History of the Beaver Brand?

[Bill Sprague]

I noticed that this is a "sticky" or "pinned" and has not been updated at all. 

At the 30th reunion rally in Harrisburg, Mandy Canales gave a talk about the brand history.  I recorded it and it is watchable on line.  I apologize for the quality.  The lighting was not great nor were the acoustics in the room conducive to great color, but the story is well told.

As of April, 2015 about 300 have watched it, or at least started to watch it.

https://vimeo.com/75646929

There is also a large collection of historic information provided by Connie and Peter Bradish here:  https://sites.google.com/site/beavermotorhomehistory/home

[Peter and Connie Bradish]

The Wikipedia page was not created by me, Connie Bradish. One of the children of a BAC member created the page. Don't remember the names.
My website is called Beaver Motorhome History. I am posting as much information as I can find.
Mat Perlot's obit states that he sold the company in 2001 to Monaco. We were actually at the factory in Bend scanning brochures when the Monaco people came in and took over. Looking back in my list of campsites we were at the factory between April 25 and April 28, 2000. I am unsure of the exact date of acquisition by Monaco.
Solitaire was the brain child of Mat Perlot (owner & founder of Safari Motorcoaches Inc.). Solitaries were made in 2000 and 2001 models by SMC. Remember that models actually start coming out the year before their model year. Example while our Beaver is a 1993 model it was made in June of 1992.
Connie B.

[Bill Sprague]

It is obvious I forget things.  I saw this thread and read the first page.  Connie posted and I realized that not only is it up to three pages, but I posted the same update for the video link last December!   Didn't intentionally mean to be redundant.

[Robert Sedlacek]

August 91 the Beaver Company had a rally celebrating 25 years at Mt Bachelor. They had several early models on display, starting with a pickup topper, slide in camper, trailer, class C and finally the gas and diesel Class A. I believe the first diesel was built on a Gillig chassis around 82 or 83 with a 8.2 Detroit engine. 1985 was the first Marquis, a wide body and it was then that the 3208 cat became an option.

[Dick and Izzy Ellis]

I have found this info very interesting. Izzy and me are restoring a 1991 Contessa 38' with a 3208. We are now just about finished the inside and will start on the outside next year. We have all the service manuals as well as the factory brouchers. If any of this is of interest to anyone let me know. We where lucky to find this coach 3 years ago with 71,000 miles on it, it now has 95,000. There was very little changes to the inside, the tv was moved back to the bar and a electric fireplace put where the tv was. I will be following all history related articles as I have become posesed with restoring this to as original as possible.
Thanks to all of you for your input on the history.

[Tommy Gibson]

I understand Monaco took over Beaver in early 2000's. Was my 2007 Beaver Contessa built in the Beaver Facility in Bend or was it built in another plant and where?
 

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Tommy,
If it's got an OR plate near the entry door it was probably built in Coberg, OR.
Steve

[Thomas James]

Hey guys. Brand new here. Brand new to BAC, RVing, and this Forum. Any Forum, actually. Anyway, I have a 1994 Beaver Patriot Yorktown, 40' Diesel. I've been looking at all the history stuff and trying to figure out exactly when my coach was made. If you look at the NADA chart, the Yorktown didn't come out t'ill 1995. And there are two different brochures on the Patriot. One says Beaver motorcoach up top. And one has Beaver Motorcoach an SVC company....or something like that. Maybe Safari started on them too and they still had some original ones on the line being built. IDK. But if you look at the brochures, mine is the one with the black bra on the front(still looking for that). So, I guess it's a 94, And maybe one of the last ones built by Beaver before it got taken over?? Thoughts....

[Joel Ashley]

Hi Thomas-
  The date of manufacture should be on one or more labels low on the wall beside and behind the driver's seat.  SVC you mean to be "SMC", for Safari Motor Coach, or Safari Motorcoach Corporation. That should be on the label also.

Joel

[Thomas James]

Thanks Joel. Really looking forward to getting out and traveling around in this thing. I also heard that Beaver was going to start up production again sometime in 2018. I wonder if anyone knows any more about that. I would really like to be there if/when they crank them out. Again, thanks for the good info.

[Gerald Farris]

Thomas,
I believe that SMC purchased Beaver during the 1994 production run. So your coach could be built by the original owners or SMC depending on build date. However, I believe that most 1994 Patriots were SMC coaches that were built on a Spartan chassis to the original Patriot designs that started with the 1993 Patriot. 

Gerald 

[Bob Stone]

Is this an anomaly? A true but rare Beaver?  A 1992 Beaver on a Prevost chassis. I came across this on RVT.com for sale at $99,000

[Thomas James]

Gerald, that's what I've kinda been thinking. Just looking at the brochures, there appears to be two different ones in 1994. They both have the Beaver name and logo in the upper right corner, but one of them has Safari's initials on it. The other does not. That's why I was thinking that they came in during the middle of a production run and some were the original Beavers and some were by Safari. Or something like that, anyway.

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Re Prevost Beavers;   http://beaveramb.org/forum/index.php/topic,6591.msg47762.html#msg47762

[Thomas James]

OK, so I was just going over all my paperwork/manuals that came with my coach. One thing I found was a Beaver Warranty Registration card. And on that card it says to complete it and they will send you two Beaver Coaches Jackets and a one year BAC membership. DANG IT! Wish I'd seen this a few days ago. Maybe I can still try and get the jackets. Lol. I also now know the Mfg date. It was Sept 1993. But a 1994 Model Year. So, it IS an original Beaver. Not made by SMC. Not that it really matters. But at least now I know. I swear, this guy(previous owner)kept Everything. You aughta See the plastic bag of receipts!