National RV's newest director, Michael Gorin, bought 20,000 shares of the struggling company Sept. 7 for a total layout of $12,000.

The retired Plainview, N.Y., businessman now is uncertain whether he'll recover his investment. Perris-based recreational vehicle maker National RV Holdings Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, National R.V. Inc., filed for Chapter 11 protection Nov. 30 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside.

The company laid off about 600 workers, closed its plant and handed out final paychecks. National RV's Web site announced the action Dec. 6.

The site lists e-mail contacts for retail customers, employees, shareholders, vendors and dealers. It provides employees information on acquiring last paychecks, unemployment benefits, health benefit coverage extensions and on retirement benefits.

National RV began manufacturing motor homes in 1964. Its Class A gas and diesel homes sold under the model names Surf Side, Sea Breeze, Dolphin, Tropi-Cal, Pacifica and Tradewinds.

The company filed for protection "in light of ongoing financial challenges and the inability to adequately fund operations and obligations," the company said in a release.

"We are saddened to let go our excellent employees, especially so close to the holidays, and even more so because National's motor homes have never been better than they are today. After evaluating our options, however, we ultimately determined that seeking protection in bankruptcy was in the best interests of creditors and shareholders," Acting Chief Executive Officer Dave Humphreys said in the release.

The Chapter 11 filing caps a months-long effort to save the company. In February the company sold its luxury motor home subsidiary, Custom Coach Inc., for $38.7 million to Riley Investment Management LLC in Los Angeles. The high-end motor homes sell for $1 million. Riley Investment assumed $13 million in debt as part of the deal, The Business Press reported in February.

"The decision to sell CCI was made based on management's determination and subsequent board approval that the sale would enable the company to raise capital to reduce its debt and provide funding and resources to support the turnaround of the NRV business," the company said in its third quarter filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In May the company sold its land and five buildings for $31.8 million to First Industrial Acquisitions. National RV became a tenant of its former property, holding a 10-year lease and two five-year options.

For the third quarter ended June 30, National RV reported net sales of $23.3 million and a net loss of nearly $8 million. Over five years, the company lost $80 million.

National RV's directors and officers continued buying stock in the failing firm up through October in a last-ditch effort to save it.

"We had a plan we thought would work. We couldn't quite pull it off," Gorin said. He was introduced to National RV through its outside counsel in New York, he said.

The share purchases were an effort "to return to a break-even state. That was my reason for buying the stock," Gorin said. He did not know what sort of a reorganization plan the company might pursue if any.

Bryant R. Riley, of Riley Investment, is listed as a 10% or more owner of National RV. He filed a statement of ownership in May 2006. Since then, he has directly and indirectly purchased shares for a total investment value of $1,184,550, according to an insider transactions report.

As of press time, Riley did not return calls seeking comment.

National RV is a casualty of a downturn in the highly cyclical recreational vehicle manufacturing industry, said Mike Roarke, recreational vehicle industry analyst with the Seattle office of brokerage firm McAdams Wright Ragen. "For the Class A motor homes it has been a very difficult selling environment over the last two years," he said. Rising interest rates have made it difficult for dealers to add inventory and swelling gas prices caused consumers to put off buying the pricey recreational motor homes.

The makers of smaller, towable recreational vehicles, by contrast, are having a better time of it, he said.

In its third quarter filing the company outlined plans for new brands this year and new methods of construction, an entry-level gas product, a value line diesel product and new floor plans. At the time of the quarterly filing, the company had a patent pending on a telescoping slide for use in its motor homes.

On Nov. 8 National RV pulled its stock from the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board and moved to the Pink Sheets under ticker symbol NRVH. The action follows its October removal from the New York Stock Exchange’s Arca site after its stock price fell below $1 per share for 30 days. National RV submitted a plan to NYSE Regulation Inc. addressing its noncompliance issues, but the exchange decided to proceed with the trading suspension, according to a filing with the SEC U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company did not appeal the decision.