Hallmark RV: Return of the La Veta |
| Gordon White | Friday, 20 March, 2009 | ||||||||||||
 What's this? Are we turning Japanese? Randy Wass, Hallmark's GM, gives us the scoop on the return of the La Veta and its Japanese history.
After more than ten years, Hallmark has brought back the La Veta. Once a popular export to Japan, the La Veta is now targeted to owners of mid-size trucks. To learn more about the new and old La Veta, we talked to Randy Wass, Hallmark’s General Manager. We also asked Randy a few questions about Randy. As you'll see, Randy is quite the character and has been a huge supporter of TCM since we debuted.  TCM: What brought you to the RV industry? Randy: When I was ten years old, we moved across the street from Hubert Ward, the founder of Hallmark RV. His sons, Bill and Bob, were in their late teens and I would hang out with them as they worked on their hot rod cars. I was really close to their dad and would sit on their porch on summer evenings and listen to his stories about the war and Pearl Harbor. He was a really interesting guy. Then my aunt flew out to go to medical school and met Bill. They starting dating and married in 1972. Hallmark was a family matter after that. I worked for Hubert sweeping floors in the summer and after school. I made twenty-four dollars a week, which I rushed down to Woolworths to buy rock and roll records. After high school, I hit the road and tried to make it as a musician. I came back a few years later in 1977 and started working here as a cabinetmaker. That lasted about two years and then I left again to try a career in music. I came back to Denver in 1980 and met my wife. We moved to Houston where I worked for a local RV dealership and then we returned here once more in January 1987. There was a void in the office where I took over accounts payable and other office tasks. I’ve been enslaved here ever since. TCM: Enslaved? Randy: Yeah. You’ve got to die to get out of this business Gord. But it’s all good. My whole life has revolved around it. We’re a lot more productive working together as a family. We just come in and get the job done. Of course we don’t have as much to say to each other at Christmas because we’ve seen each other all the time. TCM: What else do you do at Hallmark other than accounts payable? Randy: Matt refers to me as the General Manager. I don’t like the title, but it works. I purchase all of the materials, pay the bills, sell campers, help with the advertising, and do the banking. I do a bit of everything so it all runs smoothly and heads where it needs to head. TCM: Are you involved in product development? Randy: I overview what they’re doing and vote. I also share new product information, my opinions, and experience. TCM: Are you a truck camper? Randy: Absolutely. My kids are ages twenty-one and twenty-four and they grew up traversing the greater mid-west. We always threw a camper on from April through October and we would go anywhere we could go. One place we would take them is to see their family in Iowa. Bill Ward alluded in his interview with TCM to our family’s relationship with John Hanson, the founder of Winnebago. I saw him in 1987 and it was a very insightful experience to see someone who was worth who knows what just sitting there in his overalls being a regular guy. If I left the industry tomorrow, it would be the personal relationships much more than the business that I would miss. A lot of my industry friends are no longer in the industry because of our hard times. It’s been really hard to process. I’m kind of in denial. TCM: Why is Hallmark bringing back the La Veta? Randy: It’s all about the re-emergence of the mid-sized truck. When we discontinued the camper in 1996, the smaller mid-sized trucks had four-cylinder straight engines and transmissions that really couldn’t handle the mountain passes with a camper. Now the mid-sized trucks are more powerful and have plenty of torque and increased payloads. The La Veta offers the mid-size truck owners the ability to carry a camper. Before they felt left out. That’s why we fired it back up. TCM: Matt sent an ad showing a Japanese ad for the La Veta. What’s that about? Randy: One day I received a phone call from a gentlemen in California who was a representative for a company called Somos in Nagoya, Japan. Somos flew a team over from Japan to our shop in Brighton. They were bearing gifts and were very polite and courteous. We spent a half-day trying to understand their RV business and what they needed. They had a demand for a narrow camper that would conform to their traffic laws. We got that nailed down and it was a very lucrative arrangement for many years. We probably shipped over 100 totally custom pop-up and hard side campers to Japan. Then something happened with their economy and I haven’t heard from them since. TCM: Did you have to develop new molds for the new La Veta’s exterior