In another thread it was posted that "There are different Beaver Era's the first was BM Beavers (Before Matt Perlot) the second was DM Beavers (Durning Matt) and the last are AM Beavers (after Matt or after Monaco) they all have different 'traits'. "

I don't know much about the Beaver history except that it was started by a couple of men in Bend, has changed ownership a couple of times, has the best user's club, and is now owned by Navistar.  

Is there a document somewhere that tells the history?  If not, could/would members post what they know and remember?

Could we start with who founded the company?  Why they did it?  And, what there first products were like?

Thanks!

Bill, I had a talk with Jeff Easter a couple of years ago and he seemed to know a lot  about the early and mid years of the Beaver history. Not specific dates but who bought what and about when.  Marty

Responding to Bill's inquiry about the Beaver history is quite challenging and can be rather lengthy.  I don't know how to do a short story but will give it a try.  Once upon a time...back in the late 60's or early 70's two guys, Jim Hogue and Frank Storch, started building slide-in campers for pickup trucks.  Since they were graduates of Oregon State University, at least one of them was, their brand name was Beaver.  Around 1974 or 5 they changed over to building Class C motor homes, commonly called "minis".  Violet and I bought our first Beaver in 1976.  Most of those built were on either a Chevrolet or Dodge chassis, van-type or they also built about 5 or 6 Chevrolet "long nose" chassis built with either a Chevy 454 or Ford 460 engine.  Ours was a "longnose" Chevy 454.  The two original owners, Jim and Frank also started the repair facility, now occupied by Beaver Coach Sales of Oregon, called HOST (HO for Hogue and ST for Storch).  
It was in 1983 that some owners wanted to start a travel club for Beaver owners and the 1st BAC organizational meeting was held in Bend, OR at Crown Villa RV Park.  All of the attendees, who also became "Charter Members" chartered BAC in September, 1983.  There were about 415? charter members.  I think now there are now about 15 charter members still around.  Iris would know exactly and who they are.  The Schmidts and us are probably the most active ones left.  There may be a couple on the east coast.

Within the original factory, an employee marketing person, named Matt Perlot, left Beaver and with Curt Lawler started Safari Motor Homes. When the Hogue/Storch era ended in bankruptcy there were 2 or 3 companies (Safari and Country Coach were two) interested in purchasing Beaver.  At that time I was BAC President and sent a letter to the bankruptcy court on behalf of BAC to support Safari as our interest in preserving the Beaver line.  (It's my personal opinion that CC wanted Beaver for its cabinetry only.  Fortunately, Safari prevailed in the court's decision)

In the early 80's Beaver began building the Class A brand with gas engines.  At that time the largest Class A was 36 feet but had a heating problem due to the weight of the coach.  It was in 1985? that the first diesel motor was introduced to Beaver and it also had problems with over heating due to radiator placement (rear engine/front radiator, front engine/rear radiator, etc.)  Their first diesel was in a 36 ft unit flat/slanted windshield.  All of the early Class A units were of the same color patterns; brown and white.  When driving and saw one coming towards you you would know immediately that it was a Beaver.  In 1986 Beaver began the so-called European style rounded front end cap and did a series of "rainbow" color patterns; red, green, blue.   It was during the beginning of the Class A motor home that the "new" Beaver logo came into existence.  If you want to see the original logo stop by my coach and see the old one which came from the original Oregon State mascot. ( the new Oregon State logo is more ferocious looking.  Our old one is a happy guy.)

I don't know how much more you want to know but do believe Iris/Wally and I could have quite a conversation about this as we sometimes sit down and have a history lesson and do share a lot of stories.  Hope you enjoy.  Any questions give Wally, Iris or I a shout.

Mandy

Thanks Mandy Perhaps you and the others can do a history and post it as a PDF for those of us interested in the history of Beaver. I consider your post installment one.  

Mike...If my memory will take me back in time I do believe the bankruptcy was in 1993 and early '94.  It did take a long time as there were many creditors involved.  Even after the bankruptcy was settled the Beaver line was still manufactured in Bend, OR until Monaco took over and moved the facility to Coburg.  I'm sure bits and pieces will be recalled as time goes on.  
I'll tack on a little more in the time line for Beaver.  When we had our BAC lead-in rally just prior to the 1st FMCA Redmond convention Beaver also was celebrating its 25 anniversary in business.  If Iris or Wally Schmidt reads this post they'll have the year.  'til next time...

