Coach plants and shops that you have visited!

Where hearses are born

An aerial view of some of the coach factories. Use the rotate arrows on the left of the map to see the factories from different angles.

Accubuilt

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qshnbj7zrmnn&scene=33650437&lvl=2&sty=b

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&s....704388,-84.098451&spn=0.001558,0.004128&z=19

Superior Coach (Kibby st.)

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&s...=40.72934,-84.084479&spn=0.003114,0.0103&z=18

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qsngf57zsn5x&scene=33542729&lvl=2&sty=b

Superior Coach (Wayne St.)

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qsqp2j7zrqf1&scene=33527817&lvl=2&sty=b

Miller-Meteor

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qpp73b7zcztn&scene=33430685&lvl=2&sty=b

Eagle Coach

http://www.bing.com/maps/default.as...&scene=38034173&lvl=2&sty=b&where1=Amelia, OH

Federal Coach

http://www.bing.com/maps/default.as...ne=25144380&lvl=2&sty=b&where1=Fort Smith, AR

Krystal Koach

http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&cp=pnjs1155b9x5&scene=31377517&lvl=2&sty=b&where1=Brea, CA

Bennett Funeral Coaches

http://www.bing.com/maps/default.as...5949 Clay Ave SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49548-5769
 
Josh Gentry said:
Interesting color.

Josh
Click to expand...

I just wish I would have thought of looking to see what the color was called. I was just so thrilled to drive a brand new coach from Ohio to Iowa that was the last thing on my mind! I have more pics somewhere but I cannot find my disk that has my Accubuilt tour on it :confused:
 
GM has a number of the flip flop pearls out. most are quite stunning. the part I like was I found was they are quite easy to match. they always photograph the dark side you never get the highlights to stand up. but they are a pretty color.
 
I know know a guy that has been in Memphis area coach plants since 1948. He has been in Guy Barnett, Weller Brothers, Memphis Coach, Comet Coach (Memphis & Blythville), and a few others.
 
Let's see...

1. Eagle Coach - Amelia, OH
2. Accubuilt - Lima, OH
3. Superior Coach Corp, Kibby Street - Lima, OH
4. Superior Coaches, Wayne Street - Lima, OH
5. Miller-Meteor / CB / Wayne - Piqua, OH
6. Meteor - Piqua, OH
7. Meteor (Caserta) - Piqua, OH
8. A.J. Miller - Bellefontaine, OH
9. Flxible - Loudonville, OH
10. CCE (Eureka / M-M) - Norwalk, OH
11. Northwestern Casket Co. (built horsedrawn & early motorized hearses) - Minneapolis, MN
12. Hess & Eisenhardt - Cincinnati, OH
13. Henney - Freeport, IL
14. Prinzing (builders of modern "replicar" hearses) - Redwood Falls, MN
15. A&S (converted wagons into hearses in the 1970s) - St. Paul, MN

Other:
Road Rescue - St. Paul, MN (old & new plants)
Ringdahl & Co. (built hi-top van ambulances) - Fergus Falls, MN
PL Custom - Manasquan, NJ
 
Tony Karsnia said:
1. Eagle Coach - Amelia, OH
2. Accubuilt - Lima, OH
3. Superior Coach Corp, Kibby Street - Lima, OH
4. Superior Coaches, Wayne Street - Lima, OH
5. Miller-Meteor / CB / Wayne - Piqua, OH
6. Meteor - Piqua, OH
7. Meteor (Caserta) - Piqua, OH
8. A.J. Miller - Bellefontaine, OH
9. Flxible - Loudonville, OH
10. CCE (Eureka / M-M) - Norwalk, OH
11. Northwestern Casket Co. (built horsedrawn & early motorized hearses) - Minneapolis, MN
12. Hess & Eisenhardt - Cincinnati, OH
13. Henney - Freeport, IL
14. Prinzing (builders of modern "replicar" hearses) - Redwood Falls, MN
15. A&S (converted wagons into hearses in the 1970s) - St. Paul, MN

Other:
Road Rescue - St. Paul, MN (old & new plants)
Ringdahl & Co. (built hi-top van ambulances) - Fergus Falls, MN
PL Custom - Manasquan, NJ
Click to expand...

Show off.....:respect:
 
One Sat. morning in the early '90's I drove my '73 Superior combo from Dayton up to Lima, and stopped in front of the Superior plant just east of the downtown, next to the former PRR Ft. Wayne Division tracks. The plant was not working that day, but the guard on duty saw me and invited me in for a tour of the place, taking me through every phase of the construction process for both coaches and limos. I believe the S&S products were also built there by then. One thing he told me has stayed with me all these years. He was describing the fiberglass construction and said that it was very important for the men driving the new coaches onto transport trucks to get the approach to the ramp exactly "square" or the long roof structure might crack due to the twisting force exerted if the trajectory was off to one side or the other. Frankly, that statement made me shudder, seeing as how this very expensive vehicle could be seriously damaged by something so seemingly trivial as not driving up a ramp precisely "plumb." Steel roofs, anyone?
 
Hey Jeremy, bet u forgot that Crain's build surburban ambulances in late 60's up into the 70's when Mr. Houston owned the business. He sold business in mid 80's and reopened around 1990 under his own name of Houston Brothers.
 
When I was a kiddo, my dad drove me to Hess and Eisenhardt's plant in Rossmoyne...this would have been in 1973 or so. I was fascinated with procars even as a 7 year old. I've driven past CW Coach, and Eagle's facility in Amelia OH in the early 90s, but that's it for me.

We used to have a big coach dealer in St Louis, McCown Coach Sales. I'd prowl around on his lot in the 80s, staring at dozens of 60s and 70s era combinations and hearses...wish I could go back in time and buy all of them.
 
Superior Coach

Have only been to one, Superior Coach in Lima, OH, probably in the early nineties. I was just amazed that they were throwing brand new trunk lids off of Caddys and Lincolns in the dumpster!!! All the break areas for employees had rear leather seats as their "benches"! As I remember, they said the only thing that they had someone come and get to recycle were the rear springs taken off the new cars. No wonder the coaches are so expensive, they throw half of the original car out--doors, speakers, rear seats, trunk lids, etc. Guess they have no choice seeing as how no one makes a commercial chassis anymore.
 
I have been to the 1.Superior Coach on Kibby St Lima to pick up 3 Mod 54 Cadillacs in the 70s. 2. The Horton Plant when it was behind the old GM plant on Columbus's west side. 3. The MidContinent Conversion Company (Stratus) in Kansas City MO in 1981.
 
I've driven by Eagle so many times I couldn't even begin to tell you, and been to CW once. I might've driven by the H&S and the S&S buildings, but I don't know...
 
In 1984 I drove to the Collins Coach Co. in Hutchinson, Kansas, which is 120 miles from me in Dodge City and took delivery of a new Cadillac end loader. While I was there I had the opportunity to tour the facility and was very impressed. It was fun and interesting. I drove the new coach back to Dodge City and used it till 1995, then sold it to a livery service which still has it in service, and we use it ourselves occassionally.

A neat piece of history.

Mike
 
does anyone have any pictures of the coach Company's when you visited them ??? would love to see whats involved in building a coach.

Mike
 
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