JohnB's Special Sunline Quiz

[Digmenow]

Here's another. It's near BWI airport. I wonder if it has a dining table leaf they'll sell?

[JohnB]

This one is at least 1981 or newer. The roof line changed. Since it is white, it is not beyond 1982 as in 1983 the campers turned tan. It's and 81 or an 82.



The floor plan is 2 axle so that eliminates the single axle campers. This means it is at least a 16 foot long or longer camper.

I'm going with a 1981 16 RB floor plan as the Sunline Sun side decal is above the side long decal. It shows up on page 1 of the 1981 brochure. An 82 has the Sunline Sun buried in the side long decal.

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Digmenow

Here's another. It's near BWI airport. I wonder if it has a dining table leaf they'll sell?

Hey Dig, I'm gonna throw a life line to you, Name that camper! Maybe the prize if you get it right is picture of a table leaf

I'm still working on the original boat load.... I'll come back and help ya if needed.

[CapsFan]

Originally Posted by Digmenow

Here's another. It's near BWI airport. I wonder if it has a dining table leaf they'll sell?

Its funny that once you own one, it seems that you develop keen Sunline spidey senses.......

I might be tempted to stop and ask....seems a little abandoned, so it wouldn't hurt to ask.

[CapsFan]

I imagined that this is what I would end up with. I love these little older campers. It reminds me of the one my parents had when I was a kid. I never did find one. I am not ruling it out, although.

[JohnB]

This one is at least a 1983 or newer, it's tan!



Looking closer, the rock guard decal changed to the thinner pattern. It is now at least a 1989. And in 1990 the campers went back to white. So the year is looking like a 1989. And it is a tandem axle.

To make this more complex, this model year has Saturn, Sunray, Satellite and Solaris and Seville to sort out....

The front rock guard decal seemed to change across the series. The Solaris and the Seville front decal is wider. The Satellite and the Saturn seems to have the same but smaller front decal. And the Sunray seems to be thinner then any of them. The Sunray side decals strip are smaller too.

This camper seems to fall into the Satellite or Saturn series by the decals. The good news is the Saturn seems to be smaller campers. So this points to a Satellite.

The floor plan has a front dinette kitchen, fridge right next to the single entry door. A mid bathroom and a single bed rear bedroom. The cargo hole under the rear side wall window says this is not T2466 or the T2465

I'm going with a 1989 Satellite T2480

Boy, this 1989 was work.... They have so many different offerings it is unbelievable. Talk about selection...

[JohnB]

I'll do this one now since I just sorted out that 98, this one should go quicker I hope...



This camper is between a 1985 to a 1988 by the decal pattern. In 1989 the decal pattern changed again. The front rock guard changed in 85 and in 89. The 88 brochure does not show 1 pic of the front of any camper to confirm what the rock guard decal looked like making this even harder to sort out. It may or may not have changed from the 87?

But.... the side and front decal colors changed across these 4 years. This camper has a blue in the side and front strips. This eliminates 1985 and 1986 as they are red on the bottom strip. This leaves 1987 and 1998 as the 2 possible years, I think...

The floor plan, the 2 windows, single door and the fridge location along with tandem axle points to a Satellite T-2250 or a T2251. The differences between those 2 floor plans is the dinette setup. From this one pic of the outside, I'm saying we cannot sort out which internal dinette setup there is.

In this case I am going with a 1987 or 1988 Satellite T-2250 or a T2251. If I had to guess the year, it would be a 1987.

It is just amazing all the floor plans and combinations they had. These campers are outstanding of how to totally fill the space.

Thanks

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by CapsFan

Is this even a Sunline?? lol Maybe a 1979 something...

I made it a little challenging, but I'm not cruel enough to put another brand! Haha!

Originally Posted by JohnB

Yes, it is a Sunline. This is getting hard to get good info with the colors but it might be a 1977 12 1/2MC. The 76 brochure is black and white...

