and remembering. The Travco/Dodge Motor Residence Class A RV is a streamlined operate of artwork created by the person who introduced the phrase motorhome into the present day vernacular.

The Travco’s story dates back again to 1958, when the owner of a trailer production organization, Raymond C. Frank, came up with an notion to consider his loved ones to Florida. Although there had been vacation trailers, truck chassis RVs and all kinds of “house cars” back then, Frank wished to construct his own take on what we know as a Course A motorhome today. And his would redefine the sector.

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Frank’s 1st camper construc
t strayed from the norm of the period, Tin Can Vacationers notes. It wasn’t just a trailer grafted on to the back of a truck and it was not an ungainly house motor vehicle. This car or truck was goal-created to be a leisure auto. The one particular example created was known as the Frank Motor Home.

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Frank took his Motor Residence on the highway, enjoying it for the incredibly reason that he built it for. Along the way, the RV proved to be well-known with persons lining up to get their possess. But of class, it was the only one out there. Quickly, Frank decided to set his Motor Property into output. He was capable to make six units in 1960 from his trailer producing business enterprise, but Frank before long seemed for outside support.

To make this a truth, Tin Can Holidaymakers notes, Frank tried to husband or wife up with Chrysler for a chassis and drivetrain. Chrysler pointed him to a Dodge truck seller run by Lloyd Bridges. In a offer penned between the two, Bridges would present the bare truck chassis and also turn out to be one of Frank’s first dealerships. And in 1961, 131 Dodge Frank Motor Residences hit the highway.

These 1st models ended up blocky aluminum and stayed that way until 1963, when Frank and his son would give the style an overhaul. In 1964, the Travco Corporation took above handle from the Frank Motor Dwelling Company, building what was marketed again then as the Travco/Dodge Motor House.

The white and green RV highlighted in this article is a 1975 Travco/Dodge Motor Residence and it’s for sale!

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Its exterior has held up effectively for its age, with the fiberglass showing up to be in fantastic affliction.

These are far more than just a fiberglass entire body dropped on to a Dodge M300 chassis. Inside of, your Travco/Dodge Motor Home had a sofa that converted into a bunk mattress. The windshield had a curtain for privacy and the RV even experienced a sewage incinerator process. Why dump your sewage tanks when you can just melt away the crap?

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Electric power initially arrived from a Dodge 5.2-liter polysphere V8. This was advertised as earning 202 HP with it delivered to the rear wheels by using a a few-speed computerized. More recent Travcos like this one got a 7.2-liter V8 with 225 HP

The inside seems good. The seller claims that it is all first, also, preserve for the carpet.

Image for article titled This Streamline RV Was Designed By The Man Who Coined The Term "Motorhome"

Image for article titled This Streamline RV Was Designed By The Man Who Coined The Term "Motorhome"

Travco — later on incorporating as PRF Industries — saw far more than just a recreational market place for these autos, much too. A number of motorhomes ended up in industrial use as cellular banking companies, radio stations and advertising autos.

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Image: PRF Industries

PRF Industries ran into roadblocks in the 1970s as the oil disaster hit. 1979 was the conclude of the M300 chassis, this means that PRF no for a longer period had anything for the Travco/Dodge Motor Home to experience on. In the identical calendar year PRF offered Travco to Foretravel, who saved the physique all around until eventually 1990. In all of that time, the RV’s exterior style stayed mainly the identical, with Travco offering it updates mostly in the sort of new entrance facias. Inside, there were being floorplans that presented a palace for two and all of the way up to essentially a bus for 10.

As for Frank, he went on to acquire Xplorer Class B van campers. But his legacy is more. With his Motor Houses the home vehicle became a thing of the past. In its spot was the motorhome, and it served spark improvement in how RVs are constructed that lasts to this day.

If you’re interested in a piece of RV record, that 1975
Travco/Dodge Motor Household will established you back $14,000. And for another choice, the one particular in the leading image is for sale for $18,500.