Travco

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.