Chinook RV

Does anyone have a tally of how many Chinooks were built per year? That would be pretty fun to see.

I've wondered the same. There must be some way to search all DMVs for Chinook registrations, but I don't know of any. I've even thought about writing the original owners or sales reps, hoping to get some insight. In the meantime, I've done a little research.

RVIA stats show that RV sales (of all types) have ranged from about 200,000 to 380,000 a year during the 1990-2005 period. About 5% of those RV sales were Class C, or about 10,000-20,000 a year.

This gives us a firm starting point for making some guesstimates.

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Considering Chinook prices, and the fact that it took twice as long to build each one as other Class Cs, it'd be surprising if Chinooks even made up 5% (500 - 1,000) of Class C sales per year. Probably more like 1% (100 - 200).

(The much more affordable 1970s Toyota Chinooks sold about 2,000 a year.)

Thoughts? The lower numbers sound too low for some years, e.g. considering how many 1998-2001 Chinooks I see for sale.

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Also, if we could find Trail Wagons revenue per year, perhaps from a tax database, that would allow us to far better estimate sales.

Those are some interesting thoughts, Kev. Naturally I was thinking that someone, somewhere already had a nicely organize tally. Wishful thinking, I suppose.

From what I see, a lot of the rigs for sale seem to be 2001-2006 or so, with an occasional 70’s example. However, I’ve only been paying attention for a few months.

Chinooks took twice as much time as other class Cs? Whoa. Why is that?

Here is an idea. The Vehicle data card in the closet wall of my Concourse has a chassis number, along with the date of completion. If these numbers are sequential, we could get an idea of the production numbers if some of us post our models, numbers and dates. I have a 2001 Concourse, with the chassis number 3353, and the date of completion is 7/00. We could start a registry.

I took a picture of my card right after I bought the Chinook, so I have ready access on my computer to appliance model numbers etc. when part shopping.

Clay

Am voting for 2000 Concourse to be a big production year, maybe I'm more aware because that's what I have, but seems fairly frequent among the groups contributors. My chassis number is 7701, completed 2/00, which isn't in sequence with caconcourse's number 3353 completed 7/00.

On my '02 Concourse:

Chassis Number- 2029
Completed- 5/01

Is this strange?
My '01 Concourse Vehicle Data Card reads:

Chassis number: S083 (that's the letter "S"... not a number)

Date of Completion: 9/00

My closet doesn't have a card with a build date.

Anywhere else I can look?

Our 2004 Premier

Chassis number 6583
Completion date 01/04

Scott wrote:Chinooks took twice as much time as other class Cs? Whoa. Why is that?

That was part of their claim to quality fame... that Trail Wagons spent more time on finishing the body than anyone else.

(Many of the lower priced competing brands are pretty well known for having build problems, from missing parts, to leaks, to drawers that fall off, to wiring mistakes.)