Sunline Company History

[Harlie]

Hi all,
I'm interested in the history of Sunline Company. If anyone has any info to forward, that would be great. Thanks, harlie

[jim44646]

You sure opened a can of worms. Sunline Fan is our historian. You send him your Vin # and he can tell you where, when and what plant and probably what day your coach was made. He even told me what color schem the interior of my trailer. He keeps records of who own what.
http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f1...ins-10948.html

[Sunline Fan]

Harlie, yes you did open a can of worms... I do have your info, but I haven't had a chance to input it yet- was busy last night, finally sat down in front of the computer, and then fell asleep in front of it!

I will try to get to it this weekend. In the meantime, can you give me an idea of what kind of history you're looking for? Company history, history on your coach, history on 2007 model year, etc.?

[Harlie]

I'm interested in the company history as well as info you might have regarding my trailer. Thanks so much, Harlie

[EMD_Driver]

If you get a chance, you should buy a copy of the factory video.. Pretty cool!

[Ham Radio Op]

Hi Harlie,

Welcome to the Sunline Owners Club. Like you, many of us are interested in the company. My wife Nancy, and I, were fortunate enough to have a tour of the factory at Denver, PA. I didn't know anything about a factory video that Gary mentioned. I would like to get a copy of the video if it's still available. If Gary would PM me with information I would appreciate it. Thanks Gary and again Welcome Harlie. Paul

[Harlie]

Paul, Nancy and Gary,
Thanks so much for the info. I'm enjoying the owners group as this is the first time I have had any contact with other Sunline Owners. I would also love to buy a factory video. Thanks so much for getting back to me. Harlie

[JohnB]

Hi Harley,

I moved your post out of the FAQ forum over here to the Community forum for better viewing.

To help answer your question on Sunline history, there is a 1 pager on Sunline History that shows up in the newer camper manuals.

This link will take you to where you can download a 2005 Sunline manual. See page 3 for the "The Sunline Story" This will help fill in from the beginning up to the the 35th anniversary in 2005. It does not include the sad events that occurred up to November 2006 when the business stopped.

Note: This manual is a 3.4 meg download, you will get the entire manual

Sunline Coach Owner's Club - Sunline Owner's Files - 2005 Sunline Owners Booklet

Hope this helps

John

[Sunline Fan]

Hi Harlie,

I haven't forgotten about you, just been really busy. M&G coming up, work, life, all getting in the way. Attempted again to write this last night and fell asleep in front of the computer. So since I have a few free moments here, I'll type what comes off my mind. If anyone reads the below info and finds anything wrong, please question as I'm going completely off memory.

Sunline was started by two guys, I believe they were cousins, Wayne Weaver and Lewis (Lou) Martin. The two of them were building garden storage sheds in the early '60s and decided to build a camper in their garage, I believe near Akron, PA. They decided to build a pickup camper in late 1964 for Wayne's planned honeymoon trip in early 1965. They built the camper and it worked out so well that they decided to build a few more.

They sold the campers locally and kept doing that for a few years. I never got true confirmation as to when, but they started building travel trailers and fifth wheels around 1970/71 to expand. Granted, they were still only building maybe 200 units a year, at most, and that's probably overstated. They continued building truck campers, truck caps, trailers, and fifth wheels until 1975 when the company was partially sold/new management brought in. At the time, Shasta trailers had a large plant in nearby Leola that Shasta shut down in consolidation. Sunline picked up a bunch of Shasta management to help them grow the company. 1976 was a larger year for production, and by 1978, they probably built more units than the rest of the years combined. They also added the mini-motorhomes to the line up too. John Zimmerman I believe was the president from 1975-1989, though the Martin family continued to stay very involved through the end.

Throughout the early '80s, Sunline focused on lightweight units built with excellent quality, and gained a reputation for such. They were primarily sold on the east coast, mainly New England and PA. They expanded to many more floorplans in 1983 to really give the customers a lot of choices.

