The members of Yorkshire Region were welcomed by Dave Thomas MD to Auto-Trail in Grimsby, for an insight into Motorhome manufacturing.
Bill Bowman was in business building and repairing caravans noticing people were becoming aware of motorhomes in America he decided to start building motorhomes for the UK market, so in 1982 Auto-Trail was born, using the Peugeot 504 as the first motorhomes for the UK, these were small compared to the American vehicles, looking to improve on the 504 the ford transit and Talbots among others were used, to look like the large American vehicles, as the years rolled by different vehicles were converted to motorhomes, up to the present day, sill using Ford Transits for the Tribute range and now the Fiat Ducato, these are delivered from Italy as a chassis cab with Alko chassis modifications.
After an initial introduction to the company, members were taken for the factory tour starting at the beginning of the production line to see the first stages of the building of a motorhome. A chassis cab with the back already cut out from the manufacturer, the water containers, wiring loom and lower pluming and the floor section are the first to be fitted, before the bodies are assembled on moveable jigs with the interior. The body is then lifted onto the chassis, the outer body covering is fitted which gives the vehicle its distinctive Motorhome look as well as sealing the vehicle from the outside elements. Later, the carpets, lighting, seats, beds, cookers etc. are fitted before the end of line inspection.
After the construction area tour, members were taken to a well-equipped body and paint shop where any necessary repairs and paintwork is dealt with, along with crash repairs and painting for customers who are unfortunate to have a mishap and insurance claims damage is carried out.
This was a well worth tour to see the transition of the early motorhomes to the wonderful Auto-Trail vehicles we have today.
Keith Taylor.