Jayco

American RV manufacturer

Jayco Inc.Company type| Subsidiary

|

Industry| recreation vehicles
Founded| 1968
Founders| Lloyd and Bertha Bontrager
Headquarters|

Middlebury, Indiana

USA

Owner| Thor Industries

Number of employees

| 3,200
Website| www.jayco.com
collapsible trailer patented by
Lloyd Jay Bontrager 1967 Jayco collapsible trailer 2004 model

Jayco RV is an American manufacturer of recreational vehicles. The company is based in Middlebury, Indiana, and about three-quarters of its 3,200-person workforce is from the Amish and Mennonite communities of Indiana.[1]

## History

[edit]

The company was founded in 1968 by Lloyd and Bertha Bontrager.[2] Bontrager developed a trailer fold-down system in 1967 and started the business of making travel trailers from two chicken houses and a barn. In the first year of operations the company sold 132 trailers, and by the end of 1968 it had 15 employees. The company continued to grow and in 1970 built another plant in Harper, Kansas.[3][4]

The company was hard hit in the energy crunch of the 1970s, and several of their plants were closed temporarily.[3] In the late 1980s and early 1990s they also suffered another slowdown due to the high price of gasoline.[3] The company recovered to become the second largest U.S. manufacturer of towable products by 1995.[3]

On Easter Sunday, 1985, Lloyd Bontrager was killed when his small airplane crashed in the vicinity of Muncie, Indiana. His wife, Bertha, became chairman of the board at Jayco, and later her sons Wilbur and Derald assumed leadership roles within the company.[5][6]

Jayco was acquired by Thor Industries in July 2016 for $576 million.[7]

* camping trailer patent
Lloyd Jay Bontrager 1965

* Jayco camping trailer 2006
"pop-up" model

* Jayco camping trailer
floor plan

* Jayco camping trailer
"pop-out" bedroom

## References

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1. ^ "UPDATE: Jayco expansion to create 360 jobs in Twin Falls". Magic Valley. 3 October 2017.
2. ^ Booker, Ted (2 July 2016). "Thor acquires Jayco in $576 million deal". South Bend Tribune. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
3. ^ a b c d "Jayco, Inc. company history". Fundinguniverse. International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 13. traiSt. James Press, 1996. 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
4. ^ "Jayco Factory Tour in Middlebury, IN". Watch it Made in the USA. Karen Axelrod and Bruce Brumberg. 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
5. ^ Stephanie + Jeremy. "RVFTA #210 Jayco's 50th Anniversary Celebration with Bertha Bontrager Rhodes". RVTA.
6. ^ NEWS, THE GOSHEN (14 December 2018). "Wilbur Bontrager retiring from Jayco Inc". Goshen News.
7. ^ Tribune, South Bend. "Thor acquires Jayco in $576 million deal". Retrieved July 1, 2016.

## Further reading

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* Axelrod, Karen (2006). Watch It Made in the U.S.A.: A Visitor's Guide to the Best Factory Tours and Company Museums. Avalon Travel. ISBN 1-59880-000-0.
* Plunkett (2010). Plunkett's Automobile Industry Almanac. Plunkett Research. ISBN 978-1-59392-152-1.

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jayco Company.

* Official website
* Jayco factory tour (4 minutes)