Egg History- Boler descendants - Fiberglass RV
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Old 08-26-2006, 07:05 PM   #1
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Trailer: 1972 Boler American and 1979 Trillium 4500
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I've been trying to figure out some of the history of our eggs, but have found quite a few holes from 72-82.

Consensus seems that there were many offshoots off the original Boler in the early 70's. An article posted on Bolerama from the Manitoba Business Journal in Jan 1972 states that the American Manufacturing rights were sold to Elenor International in 1971. Supposedly out of 3 plants. I don't know when they ended production but could only find a reference to Elenor International in the KS courts in 1973.

A thread in the CasitaClub.com archives indicates that the Casita was 1st produced in the Scamp Factory. Other threads I've seen indicate that the Scamp was originally called the Acorn due to legal issues over the name.

So if you know about some of the history, please post it with links in the table below. It would be interesting to learn the origins of all the offshoots of the Boler. There are too many similarities between the Scamp, Boler, Acorn, Love Bug, Perris Pacer, Trek, Eco and others for then not to be historically related in one way or another. Plus there has to be some interesting stories of someone leaving one firm to become the competition. Sources and links would be appreciated.

Roy


1968 - 1st Boler produced in Winnipeg, MB by Ray Olecko
1971 - American rights sold to Elenor International of Wichita, KS
1972 - Boler American produced (1972- ??) (3 plants)
1980-1990 - Perris Pacer produced in San Jacito, CA
1981 - 1st Casita produced in Backus, MN
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Old 08-27-2006, 08:43 AM   #2
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Hi Roy!
Have you checked the other boler site. they have three articles re boler history. You can find them at
http://www.geocities.com/bolerama/
This history ends with production in the west. Later they were made in Earlton Ont and finally, in the 80's at Midhurst near Barrie, where production ended about 1987. Ours is a 1984 model made by Advanced fiberglass at the Midhurst factory. I believe that it was here that the "SQUARE" bolers were made. We were told by some one who owned an early model that ours isn't a true boler because it wasn't made by Neonex.
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Old 08-27-2006, 09:44 PM   #3
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Quote:
Hi Roy!
Have you checked the other boler site. they have three articles re boler history. You can find them at
http://www.geocities.com/bolerama/
This history ends with production in the west. Later they were made in Earlton Ont and finally, in the 80's at Midhurst near Barrie, where production ended about 1987. Ours is a 1984 model made by Advanced fiberglass at the Midhurst factory. I believe that it was here that the "SQUARE" bolers were made. We were told by some one who owned an early model that ours isn't a true boler because it wasn't made by Neonex.
James, does that mean you have one of the 50 - 1650's ever made? There is a striking resemblance in body curves in the 1980 Boler 1650 and the Amerigo in the Albums here. The link of the picture from the 1650 is from an Earlton Brochure.

The brochures provide loads of info, they show differences and they list the manufacturer and the year etc. Plus a bit of history. Well worth combing through the archives.
I don't know how they can say that Neonex is the "true Boler" because Neonex was not 1st.
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Old 08-28-2006, 08:44 AM   #4
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No. Ours is a 13 ft. There was a 1650 at the Emily campout the last couple of years. But if everyone chips in a bit of info you should be able to collect some usefull subject material. Good luck.
Jim
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Old 08-28-2006, 12:52 PM   #5
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Interestingly, if the few owners who have sold theirs in the past couple of years are correct about the year model, the Cloud 9 appears to have been produced as early as 1965 in St. Cloud MN, pre-dating the first Bolers by about three years. Burro surfaced in Plymouth MN some time in the mid '70s and appears to use molds very similar to the Cloud 9 (nearly identical...) St. Cloud is less than an hour away from Plymouth, so it begs the question whether or not the original Cloud 9 molds were used to produce the first Burros in Plymouth.

The Acorn was produced in 1979 for one model year after Scamp was sued over the use of the name by another RV manufacturer. They won, and resumed production as Scamp by 1980. Scamp actually went into production (I believe) In late 1976.

Love Bug was produced from the early '70s first in an old factory in Tripoli IA, and then after that factory burned down, they were built in an old out-building on the owner's farm in rural Tripoli.

