Superior Coach Company

Superior Coach is a former a school bus body and professional cars manufacturer, in operation from 1909 to 1980 in Lima, Allen County, Ohio.

After its closure portions of the assets were bought by several other companies.

Subject ID: 32210

More

Superior Coach is a former a school bus body and professional cars manufacturer, in operation from 1909 to 1980 in Lima, Allen County, Ohio.

After its closure portions of the assets were bought by several other companies.

In 1909, the Garford Motor Truck Company was established in Elyria, Ohio, a small town 30 miles outside Cleveland.

By June 1912, the company was awarded a lucrative contract with the United States Post Office. The first order called for 11 trucks, the following for 20 trucks, for a total of 31 trucks. "This is very significant of the practical efficiency of this most advanced commercial car." The post office had experimented for two years "with practically every truck made." They tried not only all the leading American trucks, but the foreign trucks, as well. The test resulted in the Garford being awarded first honors. The Garford proved to be the most practical truck under all conditions.

In 1925, the company changed its name to the Superior Body Company and moved its operations to Lima, Ohio, where it occupied a new plant housing a large manufacturing facility and administrative offices. The company diversified, introducing a line of ambulance bodies (known as professional cars and becoming a major producer of school bus bodies for the U.S. and Canada, as well as export markets.

For its professional-car platforms, Superior signed an agreement with Studebaker, thus gaining instant access to some 3000 dealers and Studebaker's chassis engineering. The company had continuing success for several years, and on the strength of this arrangement, rose to a prominent position in the professional-car business. By 1930, Superior and Studebaker had the only complete line of professional cars in the North American market.

In 1940 the company changed its name again, to Superior Coach Company.

By 1949, the company had added Chrysler, DeSoto, and Dodge chassis to its line, offering customers a smaller investment and lower overhead

School bus bodies were built primarily on Dodge, FORD, and International Harvester truck chassis. In 1951, the Lima facility was expanded and a new facility in Kosciusko, Mississippi was opened.

In 1969, Superior Coach Company was acquired by the Sheller-Globe Corporation, an industrial conglomerate and auto parts maker based in Toledo, Ohio.

1977 brought major changes to the market. The ambulance sector switched to larger vehicles based upon van, cutaway van chassis, and truck chassis. The watershed year of 1977 also brought new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for school buses built after April 1, which increased both costs and engineering challenges. In addition to higher costs, at the same time, a downturn in North American school bus purchase volumes began as the children of the Baby Boom generation completed their elementary and secondary educations.

By 1980, Superior was one of the "Big Six" school bus body manufacturing companies in the United States, competing with Blue Bird Body Company, Carpenter Body Company, Thomas Built Buses, Inc., Ward Body Company, and Wayne Corporation, as well as Gillig Corporation and Crown Coach Corporation (manufacturers which traded primarily on the West Coast). Bidding competition for reduced volumes became devastating to profits and even liquidity. In 1979, Ward declared bankruptcy, reorganizing as AmTran the following year, which later became IC Bus.

Faced with these challenges, industry over-capacity among school bus manufacturers, the loss of ambulance business in the professional car sector and decreased sales due to higher production and sales costs, Sheller-Globe Corporation liquidated its Superior Coach Company-related investments in late 1980, and portions of its assets were sold.

Subject ID: 32210

Less