Were all the old Winnies on a Dodge chassis?

[KBJ]

Sent: 11/14/2002 1:39 PM


Just wondering if any of the old Winne's were built using a chassis other than mopar.
(excluding the Minnie Winnie and the small stuff) Were all the early Winne's based on Mopar?

Some late sixties Winnebagos had a Ford chassis, the F-19 and the F-17 are the two that I am aware of, ( and I think the only two ) the F-17 being the last one produced in 1970.

For 71 and 72, you could get either 20 foot Brave model with a Chevy chassis as well as the Dodge.

In 76, they introduced two Minnie Winnie models with Chevy chassis, one of which was called the Sportsmans Den.

Otherwise Winnebagos from the late sixties through the 70's were nothing but Mopars, and the majority of the class A motorhome industry was as well. The Itasca division created by Winnebago in 75 were exclusively on a Chevy chassis however. The Mopar motorhome chassis disappeared by the start of the 80's with Chrysler's financial woes and subsequent government bailout, and the second gas/oil crisis when gas first went over a buck a gallon and anybody producing a 6-8 mpg motorhome all felt the crunch. Many motorhome and travel trailer companies went belly up by the mid-80's. So, in an effort to streamline operations and get back on their feet, Chrysler had to drop some divisions of operation, one of which was the production of motorhome chassis. Also a victim was Travco, which at that time was owned by Chrysler and was sold to Foretravel motorhomes. I imagine over time during the 80's, Foretravel began to phase out Travco production because I have never seen nor heard of a Travco model Bayou.  Vangilder

[junkyarddogfan]

i have seen some '77,'78,'79 and '80's itasca class a's with a dodge running gear, so i don't believe itasca was exclusive to gm...majority, but not exclusive.

[polarman]

 I saw a 71 Winnebago, I think a 17 or 18 ft, with a 300 straight 6 cyl. engine for sale on Craigslist. That would be a Ford.

[Oz]

From the first model year, 1966, until '71(?) the "shorties" F17 & 18 were Fords, thus the "F" rather than the "D" letter beginning the model number.