Sunline Fan
Sunline Historian
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Ever since I was a kid scouring Sunline's customer photos section on the website, I have been infatuated with old Sunlines. Actually just vintage trailers in general at that time, but along with that are especially old Sunlines.
For those who aren't aware, Sunline went through an ownership and leadership change in late 1975 when some guys from Shasta became involved with Sunline. When they came in, the style of Sunline trailers changed, construction methods changed, and volume increased. The mid-year refresh of the 1976 Sunline model year was a huge turning point, setting the basis for how Sunlines would be for the next ~15 years.
The biggest challenge is any of the Sunlines before that is that there just isn't much info on them known. From my research, Sunline is rumored to have started building trailers in 1971, producing around 200 RVs total since the beginning in 1965 through that year. I believe around 100 or so were built each year in the early to mid '70s until that Shasta team transition. Not bad for a small operation. The iconic lightning bolt logo design dominated the early and mid-'70s.
One distinct features of the pre-Shasta-influence Sunlines are rear trunks. Trunkback style trailers were very common among many brands throughout the 1960s through the mid '70s and Sunline was no exception. Just like how pass through storage cabinets became very popular on mid-2000s Sunlines, trunks were on I think all the floorplans until the Shasta team influenced redesign. It was literally just a large cargo door on the rear of the trailer for loading in bulky folding chairs and other various camping equipment.
I've always wanted a trunkback era Sunline and/or a '76-77 Sunline, which the latter is unique for the exterior colors and design that only lasted a year and a half. To put it in perspective, I'd estimate around 600 trunkback era Sunlines were built (with TBD number of those as truck campers) and then since production ramped up, I'd estimate around ~1200 1976.5-77 Sunlines built.
I've seen less than a dozen trunkback era Sunlines in all my nearly 20 years of searching. And I've looked at a lot of Sunlines- I've personally tracked over 4000 by VIN and over 11,000 overall of the 65k built...and those stats are over 10 years old now. So you could say it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. To make matters worse, Sunlines of this era were all likely sold FOB Akron or Denver, PA to local dealers who sold locally. So any trunkback era Sunlines are most likely in SE PA or somewhere around there.
Imagine my excitement when a trunkback '76 popped up on Marketplace just 44 miles from me in Michigan! It took some persistence but I was able to be the first to go look at it and bought it pretty much on the spot. While I took my moisture meter, I honestly never bothered to check anything with it yet because it doesn't matter- I wanted it regardless. It was worth it to get this one locally rather than try to negotiate a deal in PA and then have to go make it roadworthy to bring it home. Not to say I won't do that too some day, lol.
So, I can formally introduce #601, my new-to-me trunkback Sunline Orbiter 20' SD (side dinette).
A keen eye will notice that this floorplan does not exist in the 1976 brochure, which I believe to technically be a 1976.5 brochure that introduces all the new floorplans that many of you are familiar with. This was a carryover floorplan from 1975, but what makes this particular trailer even more rare is that it has the green exterior metal used on the redesigned 1976 trailers, but in a slightly different pattern. Prior to 1976, the metal used was brown and gold on white. I've only seen one other early '76 Sunline trunkback like this, a 24 FGT that was highly modified with a roof deck on top for Pocono Raceway viewing. In reality, there were likely less than 100 Sunlines built in the green and yellow livery that this has. The best part is it has the really, really cool Orbiter rock guard design carried over from the previous year.
A few months ago, I happened to pick up a copy of the March 1976 edition of Trailer Life magazine, which did a test of my exact Orbiter 20' SD. There are slight differences between mine and the test model so I know it's not the same trailer, but it validates that there was indeed a 1976 Orbiter trunkback series.
My particular trailer started out life being sold through J.G. Hartman in Adamstown, PA, the same hometown RV dealer for Sunline that was bought by the Stoltzfus family in 1987 and runs the location to this day. It's pretty cool to have it documented from the hometown dealer, especially since I have no original paperwork from Sunline on it. It does not appear to have the Orbiter Deluxe Package, which got you a bigger battery, magazine rack, cabinet-mounted clock, power vent in the bath, and a few other goodies. I am impressed that it's pre-wired for A/C, in 1976! A young couple bought the trailer in PA in 2021 and took it home to Virginia, doing a pretty typical Covid-era renovation on it by painting over everything. Luckily they saved the majority of the hardware removed from the interior that makes restoring it half way possible. Med school later brought both of them to Michigan and with realizing their lack of time to fully finish it, plus unknowns of where life will take them in the next couple years, they decided to pass it on. This is why I'm a firm believer of if things are meant to be, they're meant to be.
The trailer does have some water damage, particularly next to the door, in the door, and in the rear wall. But again, the fact it exists is so cool to me and it had to be part of my collection. It will take some work to put it back to like it was. I'm not in a hurry to dig into it though, I have a '79 to finish first!
Finally, some pictures!
I already scrubbed the rock guard and traced it. I'll properly restore it eventually. It's still too cold to even wash the whole trailer.
Unfortunately it looks like the interior was pretty nice before they painted, as the seller has later provided me the listing pictures from when they bought it. And unfortunately they ripped a lot of the original wall covering off before painting, so I can't just strip it. I wish I had those beautiful cushions!