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Old 08-28-2006, 01:49 PM   #6
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James: yours not a "real Boler"? I would hate to see the friendly world of Boler owners go the way of some enthusiast groups, obsessed by "correctness". If it was made by anyone with legal entitlement to use of the trade name "Boler", it's a "real" Boler in my book. If it's just a similar trailer, it's still an egg and worthy of our attention.
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Old 08-28-2006, 02:03 PM   #7
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I can't put start or end dates on anything, but I can add one definite Boler plant and some less-authoritative information; I've pasted them into Roy's list:
  • 1968 - 1st Boler produced in Winnipeg, MB by Ray Olecko
  • 1971 - American rights sold to Elenor International of Wichita, KS
  • 1972 - Boler American produced (1972- ??) (3 plants)
  • 1974 - "Boler Manufacturing" was building "Honey Bolers" in Winnipeg, Manitoba (see Benny's post)
  • ???? - I have heard that Bolers were built in Grand Prairie, Alberta.
  • 1978 - Bolers were built in Calgary, Alberta; Peter Epel of FiberglassRV owned one (a 1978 17', model 1700), and his web site shows the trailer in detail, complete with the sticker showing the manufacturer's name as "Neonex Shelter Ltd., Boler Division"
  • 1979 - Vanguard Trailers built my Boler (a B1700) in Winfield, British Columbia in 1979. The badge on the trailer says "Boler by Neonex", indicating that Neonex owned the Boler brand at the time.
  • 1980-1990 - Perris Pacer produced in San Jacito, CA
  • 1981 - 1st Casita produced in Backus, MN
If we continue to build this list, keeping only the earliest and latest dates for each each model at each plant, we can get to the history of the Boler plants.
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Old 08-28-2006, 03:18 PM   #8
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Has anyone identified which plant or model years the 17' Bolers had the fiberglass cabinetry and wich plant or years used the wood cabinets?
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Old 08-28-2006, 04:17 PM   #9
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Just to add a bit of confussion here's a quote from the Scamp web page.

Scamp is a family owned business from central Minnesota which has been making compact travel trailers since 1971.
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Old 08-28-2006, 05:08 PM   #10
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Has anyone identified which plant or model years the 17' Bolers had the fiberglass cabinetry and wich plant or years used the wood cabinets?
We had a discussion of this, which I think was lost in last fall's hacking. The only example of a fiberglass interior which I have seen (in photos, only) is Peter Epel's Calgary-built unit (the on listed under 1978 in my post from earlier today); that trailer also has a full fiberglass floor and rubber torsion suspension, unlike my B1700 (and most others, apparently).
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Old 08-28-2006, 11:28 PM   #11
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Quote:
I've been trying to figure out some of the history of our eggs, but have found quite a few holes from 72-82.

Consensus seems that there were many offshoots off the original Boler in the early 70's. An article posted on Bolerama from the Manitoba Business Journal in Jan 1972 states that the American Manufacturing rights were sold to Elenor International in 1971. Supposedly out of 3 plants. I don't know when they ended production but could only find a reference to Elenor International in the KS courts in 1973.

A thread in the CasitaClub.com archives indicates that the Casita was 1st produced in the Scamp Factory. Other threads I've seen indicate that the Scamp was originally called the Acorn due to legal issues over the name.

So if you know about some of the history, please post it with links in the table below. It would be interesting to learn the origins of all the offshoots of the Boler. There are too many similarities between the Scamp, Boler, Acorn, Love Bug, Perris Pacer, Trek, Eco and others for then not to be historically related in one way or another. Plus there has to be some interesting stories of someone leaving one firm to become the competition. Sources and links would be appreciated.

