You had a Colorado Divison of Housing on your FWC???shellback said:I have the same badge on mine. The date is 1979. I screwed it back onto the side of the camper.
Yes, Not finished quite yet. Still have a few finalizing cuts to do. Just showing the progress. Still a ways away from finishing the inside.longhorn1 said:In the last picture is that the upper bed slide out? If so it appears there is a bow in the plywood. Are you installing a stiffening end piece like the campers have today? jd
Yes, the badge looks identical to yours.Portercassidy said:You had a Colorado Divison of Housing on your FWC???
Maybe our campers were neighbors is some random ColoRADo trailer park.shellback said:Yes, the badge looks identical to yours.
I believe that badge is called an "insignia of approval" and its purpose was for FWC to certify that they built the camper in compliance with Colorado's standards for recreational vehicles. It also provides a way to look up the documentation of the plans and approval at the Colorado Division of Housing's office. That of course was back when FWC campers were built in Colorado.Portercassidy said:Maybe our campers were neighbors is some random ColoRADo trailer park.
Thanks for the background. Do you know where in Colorado the Rowe family started FWC? I am guessing Denver, but I tried looking but couldn’t find anything.Old Crow said:I believe that badge is called an "insignia of approval" and its purpose was for FWC to certify that they built the camper in compliance with Colorado's standards for recreational vehicles. It also provides a way to look up the documentation of the plans and approval at the Colorado Division of Housing's office. That of course was back when FWC campers were built in Colorado.
Unfortunately, I've not been able to find any detail on how the process worked to answer the question of when the camper was actually built. If you just look at the insignia, it appears that date could be the date of filing or approval of FWC's plan with the Division of Housing. But I'm guessing it's the build date. It makes more sense to me that FWC would add the serial number, build-date, and plan approval number for an individual camper to an insignia plate.
The check marks have to do with identifying whether the unit is equipped with plumbing, heating, electrical, and fire safety systems.
It would be interesting to compare the numbers on multiple insignias, i.e., on multiple campers of the same era.
If anyone has more info on the insignia or how this process worked, please reply (or PM me)!
I don't know if the factory moved from time to time while in Colorado but according to this April 1977 vintage article, they were on West 62nd Avenue in Denver at the time....Portercassidy said:Thanks for the background. Do you know where in Coloradd the Rowe family started FWC? I tried looking but couldn’t find anything.
I know that Wildernest Campers was owned by Lowe Alpine, and started in Boulder.