New Addition to the Collection: 1976 Sunline Orbiter 20' SD!

Sunline Fan

Sunline Historian
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Dec 6, 2006
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6,193
Location
Green Oak Twp, MI
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.

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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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Congrats Jon!

Yes, it's a rare find. It's a 49-year-old camper, and it's still in that good of shape.

These restorations are, for sure, a labor of love. Trust me, I know as well as you do. :)

Have fun with the new toy. Keep it up, and I sense a much bigger barn may be needed. :LOL:

I am looking forward to the day you start it. Take lots of pics!

Thanks for sharing,

John
 
Thanks John. This is definitely a much bigger beast than the 12-1/2' MC, so it will need a new barn space to work on. Hopefully to come, and have all the Sunlines under one roof.

Interesting thing about this- apparently '76 was the first year that they went to exterior VIN stickers from the previous stamped metal VIN plates, so naturally, this one is gone. However, from a similar '75, I'm shocked to learn that this 20' trailer has a 6400 lb. GVWR! And that was determined based on having two 3200 lb. axles.

All of the cabinet doors in this were made of vinyl coated pressboard, so they were quite heavy for what they were. Actually some paperwork from '73 I have claims the cabinet doors to be 3M Tartan-clad vinyl cabinet doors. Although I don't have the bathroom door, it must have closed with some heft if it was the same. Meanwhile, that doesn't take kindly to humidity in storage, so I can see why most are no longer here. They give a new appreication for the basically hollow core cabinet doors that they moved to in late '76. The redesigned trailers, like my '79, were really lightweights in comparison.

I pulled it home on a super, super windy night. No WD or sway control. I didn't go on much highway but I did do 55 for most of the way home and it never swayed even a little bit.

Although the brakes worked when I first started out (and the seller said they did), I started getting an overload warning about 15-20 minutes into the hour drive. I pulled over and nothing seemed to be smoking or problematic, so I just turned the brake controller down to zero and continued on without. I'm thinking a ground somewhere probably is loose.

It did come with very end of 2021 date code tires and freshly packed wheel bearings last summer, so those are a plus too.
 
This is an awesome find! I’m sorry that the previous owner painter her. She looks like she was beautifully maintained in her original form. I can’t wait to see her transformation.

Carla
 
Congratulations on your “newest” Sunline, Jon! Really interesting history too. Keep us updated on what you do with it. (We like the old original look on these trailers and it was interesting to see how much of the trailer was still original before they started their reno.
 
This is an awesome find! I’m sorry that the previous owner painter her. She looks like she was beautifully maintained in her original form. I can’t wait to see her transformation.

Carla
Thanks Carla! The only thing is it seems like a lot of the cabinet doors went missing from the owner two ago, so it wasn't perfectly preserved. I'm thankful to have a lot of the hardware still.
 
Congratulations on your “newest” Sunline, Jon! Really interesting history too. Keep us updated on what you do with it. (We like the old original look on these trailers and it was interesting to see how much of the trailer was still original before they started their reno.
Thanks, will do! I'm on the hunt for hubcaps now- I thought I found a set but they are for the Dexstar Star style wheels. They don't fit standard steel wheels. I think I know what they look like and were used by multiple brands, including Coachmen, just have to wait to find a set haha.

I definitely need to get the '79 all finished before I dig into this one too much.
 
I performed the first wash on the '76 a week or so when we had a brief warm spell here (although it was lightly raining at the time). I'm very impressed with how it turned out. I also removed all of the plastic Sunline logos and re-painted them in the original color scheme, as well as the Hartman and RVIA plastics.

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Congratulations! You found yourself a real pretty girl. Your story was so informative. It was interesting and enjoyable reading for sure. I learned so much and love that you were also able to score the Trailer Life magazine featuring a Sunline like yours. All the pictures really helped tell the story. Just as everyone else has mentioned, please continue to post and keep us Sunline Groupies happy with updates on both of your Sunline projects.

Cherie
 
I performed the first wash on the '76 a week or so when we had a brief warm spell here (although it was lightly raining at the time). I'm very impressed with how it turned out. I also removed all of the plastic Sunline logos and re-painted them in the original color scheme, as well as the Hartman and RVIA plastics.

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She's looking good! I love the green and yellow color and the compass rock guard design. I wish they'd stayed with that for a bit.
 
She's looking good! I love the green and yellow color and the compass rock guard design. I wish they'd stayed with that for a bit.
I agree! I hadn't thought of it as a compass before but you're right, it really does look like that. Originally it should have a yellow background to look like a sun, or a line over a sun, which I will do eventually. It is the same as at the front of the little plastic logos, which were used roughly 1973-1977.

My favorite use of it was on Sunline fifth wheels from '73/74. I've only ever seen two of them, but they painted it HUGE right on the side of the trailer and it looked awesome. I haven't seen that they did it on travel trailers, just fifth wheels.
 

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