Beaver Motorcoach Corporation
 |
|
| Industry | Automotive |
|---|---|
| Fate | Brand ceased to exist after bankruptcy |
| Founded | ca. 1968 |
| Founder | Jim Hogue and Frank Storch |
| Defunct | 2009 |
| Headquarters |
Bend, Oregon (1965-2006) Coburg, Oregon (2006-2009) |
| Products | Motorcoaches |
| Parent | Safari Motorcoach Corporation (1994-2002); Monaco Coach (2002-2009) |
Beaver Motorcoach Corporation (also known as Beaver Coach) is a defunct American motor coach manufacturing company that was based in Oregon. The company's manufacturing plant was initially located in Bend and later moved to Coburg. After its initial bankruptcy, the Beaver Coach brand name was purchased by a series of parent companies before it finally disappeared in 2009.
The story continues... In 2016 the Beaver Brand and rights to build were purchased by Ty Kelly owner of Beaver Coach Sales and Service located on the grounds of the original Beaver Factory. The hope is to slowly restart production by 2018.
Beaver Motorcoach Corporation was founded in the late 1960s by Jim Hogue and Frank Storch. The company was named after the Oregon State University mascot. The firm originally built slide-in campers for pickup trucks.
Sometime around 1974, the company began building Class C motor homes, commonly called "minis". The motor homes were built on a Chevrolet and Dodge chassis with either a Chevrolet 454 or Dodge 440 engine. In the mid-1970s, the company opened a motor coach repair facility in Bend.
In the early 1980s, the company began building Class A motor homes with gas engines. Their product line ranged in size up to 36 feet (11 m) in length. During this period, all the Beaver Coach models used a brown and white color scheme. The company introduced its first diesel motor home in 1985. The following year, the company began producing coaches with a European-style rounded front end. They also introduced a new color pattern that featured red, green, and blue rainbow designs.
By 1990, the company employed 225 people at its Bend assembly plant. However, a decline in sales in the latter half of that year forced the company to furlough its employees for 30 days to allow demand to catch up with production.
During the early 1990s, Beaver Coach continued to employ 250 to 300 people despite growing financial problems. By November 1993, the company's debt exceeded $11 million and it was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. While under the court's protection, Country Coach of Junction City, Oregon offered $6.9 million for the company. At the same time, Safari Motorcoach Corporation of Harrisburg, Oregon submitted a $7.6 million bid and eventually took ownership of Beaver Coach. Under the reorganization plan, Safari took over management of Beaver Coach. As part of the plan, unsecured creditors received less than 50 cents on the dollar.
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