I recall hearing that some Travco motorhomes were made by Foretravel in the 70's or 80's. Does anyone know the real story and how to identify those units?
Kent, I owned one of the last of the FT built Travco's. It was an 82 on a Dodge M500 Chassis. Look on the opening page of the forum and you will see a photo. I believe that none were built after 83, some were still Travco looking but badged as FT's. Typical Dodge chassis and the 440-3 was a %$$%$^% to maintain. A lot of the interior design of FT's was taken from the Travco's. I'll see if I can find a good photo of mine.
Foretravel Anthology (http://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=59.msg96#msg96)
Here is some history from Scott Abshire, one of the founders of this forum on Yahoo.
And here is some old info from the forum.
Gary B's previous coaches (split from Adjusting Side Mirrors on 1997 u320) (http://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=22120.msg167052#msg167052)
Gary B
Gary! Glad to see your post ^.^d
Hey, Kent,
I don't have the answer to your question directly, but I thought it would be interesting to post a few pictures of the beautiful Travco we walked through at the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Indiana. If you ever find yourself up in that neck of the woods, I would venture by and see if they still have it on display. It is remarkable the similarities between this Travco and the Foretravel floorplans and design. We found it most interesting that this Travco is labeled "Travco Three-Twenty." And we own a U320. Don't you think the similarities are striking? ^.^d
I'd love to see your photos, Gary, if you can find some. I'm sure the one you owned was a beauty! In the meantime, these are the photos we took of the Travco at the RV Hall of Fame. And it's GREAT to see you posting again. :D
The reason for my question is that I have located a 1976 Dodge Travco and may buy it for weekends and short trips and because it is just plain cool. Does anyone know if Foretravel was making the Travco in 1976?
Kent,
Would this from dodgetravcos.com lead one to believe Foretravel started making Travco in 1979?
"In 1979, the manufacturing rights for the Travco were sold to Foretravel. Foretravel bought truckloads of Travco parts at the public auction. Remaining items went to the high bidder. Beneath it all, Foretravel was really after ownership of the Travco Motorcade Club. It was the largest of its kind. Control of this large band of motor home owners meant steering membership towards newer products - developed by Foretravel. As expected, a number of Travco owners became Foretravel owners."
Very interesting history.
Thanks for your thoughts but I still can't tell whether Foretravel actually made any Travco's or not. If there were Travcos made after 1979 it would appear that Foretravel made them so that gives me a date range but I'm not sure that Foretravel manufactured any Travcos.
Kent,
I would call Mike Grimes at Foretravel (parts manager). He has been there a LONG time and probably remembers them. I know he bought/inventoried a bunch of Dodge/Chrysler 440's when Chrysler Corp discontinued them. Suspect the Travcos were on either the 413 or 440 Chrysler engine.
Be aware that your 1993 U300 will get better MPG!
I sold a lot of Foretravel made Travco's as the California sales manager. Last one I remember was an ordered by Dick Williams 1985 35' 250hp 3208 ORED SBT
Lots of Travco owners had mixed feelings about Foretravel purchasing the company. They liked the round body mostly
Very early Travco's had 318 dodge chassis with narrow drum brakes.
This would be s heck of a Travco here...
1973 Travco 270 motorhome with 1993 Cummins 6BT engine. - YouTube (https://youtu.be/Vo11DG1nuGk)
The 76 would not have been made by Foretravel but they were made by Foretravel after 79 and some were on Dodge chassis with 440-3 some with Dodge chassis with International V8 after Dodge quit the 440 and some were on the Roadmaster chassis with 454 Chev and as Bob said on the Oshkosh with 3208 I also saw one that had an 8,2 Detroit front engine so many variables
We had a 1973 Superior (all-steel galvanized body--built by the same "Superior Corporation" that built school buses) was built on a Dodge chassis and it was the first year for the 440-3 engine and front disc brakes. My brother had an earlier Superior (1971 perhaps) and it had the 413 engine and front drum brakes. I'm sure the Travcos of the same era used the same chassis.
Our 440-3 with a 4.56:1 rear axle was extremely strong and felt as if it could pull stumps out of the ground. Brett is correct, however: Our 1995 U-320 with the Cummins M-11 engine gets significantly better fuel mileage.
Foretravel bought several hundred dodge chassis's for their 208" WB and increased GVW and were used through 02 on 35's primarily.
Foretravel sold some to other builders occasionally.