Beaver Solitaire - who made the chassis?

[Mike Shumack]

I am looking for info on the Beaver Solitaire coach. Googling it there is a lot of conflicting info - some say the Solitaire ran from 1999 to 2002 others say 2000-2003.

I found the original SMC/Beaver announcement. It was dated Aug 1999 (say the coach made its debut at an RV show in "July 1999" (so I assume the first model year released was 2000).

Some said the chassis was by MCI (bus manufacture) but there is no mention of the chassis manufacturer in the Solitaire brochure - it does say it has a "Custom Beaver Tag Axle". One Youtube sale-video said it had a Roadmaster chassis.

I think it was using the same Magnum chassis as the Marquis (the D-Series "Blue Diamond") - but they why the mention of a Custom Beaver Tag Axle?

Maybe "custom tag axle" because the Solitaire was 45 feet - (longer than the Marquis of 40 and 42ft). Also in the specs under Tag Axle is says "Westport Retractor 14,600 lbs" (that's much heavier than the 10,000 tags on the regular Beavers - maybe that is the custom part).

So what chassis was used - and what years was it produced?

[Gerald Farris]

Mike,
The Solitaire was produced for 3 model years from 2000 to 2002. It was on a Magnum chassis, built in Harrisburg Oregon that was similar to the Marquis chassis but it was 45 feet long and had about an 18 inch raised steel lattice work above the main frame rails from just behind the driver's area to the rear of the coach that provided the extra large basements and resulted in the 13. 5 foot height of the coach. There were 17 Solitaires built over the 3 years of production, so they are fairly scarce. I own coach #16, and if you would like to see it, just contact me at a rally sometime.

Gerald 

[Mike Shumack]

Thanks for the info Gerald.
You probably know I'm putting together a Beaver chassis history document - and Steve suggested I add the Solitaire to the list. Hopefully, the document will be of use/interest to BAC when complete (if ever completed).

[Joe Moreschi]

Gerald I also have a Solitaire and it's the Lalique model and am wondering how to determine the number of mine.Would you know how I can tell I asked at BCS and was told they don't know.

[Gerald Farris]

Joe,
Ty Kelly (the owner of BCS) has all of the build sheets on Solitaire production. That is how I found out the number my coach was in the production sequence. Back when Solitaires were in production, Ty was the leading salesman for Solitaires, so he is very interested in the line. If you meet him at a rally sometime, you can ask him the information on your coach and he will probably look it up for you, but it is too involved a task to expect someone at BCS to do with a phone call. In fact most of the people that answer calls probably do not know Ty has the build sheets.

Gerald

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Gerald,
I think the VIN# may have it. If the Solitaire had a unique chassis designation, the last 6 digits of the VIN are a sequential serial number. May want to check it based on your coach.
Steve

[Joe Moreschi]

Gerald and Steve thanks for the reply I will try Ty as I know the rest at BCS have no idea.

[Gerald Farris]

Steve,
I have tried to decode the serial number to no avail. The sequence number (last five digits) on my coach is 79049 and even though it has a Monaco serial number plate (it came off the assembly line about a month after Monaco purchased Beaver), it has a SMC serial number. The next time I am at BCS, I will get Ty to explain the serial number sequence. 

Gerald