The Thirteenth UltraVan

The thirteenth UltraVan was built in late 1964 for William & Grace Lane of Pico Rivera CA. Assigned serial #202, this coach is both transitional and utterly unique.

Previous coaches had a diagonal side frame that followed the windshield shape and established the rear edge of the front corner panel. With #202 Peterson shortened the forward body, truncated the diagonal frame, and developed a new fiberglass corner panel that wrapped back to the vertical frame at the front of the wheel well. This resulted in the first 22 foot long coach, with its distinctive narrow slider window shape.

#202 was also the first to use ethafoam bumpers cemented directly to the body, with the now-standard Bargman "wedding cake" taillights installed above the rear bumper and small backup lights installed below. Like #201, the taillights were mounted lower than what would eventually become standard with coaches after #206. This was the last coach with the front turn signals mounted inside the Ford Econoline headlight bezels.

Removable holding tanks were installed beneath the floor, made of riveted aluminum and lined with sealant to prevent leaks. The 1964 "camber compensator" rear suspension was used, with the new 110 hp engine and 13" ornamental dually wheels. Weighing in at 2,875 lbs (with 5 gallons of gas), #202 was also an exceptionally light weight coach and acceleration with the stroked-out engine was brisk.

A unique new configuration was developed at the Lanes' request, with the galley installed directly behind the passenger seat and the entry door moved rearward. A slightly taller refrigerator was used, with the usual drawer above it reduced to a sliding counter extension.

The galley was arranged with the stove on the left (next to the passenger seat) and the refrigerator on the right (next to the entry door). Note that the stove had also been installed to the left in #101, #200, #103, #63104, and #201, but was on the right in #104, #163102 and #264105.

The usual molded fiberglass canopy above the front seats was omitted, but upper cabinets were built into both sides of the cockpit. The front wheel well on the driver side received an extension to support the bench seat, but the passenger side did not. A wall furnace was installed on the front bathroom wall next to the entry door.

William and Grace became charter members of the UVMCC in 1967, having moved to Baldwin Park. They registered their coach with the Club as #13, moved to Pacoima in 1970, and let their membership expire after 1971. The sealant lining the inside of the fuel tank started crumbling and clogging the carburetors, and William wasn't able to resolve the issue.

He parked the coach with about 37,500 miles on the odometer, then in February 1987 Jim Craig bypassed the fuel tank with a 5 gallon gas can and drove it home to San Diego with no further problems. Jim and Marlene put another 12,500 miles on the coach in under 2 years, and after moving to Joshua Tree in 1988 they offered the coach for sale at $6,995, later reduced to $5,495.

Donald Gilbert of Midland TX bought the coach in December 1988, offering it for sale again at $5,250 in 1990, although by mid-1991 the asking price had been reduced to $3,500. Richard K. Morrison of La Luz NM owned the coach next, and although he let his Club membership expire in 1996, the coach remained in his family until Ken Morrison of Fort Collins CO sold it in 2011.

By this time the driver side seat pedestal extension appears to have been removed, the unique dual bullet-style front turn signals replaced, and a steel tube front bumper and towbar arrangement installed. The coach was damaged during the delivery to the San Antonio TX buyer, and its current condition, location, and owner is unknown.

The Twelfth UltraVan

On that day, 3 weeks after my birth, when Ray Page laid off the Motor Coach Division employees, told them to pick up their final paychecks at Prescolite headquarters in San Leandro, and locked up the old wooden warehouse at 366 8th Avenue for the last time, there was one partially constructed coach left derelict on the shop floor.

But Dave Peterson retained the rights to his design, and his tooling, and his lease; and this remnant of the first failed attempt at production would soon become a springboard for Dave's new vision. He wasted little time rebooting his dream, placing a new advertisement in the June 1964 issue of Family Motor Coaching magazine, and restarting production.

The twelfth UltraVan was the last 24 foot long coach built in Oakland. In most ways it was a throwback to the coaches that preceded Prescolite's innovations, with built-up front body corners, split Chevy Pickup bumpers, Ford Econoline headlights, 13 inch ornamental dually wheels, and a 1963 Corvair drivetrain with 102 horsepower engine.

The front slider window profile was returned to the original position below the beltline, but the sheet metal camouflaging the the upper corners of the bedroom windows was gone for good. The kitchen window was lowered back down to the beltline as well, although this would change once again a few years later.

Two major innovations were introduced that would set the standard for the next seven years. A new taillight configuration was developed with large round fixtures faired vertically into the rear corners, using Trail-Lite/Bargman no. 98 "wedding cake" lenses. And a new serial numbering scheme was introduced, starting with #201.

UltraVan #201 passed through its first three owners rather quickly. It was originally sold in 1964 to Courtney Q. Nelson of Chattanooga TN. He sold to Lloyd L. Hamilton of Miami Springs FL, who bought #456 new in February 1969 and subsequently listed #201 in the 4/21/69 Miami Herald at $5,900. James I. Minix of Homestead FL was the third owner, selling to Albert Austin of Brookville FL for $2,500.

Albert & his wife Elinor owned the coach for at least twenty years, 1973-1993 - though it wasn't until 1977 that they joined the UVMCC. Eventually Albert passed away and Elinor listed the coach in the 9/19/92 Tampa Bay Times for $3,000. Bob & Rachelle Ennis of Soddy-Daisy TN became the fifth owners in 1994, selling to the current owners Jim & Ann Guider of Chattanooga TN in 1996.

Jim & Ann have since moved to Rossville GA, replaced the tired 102 hp engine with a refreshed 110 hp engine, and gradually stripped the faded and chalky paint from the coach. They often use the coach in parades and as a support vehicle for their local Corvair club. 