For those who aren't aware, Sunline went through an ownership and leadership change in late 1975 when some guys from Shasta became involved with Sunline. When they came in, the style of Sunline trailers changed, construction methods changed, and volume increased. The mid-year refresh of the 1976 Sunline model year was a huge turning point, setting the basis for how Sunlines would be for the next ~15 years.
The biggest challenge is any of the Sunlines before that is that there just isn't much info on them known. From my research, Sunline is rumored to have started building trailers in 1971, producing around 200 RVs total since the beginning in 1965 through that year. I believe around 100 or so were built each year in the early to mid '70s until that Shasta team transition. Not bad for a small operation. The iconic lightning bolt logo design dominated the early and mid-'70s.
One distinct features of the pre-Shasta-influence Sunlines are rear trunks. Trunkback style trailers were very common among many brands throughout the 1960s through the mid '70s and Sunline was no exception. Just like how pass through storage cabinets became very popular on mid-2000s Sunlines, trunks were on I think all the floorplans until the Shasta team influenced redesign. It was literally just a large cargo door on the rear of the trailer for loading in bulky folding chairs and other various camping equipment.
I've always wanted a trunkback era Sunline and/or a '76-77 Sunline, which the latter is unique for the exterior colors and design that only lasted a year and a half. To put it in perspective, I'd estimate around 600 trunkback era Sunlines were built (with TBD number of those as truck campers) and then since production ramped up, I'd estimate around ~1200 1976.5-77 Sunlines built.
I've seen less than a dozen trunkback era Sunlines in all my nearly 20 years of searching. And I've looked at a lot of Sunlines- I've personally tracked over 4000 by VIN and over 11,000 overall of the 65k built...and those stats are over 10 years old now. So you could say it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. To make matters worse, Sunlines of this era were all likely sold FOB Akron or Denver, PA to local dealers who sold locally. So any trunkback era Sunlines are most likely in SE PA or somewhere around there.
Imagine my excitement when a trunkback '76 popped up on Marketplace just 44 miles from me in Michigan! It took some persistence but I was able to be the first to go look at it and bought it pretty much on the spot. While I took my moisture meter, I honestly never bothered to check anything with it yet because it doesn't matter- I wanted it regardless. It was worth it to get this one locally rather than try to negotiate a deal in PA and then have to go make it roadworthy to bring it home. Not to say I won't do that too some day, lol.
So, I can formally introduce #601, my new-to-me trunkback Sunline Orbiter 20' SD (side dinette).
A keen eye will notice that this floorplan does not exist in the 1976 brochure, which I believe to technically be a 1976.5 brochure that introduces all the new floorplans that many of you are familiar with. This was a carryover floorplan from 1975, but what makes this particular trailer even more rare is that it has the green exterior metal used on the redesigned 1976 trailers, but in a slightly different pattern. Prior to 1976, the metal used was brown and gold on white. I've only seen one other early '76 Sunline trunkback like this, a 24 FGT that was highly modified with a roof deck on top for Pocono Raceway viewing. In reality, there were likely less than 100 Sunlines built in the green and yellow livery that this has. The best part is it has the really, really cool Orbiter rock guard design carried over from the previous year.
A few months ago, I happened to pick up a copy of the March 1976 edition of Trailer Life magazine, which did a test of my exact Orbiter 20' SD. There are slight differences between mine and the test model so I know it's not the same trailer, but it validates that there was indeed a 1976 Orbiter trunkback series.
My particular trailer started out life being sold through J.G. Hartman in Adamstown, PA, the same hometown RV dealer for Sunline that was bought by the Stoltzfus family in 1987 and runs the location to this day. It's pretty cool to have it documented from the hometown dealer, especially since I have no original paperwork from Sunline on it. It does not appear to have the Orbiter Deluxe Package, which got you a bigger battery, magazine rack, cabinet-mounted clock, power vent in the bath, and a few other goodies. I am impressed that it's pre-wired for A/C, in 1976! A young couple bought the trailer in PA in 2021 and took it home to Virginia, doing a pretty typical Covid-era renovation on it by painting over everything. Luckily they saved the majority of the hardware removed from the interior that makes restoring it half way possible. Med school later brought both of them to Michigan and with realizing their lack of time to fully finish it, plus unknowns of where life will take them in the next couple years, they decided to pass it on. This is why I'm a firm believer of if things are meant to be, they're meant to be.
The trailer does have some water damage, particularly next to the door, in the door, and in the rear wall. But again, the fact it exists is so cool to me and it had to be part of my collection. It will take some work to put it back to like it was. I'm not in a hurry to dig into it though, I have a '79 to finish first!
Finally, some pictures!
I already scrubbed the rock guard and traced it. I'll properly restore it eventually. It's still too cold to even wash the whole trailer.
Unfortunately it looks like the interior was pretty nice before they painted, as the seller has later provided me the listing pictures from when they bought it. And unfortunately they ripped a lot of the original wall covering off before painting, so I can't just strip it. I wish I had those beautiful cushions!
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