Yup with the 3 strip decals I'm going with the 1977 12 1/2 MC. The MC meaning Mini Compact. That floor plan shows up in other years 76 and 78, 79, 80, 81, 82 but the colors and the number of strips seem to point to 1977.

This is one of those range trailers. You are right, but it could also be a 1976. They looked identical. At one point they had the large plastic logo on the rear instead of the decal, but I don't have enough data to know when each occurred. Actually, this design could be very early in 1978 too, I have an early '78 VIN that looks like this picture.

Originally Posted by JohnB

These oldies are tough. The brochures are not as abundant in pics to pick up these subtle differences.

This one is at least a 78 or newer. The SunLine Sun now is different. The multiple side strips decals changed from 3 in 76 and 77 to 4 strip in 78. And the 78 to the 82 had this 3 strip deal. But there are other changes too along the way.

The floor plan seems to align with the 13 1/2 RD. On the year, I can rule out 81 & 82 as the roof line at the front and back changed and in 78, they did not have a 13 1/2 RD. So this leaves 79 to 80...

I'm going with 1980 13 1/2 RD

Yes, that's correct. '78-80 had the same color and design stripe. The only difference was the change to the different Sunline logo in 1980. So the combination helps ID.

Originally Posted by JohnB

This little guy stands out as "different"

The Sunline decal looks like the "Orbiter" Series. But the side strips are wrong for the Orbiter.

I'm seeing the floor plan as a 12 1/2 MC and the decals seems to fit 1976.

I'm going with 1976 12 1/2 MC

This is one of the trick ones, and you are correct

Honestly, I don't know enough of the Orbiter to know if this is or not, but I don't think Orbiter continued into 1976. This one is a trick because it could also be a 1976, 1977, or early 1978. There was actually an exterior color option for these years, to choose either the rusty orange or the avocado green. It appears the option was available on all models, but the longer ones I've seen have pretty much all been orange.

Originally Posted by JohnB

I started in industry before the age of CAD. A lot of our SOC members did. CAD really did not take off big in industry until the early to mid 90's. And then it was slow to get going and things where still in 2D. When 3D came in in the 2,000's it sort of took over once it got going.

In the prior CAD days (not the old days...) the drafts person did all the drawings on paper. Did not matter if it was a space ship going to the moon or a camper going down the highway. Everything was drawn in scale regardless if it was 10 feet long or 10,000 feet long. Just the scale was different.

The designer was the key, they used their imagination and could visualize the entire design in their head. Sometimes when it was put on a scale drawing it did not work as the sizes were all off, but the design was tweaked to make it work or scraped and started over....

Doing 3D drawings on paper manually was very time consuming and most times not done unless marketing needed them. In manufacturing 2D was it. (2D being 2 dimension) You became real good at reading 2D drawings and could visualize what the design looked like. The shop folks read the drawings and made the parts and assembled the system, all from 2D drawings.

CAD really does not change that process. It does make it a lot easier to modify things once the design is made and use the power of 16 decimal places to check part fits if the CAD operator drew it correctly. In 3D you can show them to people who have no idea how to read a drawing but can work with it. Before CAD, drawings and designs where checked by doing math calculations and adding up all the dimensions to make sure everything fits correctly. Checking, is a skill all by itself.

The US put a man in the moon without CAD and everything else made before 1990... This all comes back to the designer with an idea and how to turn the idea into reality. Sunline mastered that on campers.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane..

Really interesting comments. It goes to show there was definitely an art to being a draftsperson, in addition to understanding engineering. CAD, while fun, I think has taken away some of that art form.

Originally Posted by Digmenow

Here's another. It's near BWI airport. I wonder if it has a dining table leaf they'll sell?

1996 T-1700. And no, it would have a semi-permanent solid dinette table.

Originally Posted by JohnB

This one is at least 1981 or newer. The roof line changed. Since it is white, it is not beyond 1982 as in 1983 the campers turned tan. It's and 81 or an 82.

