Dave spent many years in the commercial furniture business, and since the early 1990's, owns and operates a full-time Chrysler and RV dealership. Joe spent all of his working life in the motor home industry, including a 12-year stint as Xplorer's National Sales Manager. In late 1995, the company was sold to Joe Murray and Dave Bockstanz. Ray Frank retired to warmer climes in the late 1970's and his family took up the operation of his company. Over the course of the next 35 years, numerous models were developed Class C's, Class A's, but primarily, Xplorer has been a Class "B" product manufacturer, number one for all of these years. Voila- the Xplorer 21! He created the Xplorer moniker, the company, and the product in 1967, and was off and running again. He developed and produced 7 units on a Chevrolet chassis he called Cruiseaire however, it didn't work.īack to the drawing board, Ray Frank expanded his idea to create a small motor home, but to make it garageable. Frank pursuedĪnother vision he had for a small, self-contained, 2-person motor home. The Travco moniker was a high profile product, for many years thereafter recognized for engineering innovation and high quality. Frank's company was sold to two Detroit businessmen, Peter Fink and Ken Robertson, and they re-named the company and the product, "Travco". Ray Frank's vision nearly 40 years ago had a dramatic impact on the RV industry as we know it today These huge 27' fiberglass body molds revolutionized the RV industry! Today, fiberglass is the most vital composite in our industry. In the early 1960's, Ray Frank began the development of fiberglass body motor homes. When the federal government became involved in the bail-out of Chrysler in 1979, the "Loan Guarantee Board" forced Chrysler out of the motor home chassis business. became and remained a dominant force in the production of recreational vehicle chassis for many years. Because of this early development, Chrysler Corp. continued and grew, and eventually his coach became known as the "Dodge Motor When he began producing his Class "A" motor homes in the 1950's, the Dodge truck chassis that were available at that time were not very user-friendly for motor home products. Frank was vitally instrumental, from the engineering standpoint, in the development of the Dodge motor home chassis. Frank in launching his new enterprise, Frank Motor Homes. He produced 3 or 4 coaches on his farm about 12 miles NE of Brown City, and in 1958 he got involved with a number of business owners in Brown City who collectively created an Industrial Development Corp. Ray Frank, a farmer in the area, began tinkering with motor homes for his family's use back in the mid-1950's.Ĭentral Office and Manufacturing Plant in Elkhart, IN We wanted to share with our readers the history and origin of Xplorer Motor Homes. Recent acquisition now moves the business to Elkhart, IN under the ownership of Startracks Custom Vehicles owned by Robert Helvie. Xplorer Motor Homes has been in continuous production for 35 years in a rural agricultural area 75 miles north of Detroit, MI. This van sat for 2 yrs straight before the day i bought it.i was confident to drive it home.150 miles from norfolk,between richmond and DC i broke down.got a tow home from VA.voltage regulator was bad.$30.00 part and all is charging well.this is my project vehicle that i plan on taking my time with.so many upgrades planned.95 5.9L magnum engine,4+4 conversion,lift kit,it goes on and on. sold new to j.f.suarez of hicksville ny.po bought this van 20 yrs ago while living in staten island.im right across the kill van kull from staten island,so its rightfully home now. This van is canadian built,build date 6/86.delivered to sterling heights dodge,sterling heights,MI.once again delivered new to john w.herman marine center in stamford CT. welcoming me as a new owner.i have every stitch of paperwork ever generated on this van,equipment manuals,conversion manuals,dodge ram van manuals,repair receipts w/various work performed. I found this van on craigslist afew weeks ago.i searched the ENTIRE north atlantic region for a camper van.i found this in norfolk va.this van has tons of work performed over the last 20 yrs(same owner!),just to mention afew:new short block w/40.000 mi installed 8 yrs ago,rebuilt rear,134a conversion.this van is very original,came with a 3 ring binder from the xplorer motor home co.
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