Crown Coach Corporation
 |
|
| Industry | Transportation |
|---|---|
| Fate | Defunct |
| Founded | Los Angeles, California (1904) |
| Founder | D. Brockway |
| Defunct | March 1991 |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California (1904-1985) Chino, California (1985-1991) |
|
Area served
|
West Coast, United States |
| Products |
School Buses Fire Apparatus |
| Parent | GE Railcar (1987-1991) |
The Crown Coach Corporation (founded as the Crown Carriage Company) is a defunct American bus manufacturer. Established in 1904, Crown was headquartered in Los Angeles, California until the mid-1980s, moving to Chino, California until its closure. Best known for its Supercoach school buses, the company also produced motorcoaches and various fire apparatus.
Crown closed in March 1991 due to declining demand for school buses at the time. At the time of its closure, Crown Coach was a subsidiary of GE Railcar.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Don M. Brockway found himself working at the first hardware store in Los Angeles, California. To supplement its income, the hardware store sold parts for wagons and carriages. In 1904, Brockway founded his own company, as Crown Carriage Company began life producing horse-drawn carriages. While the first vehicles were built in a wooden shed, the company moved to a brick factory in 1910.
After 1910, as carriages gradually became "horseless", Crown experimented with building truck bodies. In 1916, the company built its first bus body for transit use; it was an open-air design heavily influenced by wagon design. After World War I, Crown built its first body for school bus use.
In 1921, a major shift in company production occurred as Murillo M. ("Brock") Brockway, the son of the company founder, was put in charge of school bus production. Viewing school buses as a growth market in the suburbs of southern California, Brockway discontinued all wagon production in favor of bus and truck body production. To expand production and improve shipping of its vehicles, a much larger factory in Los Angeles was opened in 1923.
In pursuit of developing heavier-duty and higher-capacity school buses, Crown introduced the first school bus with dual rear wheels in 1927 (on a Reo chassis). In 1930, it produced its first all-metal school bus body (on a Mack chassis), with a 43-passenger capacity.
1932 would mark several major changes for the company. As part of his taking over day-to-day operations of Crown from his father, MM Brockway introduced a ground-breaking school bus body; elements of its design would change school bus design forever. To improve forward visibility, the new bus was a cab-forward design, with the driver sitting next to the engine and radiator. To improve safety, the bus was designed with an integral chassis; the windows were mesh-reinforced safety glass. Alongside the standard braking system, the bus also was equipped with two backup braking systems.
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