and roof? Randy: No. We were able to use the molds we already invested in. And the first new La Veta we built sat beautifully on the Tacoma. That’s when we realized that bringing back the La Veta was the thing to do, especially now that the Tacoma is so wonderfully powerful and torque-y. TCM: Who designed the La Veta? Randy: The former team designed the La Veta, when the boys were still here together. That was right about the time when their father passed. He was a great guy. I learned a lot about life from him. He’d like you too. He never really got to see our pop-up campers. TCM: Why are you excited about the La Veta? Randy: The excitement I have is attached to the remorseful feeling I had when we discontinued it originally. It’s time for the La Veta to re-emerge. We receive a lot of calls for campers on mid-size trucks. Before we had to pass the calls on to Northstar. Now we can offer the La Veta. TCM: You sent customers to your competition? Randy: Yes. If we can’t sell someone a camper, we send them to Jay Trunkenbolz at Five Star RV. We draw maps to Five Star for people we don’t have the right camper for. Rex at Northstar is the same way with us, but he surrendered Colorado to us years ago (laughs). TCM: What trucks is the La Veta designed for? Randy: The Toyota Tacoma, Nissan Frontier, Suzuki Equator, Dodge Dakota, and Hummer H3T. For people who bought a mid-size truck, the La Veta is a welcome back thing. TCM: Have you sold any La Veta’s yet? Randy: Yes. We sold and delivered one and got orders for two more. And last week I spoke with customers about the La Veta for a couple of hours. There’s a lot of interest. It’s a resurrection. TCM: How are things going at Hallmark? Randy: We’re holding up. We don’t have the depth of Spring orders that we’re used to, but we have enough to be encouraged. If I had to say that anything was hurting our sales, I would say it’s that young families can’t get credit. TCM: Anything else going on at Hallmark that you’d like to share? Randy: We’ve banded together at Hallmark. We’ve seen hard times before and we know what to do. And we are all very serious about the longevity of this company. Our heart goes out to our brothers in the industry who have been hurt by these tough times. 2009 Hallmark La Veta Specifications: 42 3/8" between wheel wells 19" bed rail height 51" at tail gate opening 84" total width 53" door opening height 80" interior head room height 29" cab over headroom 6'6" floor length 6'2" dinette bed 60" x 80" cab over bed Base price: $13,495.00 Weights: TBD Standard features: Seamless carbon truss roof, Heco crank lift system for roof, molded composite fiberglass exterior frame (sandwich technology like boat construction), finished Maple wood interior, Graincoat fiberglass sliding dining table, Graincoat one-piece fiberglass counter tops, deluxe fabric cushions, privacy curtains, seamless Graincoat fiberglass kitchen sink with electric water pump, ice box, three-burner stove, 110V system with power converter and trickle charge, two overhead dual lamp 12V lights, 12V porch light, 20 pound (5 gallon) propane tank with gauge, fire extinguisher, 27 gallon fresh water tank, queen size 60x80 cab over bed, composite under bunk storage, U-shape dinette / bed conversion 6’ 2”, dual large radius opening passenger side windows and driver side opening window, safety exit screen door, two roof vents, insulated side walls and roof, 12V and 110V outlets, rugged insulated Imegetex soft wall liner (Arctic Pack), fiberglass and marine grade gel coat exterior sides and roof, pre-plumbed, wired for furnace, solar panel, three-way refrigerator, hot water heater, and two-power roof vent fans Camper options: Three-way auto light refrigerator / freezer (3.8 cu.ft), 16K forced air furnace, hot water heater auto light, outside shower package, high pressure lines, dual fixture water pump,
 LED lights (upgrade), power roof vent fan, front opening window, one or dual overhead cabinets, 10’ side awning, 6' rear awning, auxiliary side awning lights, rear flood lights, aluminum boat / luggage roof rack, Yakima roof rack systems, rear ladder (better access to roof), auxiliary battery system (wiring, separator, battery), dual battery system, 85-watt solar panel w/controller, mechanical camper jacks (four corner), power camper jacks (four corner), portable entry step, porta pottie, CD stereo system, 30 lb. (7 Gallon) propane tank w/gauge, power roof lift, battery and water tank monitor, more options available Truck options: 
Firestone air bags, camper installation (tie downs, turn buckles, and wiring) Large weight increases for camper options: Each mechanical jack 26 lbs. Three-way fridge 88 lbs. Each battery 40 lbs. to 70 lbs. Hot water heater 30 lbs. Each overhead cabniet 32 lbs. Heater 16K BTU 18 lbs. For more information about Hallmark and the new La Veta, visit their website at www.hallmarkrv.com |
