Crown Coach Corporation
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Crown Coach Corporation (1914 - 1991) was a school bus manufacturer based in Los Angeles, California, eventually moving factory operations to Chino, California in San Bernadino County. Both factories have been razed. The property in Los Angeles is now a manufacturing center, and the office and paint shed of the Chino property stood for a while longer, but were also eventually torn down. General Electric supposedly still owns this site. Seekers of Crown parts can visit nearby West Coach, a company started by Crown employees.
Crown Coach was the creator of the original large, flat nose (transit style or "Type D"), high capacity school bus. Their first example appeared in 1932. That vehicle still exists. Beginning as a motorized truck builder, Crown expanded into passenger vehicles and quit building trucks. Working with Tanner Grey Line of Los Angeles, Crown designed the well known art-deco 'Twinkie' shaped coach that eventually led to a school coach utilizing unibody construction, mid-ship underfloor mounted heavy duty commercial truck engines (often by the Detroit Diesel company) and off the shelf parts, which made them economical to operate. Starting with conventional steel skins, Crown later switched to rust resistant aluminum panels.
As regulations changed, the coach evolved into one of the safest, most reliable school buses. They were so well built that one of the factors that forced Crown to shut down was their product's extremely long life. Districts would send in their aging Crowns for rebuild, repaint and come back nearly new looking. The average school bus's service life is approximately ten years. There are many twenty-plus-year-in-school-service Crowns still roaming the roads of California and in personal possession as converted coaches. Many classic Crowns "retired" by school districts in the U.S. continue to see service in Mexico as local or neighborhood transit buses, private charters, and even cross-country tour coaches, often repainted in bright primary colors.
From 1951 to 1985, it was also a manufacturer of fire apparatus under the Firecoach brand.
[edit] Products
- Motorcoach/Tourcoach
- Transit Coach
- School Coach
- Specialty Vehicles
- Firecoach
Error: Crown coach/school bus in NOT a 'unibody' construction. There is a full truck frame under the 'body' upon which all running gear, engine, etc are attached. The body is simply 'bolted/welded' to the truck frame. Still, one of the strongest bus bodys ever built.