The floor plan is 2 axle so that eliminates the single axle campers. This means it is at least a 16 foot long or longer camper.

I'm going with a 1981 16 RB floor plan as the Sunline Sun side decal is above the side long decal. It shows up on page 1 of the 1981 brochure. An 82 has the Sunline Sun buried in the side long decal.

Right again, and that's exactly how to tell the 81/82 difference!

Originally Posted by JohnB

This one is at least a 1983 or newer, it's tan!

Looking closer, the rock guard decal changed to the thinner pattern. It is now at least a 1989. And in 1990 the campers went back to white. So the year is looking like a 1989. And it is a tandem axle.

To make this more complex, this model year has Saturn, Sunray, Satellite and Solaris and Seville to sort out....

The front rock guard decal seemed to change across the series. The Solaris and the Seville front decal is wider. The Satellite and the Saturn seems to have the same but smaller front decal. And the Sunray seems to be thinner then any of them. The Sunray side decals strip are smaller too.

This camper seems to fall into the Satellite or Saturn series by the decals. The good news is the Saturn seems to be smaller campers. So this points to a Satellite.

The floor plan has a front dinette kitchen, fridge right next to the single entry door. A mid bathroom and a single bed rear bedroom. The cargo hole under the rear side wall window says this is not T2466 or the T2465

I'm going with a 1989 Satellite T2480

Boy, this 1989 was work.... They have so many different offerings it is unbelievable. Talk about selection...

Yep, '89 2480 is correct, the largest Satellite! The easiest way to tell this year is the small side Sunline decal. All the other tan ones will have the name large and in charge, the full height of the stripe, but this one is only half size.

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by JohnB

I'll do this one now since I just sorted out that 98, this one should go quicker I hope...



This camper is between a 1985 to a 1988 by the decal pattern. In 1989 the decal pattern changed again. The front rock guard changed in 85 and in 89. The 88 brochure does not show 1 pic of the front of any camper to confirm what the rock guard decal looked like making this even harder to sort out. It may or may not have changed from the 87?

But.... the side and front decal colors changed across these 4 years. This camper has a blue in the side and front strips. This eliminates 1985 and 1986 as they are red on the bottom strip. This leaves 1987 and 1998 as the 2 possible years, I think...

The floor plan, the 2 windows, single door and the fridge location along with tandem axle points to a Satellite T-2250 or a T2251. The differences between those 2 floor plans is the dinette setup. From this one pic of the outside, I'm saying we cannot sort out which internal dinette setup there is.

In this case I am going with a 1987 or 1988 Satellite T-2250 or a T2251. If I had to guess the year, it would be a 1987.

It is just amazing all the floor plans and combinations they had. These campers are outstanding of how to totally fill the space.

Thanks

Right again! From this view, yes, you can't tell 2250 vs 2251. There were far more 2251s made in general, so it would be a rare one to be a 2250.

1987 is correct. The 1988 striping looked very much like or was nearly identical to the 1989, just the front side Sunline decals were different. The center stripe step up is more diamond shaped through 1987, and then took the more trapezoidal shape for 1988-90.

[JohnB]

Now the 5'ers... The decal setup seems to be shifted from the TT's by colors. The truck campers seem to follow the 5'er's



The decal style and colors points to 1984 or 1985.

The floor plan is an F-1850. This 1850 ran a lot of years when they made 5er's

I'm going to go with a 1985 F-1850. It was a toss up on the year.

Thanks

John

[Digmenow]

This one is located about a mile south of Camping World in Hanover, Pennsylvania. I saw it on a previous visit and this time I pulled over and took these pictures. It must be a fairly recent acquisition because when I looked on Google Maps dated one year ago, it's nowhere to be seen in the driveway.

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by JohnB

Now the 5'ers... The decal setup seems to be shifted from the TT's by colors. The truck campers seem to follow the 5'er's

The decal style and colors points to 1984 or 1985.

