It's been an amazing journey; something Phil Ens says he, his brother-in-law and father-in-law hadn't anticipated when they started Triple E 50 years ago. P.W. Enns founded the Winkler business in 1965 as a way to provide employment for staff at his heating and plumbing business, he then recruited Phil and a second son-in-law - Peter Elias to help lead.

The company celebrated 50 years of operation with an employee event Thursday and Phil, who is now Chairman of the Board, says the occasion brought a mixed bag of feelings. "On one hand I felt kind of like a lonely man," adding he was the only one in attendance that's been at Triple E since day one. "I'm the only one left that got a paycheck in 1965, but that's also a reason to be thankful for."

                                                                                                                             

Ens admits he never thought in his wildest dreams that Triple E would grow to be a multi-division company that employs hundreds upon hundreds of people and says over time he's come to develop a certain philosophy of business. "To put bread on the table for a growing family and to keep the banker from the door." He says Triple E has been able to accomplish this goal and much more. Ens adds his father in law also remained a strong influence in the company as the years went by.

"People don't always have to leave for the bigger city or the greener pastures as they were, (those opportunities) are right here," adds Ens.

However, the past five decades haven't been without a share of challenges either. Ens says initially it was a lack of experience in building travel trailers. "We all had to learn the business, no one really had any experience."

Then eight or nine years later, the 1977 Oil Embargo hit. "There was no gasoline available. There were line ups at the gas pumps for blocks and blocks, so the RV business was just dead for a while."

Ens adds then a recession hit in the early 1980s that hit Triple E quite hard. "We had our share of challenges but we managed to finance everything, we never missed a paycheck, we never missed paying a supplier." He says Triple E has managed to overcome    these challenges and become a very successful company.                                                                                                           

Finally, we asked Ens to reflect on his favourite memories of time spent in an RV.

 

                                                                                                                                                   

Some fun facts about Triple E:
- In its first year Triple E built 90, 13-foot trailers which sold for about $990 each
- John Buhler was the first dealer to buy an order of Triple E trailers
- Expo '67 in Montreal is credited as getting the company off to a great start. Due to a lack of housing and hotel space in Montreal, many of Triple E's trailers were bought by people who wanted to attend the Expo. In total 327 were built and sold that year.

Visit the Triple E web site for a detailed history of the company, and photos from the past 50 years.