I believe 1989 brought W. Larry Lawrence as the new president, though little change happened. In terms of appearance, Sunlines went from an off white color to tan in 1983, and then to gray in 1990. The gray only lasted through 1991 when they went to the bright polar white in 1992. In the early '90s, Sunline started focusing on adding amenities to add value to the trailers, which did result in a price increase. I personally think for the price, the mid '90s Sunlines were an excellent value for the product. Sunline did realize they were cutting out part of their original target market, so they introduced a line of 'affordable' trailers in the late '80s. These were never all that popular and Sunline tried to revive that theory many times, failing at each one.

Sunline built their last truck camper in 1994 as the market was saturated and people wanted bigger units, aka trailers. No more gas shortage.

Sunline first introduced the slide out on the 1995 line of fifth wheels. These were carried over into the entry level line of Saturn travel trailers for 1996, when the fifth wheels were discontinued. Sunline only built travel trailers from 1997-2002.

The first website came about in 1997.

The 50,000th Sunline was built I believe in August 1999, and I think was a 2000 T-2475.

I believe 2000 brought Larry Lawrence's retirement and Dale Zimmerman (son of John Zimmerman) came in. The 35th anniversary was a big celebration too, with many awards and celebrations.

Fifth wheels were introduced again in 2002, but proved too luxurious and too large for most of the New England customers, so they didn't sell. They had MSRP's north of $50k.

The Martin family and whoever else had a stake in it decided to sell to a group of outside investors in February 2004. Dale Zimmerman remained on the new board, but he wasn't alone. Joe Bucara, and I forget some of the others, were fellow board members and investors. They wanted to change it up some, as most investors do.

2005 brought the 40th anniversary and relatively few changes from past years. Some special anniversary things, but generally status quo. It did bring the Tran-sport toy hauler, which was a unique idea, but it didn't quite match up with the needs of the overwhelming majority of toy hauler buyers.

They really scaled back floorplans and options for 2006, as well as brought in an interior designer, a Sunline first. The trailers went to a whole new level of luxury with leather upholstery and LED lighting options. 2007 also brought the addition of standard cherry wood inside (though the maple was still optional), as well as the new, modern Que. 2007 production totaled less than 1000 units, which is small compared to most later years were around 2000 units. The 2007 model year was also started early, so it had about 10 solid months of production, which is close to a full model year.

Due to declining sales, poor marketing (trying to sell their new market trailers in the wrong target market), increasing costs, and a potentially large liability, the investors decided to liquidate Sunline. The intangible assets were 'sold' to Sunline Acquisition Company while the rest of Sunline Coach was auctioned off. The last I knew, what was left of Sunline Acquisition Company tried to sell the product lines with all documentation necessary for a few hundred grand each, or like a million and a half for the lot. Of course due to the downturn in the economy and panic in the RV industry as many started falling, it's no surprise that it didn't sell.

What exists of Sunline Acquisition Company today, I don't know.

In the end, about 65,000 Sunlines were built. I never got an exact total other than for a few certain product lines.

[Tweety]

Today Martin Construction resides in the building. There is a field next to that building where the Sunlines sat before being shipped off to the dealers. You can still see the rows where the trailers sat, but each year they get less pronounced

[Grilly]

Many thanks Harlie, very good information I will be looking at a 2004 Solaris T2363. Not sure of the overall condition but is worth a look. I assume the 2004 were still pretty well built.

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Grilly

Many thanks Harlie, very good information I will be looking at a 2004 Solaris T2363. Not sure of the overall condition but is worth a look. I assume the 2004 were still pretty well built.

The 2004 T2363 is a good camper. Very well built.

Just be on the lookout for water damage from a prior owner not knowing where to look. If they cannot see signs of water damage, then they assume there is none.

See this post for how to inspect a camper with a moisture meter. https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f...per-17613.html

Recommend anyone buying a camper to get a moisture meter. And if buying a used camper, get the meter before the camper.

Not saying not to buy one with some level of water damage, just know about it going in, and you would do the repairs so you may be able to adjust the price.

If there was a 2004 to 2007 T2363 in good shape and not abused, with water damage, I myself would be serious about getting it to restore it. But that is me, I already have 4 Sunline project campers I'm working on along with our good big one that is still is very good condition and totally dry. I may never sell that one.

Good luck on your Sunline hunting trip. We are here to help as we can.

John

[Grilly]

Thanks John much appreciated.