Is this topic worth some time at the upcoming International Rally in Harrisburg?
Mike Humble

Quoted from mykee50

Do you remember what year the bankrupcy was?  Is my 98' Patriot off of the Safari line?  Thanks for the great info.  Mike

Safari DM time, 1998 was the first year for the rear radiator and Hurricane Hydronic Heating in the Patriot.  

Mike,
I think that there is a good bit of interest in the Beaver history. A printed time line of the history like the one Mandy has started, or a one hour or so seminar presented by some of the earlier members like Mandy and Wally would be well attended.

Gerald

Mandy that was so interesting.  We have been around for a long time, but you gave information that we never have heard.  I was hoping you would continue the story post SMC.  I seminar is a great idea.

Larry & Carolyn

I started the thread hoping I would learn a little.  I've already learned a lot.  

I'll contact Jim O'Hara and work on possible scheduling at Harrisburg.  If we get something going I will try to take detailed notes so that I can work up a written version.  

We have a 1993 Beaver Contessa, one of the last Beavers made by the original Beaver company. The 1993 Contessa was the only year Contessa with the flat floor plan (no step up in the bedroom). There were some 1994s made before Beaver went bankrupt. The Contessa (slope nose) was discontinued and replaced by a bus front Acclaim. Some of the Acclaims have the Contessa metal names on them a few have Acclaim.
Peter and I visited the factory in Bend over a number of years. We have scanned many of the original brochures (Peter could tell you the dates) and have copies of all the technical schematics (given to techs to work on Beavers) for the classic Beavers.
We heard the story that Matt Perlot disagreed with the powers that were in Beaver over a number of issues. One of them being he wanted the Contessa/Acclaim to be a lower line in Beaver rather than just below the Marquis. Over the disagreements he left Beaver and started Safari with the Trek being very successful. When Perlot acquired Beaver, he later brought the Contessa back in the position above the Monterey and below the Patriot where he thought it belonged.
We will not be at Harrisburg (we will be at Perry and Wisconsin), but if you do have a seminar on it, someone PLEASE take notes as the BAC club may be the only repository of the history of Beaver. It would be neat (and yes I am volunteering to help) to put together a booklet (The History of Beaver RVs) for our club. Connie B.

Mandy, you said that "Even after the bankruptcy was settled the Beaver line was still manufactured in Bend, OR until Monaco took over and moved the facility to Coburg." I think you will agree that Monaco made Beavers in Bend for a couple of years before they moved production to Coburg.

As an aside, I did not know how much of a Beaver pioneer you were, on the rainy day in 2002 when I met you by chance in a restaurant in Hutchinson Kansas. I had flown there to the FMCA International Rally to peruse the latest motorhomes before buying what I intended would be a Dutchstar. It was to be my very first RV. You invited me to attend a BAC cocktail party the next day, which I did. Tough break for Newmar, I ended up buying a 2003 Monterey instead! Followed by many fun times with the super people in BAC.

Ain't that just how it goes?  Though not our first motor home, we also were determined our new coach would be either a Mountain Aire or a Dutch Star, but fell for a Monterey.  Silly us  .  Some of the blame has to go to Ron Estes, and Ty Kelly's no-pressure salesmanship and the hours he spent just "shooting the breeze" with us, not to mention the well-deserved and well documented reputation of Beaver Coach Sales.

I hope people will continue to add history to this thread. It would make an interesting Beaver Tales article, so I'm collecting what is said. I agree with Connie though, that it would be nice to have a full history in written form.

Might I suggest we form a committee to work on the project?  I would like to be a part of this. As I said we will not be in Oregon this year but we will be at Perry and Wisconsin. We could ask the remaining charter members (Canales and Schmidt) as well as past presidents to write down their thoughts and memories. This could be the basis for a good start on the History of the Beaver Brand. Of course, we would put out an appeal for anyone to add what they know and we could contact the sons of the original guys who started it all. Any pictures we could collect would be great as well as brochures, momentoes etc.
Peter and I have put together several books (Burdick High School Alumni Book and Venice High School Reunion Book) so we are familiar with doing the layout and publishing of such a book. We just need to get started.
                    Beaver hugs, Connie B.
PS. The book doesn't have to be a printed hard copy type book. We could easily put in on a CD as well as have a place for it on the website. SO there would not be any cost to the club to "print" this book. It would be another good recruiting tool on the website.
PSS. I would also like to have a complete copy of all the brochures of Beaver coaches. We have our collection of brochures back at our homebase but in the fall I can go through them and post what we have and what brochures we need to finish the set. My genealogy gene is getting excited here!!!!!!

