Making the pilgrimage to Red Bay, Alabama

Tiffin owners talk about their visit to Red Bay, Alabama, the home of Tiffin Motors and the Tiffin Service center. I'm told that Tiffin has the best service in the industry.  So, we made our list and made the trek from Kansas City to Red Bay.

What follows is the process of making an Allegro Breeze (or Phaeton, Open Road, Bus or Zephyr!) 

All incoming lumber is hand sorted, machined and prepped for the custom cabinets.

Here the boards are glued together to make the doors and tables in the coach.  (You can see the frames at the center of the pic.)

Very few processes are automated: the cabinetry is made by hand.

Cabinet frames: the ergonomist in me couldn't help but wonder how his neck feels!

Assembly (with a bit of a breeze from a really large fan!)

Carpet

A kitchen assembly ready to go into a coach

Nice job on the drawer joints!

The table has a dust collection system.

I think his dust collector isn't working: notice the dust on the fan and the wall behind him!

They certainly have a lot of inventory sitting around...

So what is the plural of chassis anyway?

A Breeze chassis (we love our little coach!)

That's under the bed!

Our Breeze has engine envy (I don't know which coach gets this engine.)

Wires, hoses, and lots of metal for a base.

They have a big paint facility in Mississippi, these guys head down the road naked and come back dressed.

Rust proofing

On tour with our guide, safety glasses and headphones.

One of the few automated processes: an NC machine cuts the styrofoam insulation to spec.

Hoses and wiring harnesses

We upgraded our driver's seat.

Cranes lower the floor in place

Workers scramble to pull hoses, flex pipe, and wires through the floor.

More carpet

Cabinets go in before the walls go up.

The frame goes in

The cap and windshield are ready. I wondered if ours got jarred a bit? The windshield is only glued to the cap, not the frame!  

The roof

A slide is put in place

PUSH!

Getting ready for the kitchen slide.

Ready for a slide and a nose

Very surprised to see the front cap being put in place with a forklift.

Checking the emergency exit

There are 2 miles of wire in our Breeze

Pulling wire

Prepping the wire harness

Big hands for such a small job

Lots of chewing tobacco (guess it's a water fountain issue!)

Final checks

One of the originals from the 1970's. Bob Tiffin had a vision and the Allegro line has come a long way since the original design.