Who Makes Golden Falcon Trailers?
Andrew Davis 
In Elkhart, Indiana, Skyline produced a Golden Falcon from the late 1960s through the early 1970s. In the 1970s and 1990s, Glendale also produced a Golden Falcon. Golden Falcon began as a division of Glendale Recreational Vehicles in 1995, manufacturing trailers. Golden Falcon by Glendale manufactures towable fifth wheels and travel trailers with lengths ranging from 20 to 38 feet. In the later years of Golden Falcon’s manufacture, a greater emphasis was focused on the park model, which ranged in length from 32 to 42 feet. Glendale’s Golden Falcon model was discontinued after the 2007 model year.
Skyline Coach, the forerunner of Skyline Corporation, was founded in Elkhart, Indiana, in 1951. Julius Decio founded the company to manufacture mobile homes, which were referred to as “house trailers” at the time. Decio’s choice of company was far from unusual in Elkhart and the surrounding cities. The town had been a significant hub for the mobile home industry for twenty years, situated in north-central Indiana only a few kilometers from the Michigan line. The mobile home company in the area began in 1933 when a native trader chose to try to replicate a tent-like structure he saw at the Chicago World’s Fair. He set his shop in Elkhart and began making “home trailers,” which were similar to basic recreational travel trailers. Throughout the Great Depression, as several families migrated around the country in search of work and a better future, the trailers’ cost and mobility made them a viable option.
Skyline’s prefabricated housing sales dipped significantly in 1997, and the resulting drop in overall sales ended the company’s five-year streak of moderate but consistent annual growth. A particularly harsh winter, which hindered housing sales in various parts of the United States, was a major factor in the drop. Another issue was a nationwide decrease in prefabricated house demand, which caused many Skyline dealers to reduce their inventories. The company’s RV division, on the other hand, had a stronger year. RV sales grew by more than 14% over 1996, reversing the RV industry’s downturn the previous year.