The boys could be contacted readily enough at Host Manufacturing in Bend, but I'd think a comprehensive interview with their fathers would be the thing to do, and could form a substantial part of the "book".

Joel

We have found the folks at Beaver Coach Sales in Bend to be a fountain of knowledge on Beaver history and most coaches.  For example; we misspoke about one of our inside features, and they produced an "original" brochure for our 97 Marquis.  They were kind enough to make us a copy.  Therefore, they may be a very beneficial source for our history and most likely would welcome the ability to contribute.

Chuck and Donna

Update August 9, 2010:

Mike Humble asked me to volunteer to be the chairman of the history committee.  I think that’s the same as being appointed!  Since neither of us knew what the job description might be, I agreed.  I’m already looking for a volunteer to take over that might know what to do!

A Beaver brand seminar was held at the Harrisburg International Rally.  The moderators were Mandy Canales, Wally Schmidt, Ty Kelly and Ken Carpenter.  The seminar lasted an hour and was audio recorded by Lamar Keck and video recorded by Dick McQuillan.  

Lamar’s audio is in a very high quality 717 megabyte .wav file.  I’ve reduced it to a 51 megabyte .mp3 file that retains reasonable quality, but it is still too large to email or upload on my MyFi.

Dick is working on improving his video with a better sound track and sharper photos.  It will probably end up as a DVD that will have to be distributed at rallies or mailed.  More on that later.

Mandy’s presentation included a PowerPoint presentation that included about 20 wonderful photos.  If someone knows how to do it, it may be possible to synchronize the .wav file from Lamar’s audio to Mandy’s PowerPoint file.  

Tim Bentley (our hard working moderator) has agreed to figure out what can be reasonably made available for downloading or viewing on this forum or at http://www.beaveramb.org.  I’ve also asked him to consider making this thread a “sticky” so that it can be easily referred to.  Does anybody know how to break a one hour video file into a series of YouTube (or equivalent) video files?

I don’t know the best way to complete this job.  I don’t want to be the “History Chairman” forever!  I’m looking for ideas and suggestions.  

For now, would please post pictures and descriptions of “historical” Beavers you have or see in your travels to this thread.  Keep the file size small!

Quoted from Peter and Connie Bradish

.....I would like to be a part of this. .....Peter and I have put together several books ...PS. The book doesn't have to be a printed hard copy type book. We could easily put in on a CD as well as have a place for it on the website...

Would you be interested in transcribing a one hour audio recording to a .pdf as a start?

I was in the RV industry in the early to late 70's and called on Beaver as a supplier.  Frank Storch and Jim Hogue were the 2 owners I knew at the time. They started out building truck campers and then went to class C MH's. They filed chapter 11 in approx. 1975. With help from suppliers, they worked their way out of it. The company I managed was the single largest supplier, so I had a lot of contact with Beaver during that time. Frank Storch even "loaned" me a new Class C to take my family to Disney Land in 1976.  After working out of the chapter 11, they started prototyping Class A MH's. They did quite well for several years. I lost track of when the ownership changes occurred, because I left the the industry.

Frank Storch and Jim Hogue's sons are now building the "Host" truck campers in Bend.

Bill,
How is the project going for a history of Beaver? I am still interested in putting some kind of a "book" together of interviews with BAC members and the sons of the original owners, Ken Carpenter, etc., plus photos, history, etc.  Connie B.

PS Sorry I didn't see the question, would I be willing to transcribe the recording. Sure, just send me a copy. The address is in the membership directory.

Couldn't the audio file simply be placed on the BAC server with a link, the same way a PDF file is set up?  This way everyone could stream it or D/L to their PC's and play it with MediaPlayer, etc..  I'd enjoy hearing it!  No need to put it on CD or email.

Jim

Jim,
I (Connie Bradish) am presently working on just that. Stayed tuned for some developments shortly.  Connie B.