Birth of the toy hauler

[jesseannie]

A long long time ago over 40 years now, I owned snow mobiles, we would travel most weekends with our friends and kids and have a great time.
I also had an acquaintance who owned a RV dealership.
I went to him and floated the idea of buying a beater 24 ft travel trailer and gutting it then figure out how to open up the back to bring in a couple machines and live in the front part.
He told there was no way that would work and basically said it was a stupid idea. Huh!
Now everytime I go to a recreation area and see these toy haulers I realize that I was just underfunded and not brave enough to make something like that happen.
I know I probably wasn't the first to think about it, but there was nothing out there like that in mid 70's.

Jesseannie

[Y-Guy]

For anyone interested I came across this article about Mark Warmoth's passing that I though was very well written. Toy Hauler Pioneer Mark Warmoth Dies at 64

While he may not have been the first one, he defined the market and has left his mark on it ever since.

[dedmiston]

Mark definitely made the Toy Hauler category what it is today.

It's a shame that his vision was bigger than his organization. I don't know enough about their inner workings besides what I saw when I met them for repairs (and when I talked to Mark on the phone a few times), but I can't help but think that somebody at some level let him down in the quality department, and then when the market caved in, the whole company collapsed.

The Toy Hauler category really is driven by the trades, and when housing and commercial construction receded before the crash, he had a small window to start cutting back and hunkering down.

Hindsight...

[dudeonit]

Actually Mark worked for Alpha Leisure who already was building Toyhaulers prior to opening up WW.I purchased my Alpha Toyhouse in 1989 after taking a tour of Marks facility that he had just opened. He had some nice upgrades compared to the Toyhouse but I was towing with a 1/2 ton. The Toyhouse was much lighter. Over the years I would run into Mark and he would tease me about still having the Toyhouse but always invited me to hang out. Nice guy and he will be missed.

[4x4van]

Leave it to (whoever was behind) Weekend Warrior to create the category of RV's now known as Toy Haulers; they were the first.

I remember an old saying that went something like this:

-Did you think of it first? No? Oh well. Yes? Great!
-But did you actually do anything with that idea? No? Oh well. Yes? Great!

Lots of great ideas out there that just languish until someone takes the additional steps to bring it to fruition. It just takes courage and funding.

Edit: Now I see (in another post here) that it was Mark Warmoth who created WW. Sadly, he passed away in October of 2020. RIP, Mark; there are thousands who camp in a way that YOU created for them.

[Dirtclods]

jesseannie wrote:
A long long time ago over 40 years now, I owned snow mobiles, we would travel most weekends with our friends and kids and have a great time.
I also had an acquaintance who owned a RV dealership.
I went to him and floated the idea of buying a beater 24 ft travel trailer and gutting it then figure out how to open up the back to bring in a couple machines and live in the front part.
He told there was no way that would work and basically said it was a stupid idea. Huh!
Now everytime I go to a recreation area and see these toy haulers I realize that I was just underfunded and not brave enough to make something like that happen.
I know I probably wasn't the first to think about it, but there was nothing out there like that in mid 70's.

Jesseannie

I'm with you on that! Long ago while stuck on a hill on my motorcycle I thought I need a hand break for the foot brake .


https://thestuntfactory.com/mahc1macyles.html

Mod Edit: Moved reply outside of the quote