The floor plan is an F-1850. This 1850 ran a lot of years when they made 5er's

I'm going to go with a 1985 F-1850. It was a toss up on the year.

Thanks

John

Close, and yes, agreed, it's a toss up. For some reason, some early 1985s were built with 1984 decals, and the brochure does indicate this. Usually they are 1984s though, unless they have the oval anniversary decal by the RVIA. Since this doesn't have that decal, I'm assuming 1984 F-1850.

Originally Posted by Digmenow

This one is located about a mile south of Camping World in Hanover, Pennsylvania. I saw it on a previous visit and this time I pulled over and took these pictures. It must be a fairly recent acquisition because when I looked on Google Maps dated one year ago, it's nowhere to be seen in the driveway.

1995 T-2251

[PTHutch]

Originally Posted by JohnB

Now the 5'ers... The decal setup seems to be shifted from the TT's by colors. The truck campers seem to follow the 5'er's



The decal style and colors points to 1984 or 1985.

The floor plan is an F-1850. This 1850 ran a lot of years when they made 5er's

I'm going to go with a 1985 F-1850. It was a toss up on the year.

Thanks

John

Hey John,

I recognized the picture as being taken at one of the Buttonwood M&Gs, it peaked my interest so I went back through my records.

It's a 1984 F-1850, owned by forum member hardybus, they attended the 2011 Buttonwood M&G and they were on Site 99

I can only identify Sunlines by cheating

[Jim-Bev-2363]

What a memory!!!!

[Digmenow]

Spotted only moments before the light changed. Somewhere between Fredricksburg and Dahlgren, VA. Good luck!

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by Digmenow

Spotted only moments before the light changed. Somewhere between Fredricksburg and Dahlgren, VA. Good luck!

Not gonna lie, this one was challenging, and took a lot of my resources.

- It's either 1986 or 1987.
- It has what appears to be a brown frame door window, only available on the larger Solaris and Seville trailer (25' and up).
- It appears to have square corner main windows, but it's really hard to tell. Square corners were used up through Solaris, only Seville had the premium radius corner at the time.
- Striping looks very faded or purple-ish. Definitely not 1986 blue and orange, and looks too washed out to even be 1987 navy and burgundy. So, I'm leaning toward Seville, which had purple stripes in pretty much the same pattern as the rest of the models. There's no difference that I can tell on the exterior between a 1986 Seville and a 1987 Seville.
- Two similar height windows on either side of the door. This really limits the floorplan to a T-2861/2/3. The 2861/2 for 1986 had a larger square window in the front that was taller, which it looks like this is. It was shrunk in 1987 in the 2862/3
- It really looks like there's one window in the back, and no second door. So that would indicate a twin bed T-2862.
- The wheels look tan, which is odd, because Sevilles came with I think black wheels and hubcaps. Solaris came with the tan spoke trailer wheels. But that could have been changed.

So I'm going with 1986 Seville T-2862. But it could also be a 1987 Solaris T-2862, depending on the coloring.

Due to lack of pictures of this model, I've attached one of a 1987 Solaris T-2863, the rear island bed variant, as well as a 1986 Solaris T-2861 (also island bed variant).

[JTurner]

I think this is a 1985, like mine! I believe the 1986 is the same color pattern but has brown windows, the 85 still had the aluminum windows. This one is really small. I like it! This is my favorite color combination and I believe it was only used on the two years 85 and 86.

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by JTurner

I think this is a 1985, like mine! I believe the 1986 is the same color pattern but has brown windows, the 85 still had the aluminum windows. This one is really small. I like it! This is my favorite color combination and I believe it was only used on the two years 85 and 86.

Yep, it is a 1985! With original hubcaps too!

[Digmenow]

You might think that this video would belong in the Tow Vehicle sub forum but that's not why I posted it. This is the thread for it, as you will quickly see!

[vcrt]

Norton blocked it.
Rich