Roy
1968 - 1st Boler produced in Winnipeg, MB by Ray Olecko
1971 - American rights sold to Elenor International of Wichita, KS
1972 - Boler American produced (1972- ??) (3 plants)
1980-1990 - Perris Pacer produced in San Jacito, CA
1981 - 1st Casita produced in Backus, MN
Wow! I am impress with all the history....Does anyone know anything about the Hunter / Compact / Compact Jr?
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Old 08-29-2006, 06:08 AM   #12
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Linda,
Rather than hijack the Boler clone thread, I started a new one about Hunter.
Tom Trostel
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Old 08-30-2006, 01:11 PM   #13
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Raymond Brodeur, a member on FGRV from Montreal has a very beautiful 1977 model with the fiberglass cabinets. There is a link to his website under his member profile.
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Old 08-30-2006, 03:09 PM   #14
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the Cloud 9 appears to have been produced as early as 1965 in St. Cloud MN, pre-dating the first Bolers by about three years.
Roger: Would this make the Cloud and its lineal descendents - Burro and U-Haul - the original molded FGRV egg design? Or is there an older FGRV egg? BTW, a very clean 1965 Cloud 9 was offered on eBay earlier in August, but the reserve price wasn't met. Check it out: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Vintage-13-...0QQcmdZViewItem
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Old 08-30-2006, 05:12 PM   #15
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HI ROY IN REFERENCE TO POST #9 SCAMPS BUILDING EGGS SINCE 1971 IWAS TALKING TO SCAMP THIS MORNING ABOUT BUYING A NEW 13 FOOTER AND I BROUGHT UP THE QUESTION OF THE SCAMPS MORE THAN CLOSE RESEMBLENCE TO THE BOLER AND WAS TOLD SCAMP STARTED OFF IN THERE EARLY DAYS MANUFACTURING PARTS FOR BOLER .HOPE THIS ADDS A LITTLE MORE TO THE SAGA DAVE
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Old 08-30-2006, 06:58 PM   #16
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Raymond's website does indeed show the fiberglass interior of what appears to be a B1700RGH (Rear Gaucho). Like mine, except with the fiberglass cabinetry, different furnace location... and nicer than mine!

Now, if we knew where this 1977 was built (location and company name), it might extend the Boler history...
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Old 08-30-2006, 10:51 PM   #17
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My Boler is a 1978 ('77) 17-foot Built With Pride by Neonex (Calgary).

According to the boler website, the newer 17-foot model strayed from the lightness of fibreglass in the interior (lots of press board), thus annoying the original designer.

I may be wrong, but I think Jimmy Pattison bought out Boler, he also owned stick-built manufacturers. Neonex was a Pattison company.

WARNING: POLITICAL CONTENT: It may be that Pattison bought Boler with the intention to get rid of them. Anyway, that is how it turned out in the end.
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Old 09-02-2006, 03:44 PM   #18
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Trailer: Boler (B1700RGH) 1979
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Here's some early detail:
In the 1973 brochure in the Document Center (which I think came from the 1973 brochure on Ken's BolerRV site), the manufacturer is listed as
Glass-Fab Industries Ltd.
Peace River, Alberta
(403)624-1213

At the time, it appears that - other than an optional flush toilet - there was only one model, and thus no need yet for model names or numbers.

Similarly, the 1975 brochure (also via Ken's site) is from Earlton:
Earlton Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Box 250
Earlton, Ontario
(705)563-2656

So here's an update to the list...
  • 1968 - 1st Boler produced in Winnipeg, MB by Ray Olecko
  • 1971 - American rights sold to Elenor International of Wichita, KS
  • 1972 - Boler American produced (1972- ??) (3 plants)
  • 1973 - Bolers (original 13' model only) are in production by Glass-Fab Industries Ltd. in Peace River, Alberta. See the 1973 brochure.
  • 1974 - "Boler Manufacturing" was building "Honey Bolers" in Winnipeg, Manitoba (see Benny's post)
  • 1975 - Earlton Manufacturing was building Bolers (13' only) in Earlton, Ontario. See 1975 brochure.
  • 1978 - Bolers were built in Calgary, Alberta; Peter Epel of FiberglassRV owned one (a 1978 17', model 1700), and his web site shows the trailer in detail, complete with the sticker showing the manufacturer's name as "Neonex Shelter Ltd., Boler Division", and CharlynnT's 17' is also from Calgary, "Built with Pride by Neonex"
  • 1979 - Vanguard Trailers built my Boler (a B1700) in Winfield, British Columbia in 1979. The badge on the trailer says "Boler by Neonex", indicating that Neonex owned the Boler brand at the time.
  • 1980-1990 - Perris Pacer produced in San Jacito, CA
  • 1981 - 1st Casita produced in Backus, MN
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Old 09-03-2006, 06:20 AM   #19
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Roger: Would this make the Cloud and its lineal descendents - Burro and U-Haul - the original molded FGRV egg design? Or is there an older FGRV egg?

Jack, there are certainly fiberglass trailers that pre-date the Cloud 9, but the Cloud 9 is the oldest I've seen so far with the classic egg shape. They were produced in your neck of the woods... perhaps you could make some calls and run that lineage down and confirm the roots of the Cloud 9/Burro for us!

Roger
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Old 09-03-2006, 06:27 AM   #20
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Roger: The Cloud 9/Burro lineage is clear from these photos. Here's the Burro from FGRV's albums:

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