Note: Top photo from 1967 courtesy of John and Kathy Acosta.

A small collection of photos of #201 can be seen here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8769347@N03/albums/72157716509475133

The Eleventh UltraVan

The Travalon era ended with a flourish. The Prescolite Motor Coach Division had endured through the assassination of the American President in November, but as 1963 faded in the rearview mirror, hubris was about to bite them in the ass.

The final Travalon, serial #264105, was both a clear extension of the design language that had evolved throughout 1963, and a radical new direction.

The new Custom Trim interior incorporated the Green Machine's improved bath and more formal dash panel, but instead of the sofa under the picture window it featured #63104's long "bookcase" cabinet - with an interesting two-section folding table.

Outside, the cockpit window profile and raised kitchen window from #163102 & #163103 made a comeback. And the beltline accent trim and simple two-tone paint scheme from the latter coach did as well, this time with cast Travalon emblems front and rear.

The earlier molded front corner panel concept was taken a large step further, with what appears to be a fully-molded one-piece front lower body. The new section extended all the way back to the wheel wells, with a jutting underbite profile that changed the whole look of the coach. Separate round trim rings for the headlights and turn signals were used, and a new fabricated aluminum bumper was faired into the body.

The molded section above the windshield was reshaped (although the interior molded canopy over the front seats didn't change), and a squared-off rear end with a prominent beltline ridge, new round taillights and reverse lights, and the same bumper as in front finished out the new look. For the first time, the upper rear corners of the bedroom windows were not camouflaged by rounded sheet metal corners.

Though the wheelbase appears to be unchanged from the 24 footers, the modified body sections result in a 25 1/2 foot long coach. A louvered panel is visible in the right rear corner, probably to provide cooling air for the 102 HP Corvair engine.

Plans were made, deluxe brochures were printed, press releases were issued, and the new squarebody Travalon was unveiled at the 20th annual San Francisco National Sports and Boat Show, January 31 thru February 9, 1964 (at the Cow Palace). Presumably the brochures were distributed at the show, but the only known surviving copy is the one saved (and scanned) by supervisor Ray Page.

In the days following the Show, the atmosphere around the shop changed. Page remembers "some of the tooling was being destroyed and I believe Dave was having "words" with Jones and Schaffer." Robert Wollard recalls hearing scuttlebutt that "Dave's design was a mess and that they had essentially reinvented the whole thing so that soon they would be able to ease him out of the picture and it would be theirs."

If the new body shape was indeed an attempt to stop paying Peterson's licensing fees, they hadn't counted on the fact that Dave was simply never the type of man to accept such a threat without pushing back. In any case, the Prescolite Motor Coach Division ceased operation on February 27 1964, and the employees were all dismissed.

12 months later (March 1965), the last Travalon was advertised for sale at $9,000 by James Pearson in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, and then again in May in the Sacramento Bee. Another 12 months passed and the coach (now with 4,000 miles) was listed for sale again by an unnamed individual in the San Francisco Examiner. (May 1966).

The squarebody Travalon eventually ended up in the hands of a wheelchair-bound Korean war Army veteran and Justice of the Peace in Shelby Montana named James Clinton Farrar. Jamie consulted with Peterson in November 1975, wanting to convert the coach to the side-engine configuration developed for the 600 series coaches in 1971. An odd fire 90 degree Buick V6 engine was installed, along with new windshields and a fresh paint job.

Farrar listed the coach for sale in the 1991 Whales on Wheels newsletter but didn't find a buyer. Walt Davison #366 visited on one of his cross country rambles and took the attached color photos. He went back a few years later and found that Farrar had passed away in 1994. He tried to find out what happened to the coach, but was told that the engine had been removed and the remainder hauled away to the landfill.

The 1964 Travalon by Prescolite brochure can be seen here:

https://www.corvair.org/chapters/ultravan/Travalon%20Brochure.pdf

The Tenth UltraVan

The penultimate Travalon was likely the coach noted by Peterson in the Historical Record as "Seattle Lighting Display". This would make it the first UltraVan to be licensed outside of California.

Though very little is directly known about this coach, since both it and the Green Machine (serial #163102) were identified in some UVMCC records as #163 and in others as #102/103, we can infer that the tenth UltraVan was built in 1963 as serial #163103.

Travalon #163103 was a virtual twin to the Green Machine (24 feet long, stepvan windshields, Chevy pickup bumpers, Econoline headlights, Prescolite taillight pods, 13" ornamental dually wheels, raised front slider windows, molded front corners), though with a more sedate color scheme and the addition of a rear tow hitch, a roof-mounted split air-conditioner, and a small porch light next to the door.

#163103 also featured a unique beltline accent trim and a square jalousie window in the entry door. This was the first UltraVan with a window in the door, a feature that wouldn't be seen again until 1966.

A Travalon identification plate was installed next to the entry door and "ULTRAVAN - OAKLAND, CALIF" badges were installed on the front and rear. No photos of the interior survive, but the Custom Trim sticker implies an interior similar to #163102. 

This is the coach that appears with Jerry Light's UltraVan #6 in the July 1964 photo taken at Pumpkin Center SD; we don't know who the owners were at that time. The coach was registered with the UVMCC from 1985 to 1992 by Edwin & Pauline Wooldridge. The Wooldridges lived full-time in the coach in Seattle WA in 1977, but in 1981 they moved to a property alongside I-5 in Ridgefield WA.

Forrest Gist (#413) visited them there in 1997 and took the last surviving photos of the coach. Though the paint was badly faded by then, the coach was still operational. Unfortunately, in 2001 a grass fire started by teenagers smoking next to the I-5 overpass completely destroyed the coach.

A collection of photos of #163103 can be seen here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/8769347@N03/albums/72157657883871283