“To be free as a bird and fly away without any cares.”
That’s what Lloyd Bontrager, founder of Jayco, wanted campers to be reminded of when they looked at his units. The problem was to find one word that would describe all that.
“I have always like the out-of-doors and birds,” Bontrager said, “but finding my favorite ‘blue jay’ name was already trademarked when I started my company, I took the part that was possible to use – JAY – and added the abbreviation for company (CO), and we became JAYCO. Of course, having the middle initial ‘J’ tied in real well. So today when people see a Jayco trailer, we want them to understand that we are making it possible for them to fly away to the good times.”
Bontrager established Jayco in 1968 after leaving another pioneer in the RV industry where he had developed a camping trailer. In his first year of production, Jayco manufactured 130 camping trailers.
As the years went by, we continued to find success, weathering the ups and downs that effect the industry, and in 2018 we celebrated 50 years of family fun. Click here to experience more of the Jayco story.