Crown Coach Corporation
The company was founded in California in 1904. It became famous for its cabover school buses of large class (type D), which appeared in 1932. In addition, Crown was one of the first to produce aluminum body panels.
Its school series SuperCoach was known for its durability – the service life was 20 years. This was the reason for bankruptcy – other manufacturers offered less reliable cars, but at a much lower cost. Despite joining General Electric in 1987, the company closed four years later.
Gillig Corporation
Manufacturer of city cars from California. Until 1993, it also made school buses. The first bus was assembled in 1932; before that, they produced bodies, trucks, boats, etc. In 1957, Pacific Bus division was purchased from the famous Kenworth.
Two years later the school bus was presented in two versions: bonneted (C class) and cabover (D class), which became very popular.
In 1967, the biggest school bus in the States was presented – 855D for 97 students.
IC Corporation
Integrated Coach (formerly AmTran, Ward Body Works) is a bus manufacturer wholly owned by Navistar International.
Its history goes back to 1933, when Ward Body Works was founded in Arkansas. It was known both for its school buses and its innovations – in the 1960s it was one of the first to use IBM computers in its production. However, this did not save it from bankruptcy. In 1980, with the help of then-Governor Bill Clinton, its assets were transferred to a new corporation American Transportation (AmTran). By 1995, it was fully controlled by Navistar International, a manufacturer of trucks and chassis.
The Senator, Genesis and Vanguard were produced on Ford, GM or most often International Harvester chassis.
Currently, four series are produced – school, special, commercial and intercity. All are built on new host units, include several models in each group, including the school series: bonneted AE, BE, CE with a capacity of 30-77 students, and cabover RE with 84 passengers; all series are offered in gas-diesel or hybrid versions.
Wayne Corporation (formerly Wayne Works)
America’s oldest bus manufacturer was founded in Indiana back in 1837 as a horse-drawn carriage manufacturer. Then, like many others, since 1914 it began installing bodies on automobile chassis. In 1927 they became metal, and almost immediately Wayne began glazing them.
At different times the company changed owners, they were Divco-Wayne, Boise Cascade, Indian Head and Thyssen-Bornemisza.
By 1957, products were collected in 60 countries. The corporation was a leader in producing school buses, except them produced city and tourist vehicles, special cars and delivery vans.
School lineup featured an increased safety (Wayne began installing reinforcing bars in the bodies in 1930) and at different times included families Busette, Chaperone, Papoose, Lifeguard, Lifestar, RD 9000. Unable to withstand the decline in demand, Wayne closed in 1992.
Ward Body Works
The firm was known since 1933, when it was founded by D. H. Ward in Arkansas. It specialized first of all in school buses. Besides it was famous for its advanced technologies – in 1960s it was one of the first companies that started using IBM computers of 360 series. However, it was not saved from bankruptcy, and in 1980 its assets were transferred to a new corporation American Transportation (AmTran).
To date, the school bus has become one of the symbols of the United States, and not only – our KavZs, SemARs and even Chinese school-bus are made with many attributes inherent in the American “schoolchildren”.
The popularity of school-buses is illustrated by the following fact: out of 843,000 buses registered in the USA in 2010, more than a half, 480,000 cars, were school buses. At the same time they are the safest of all types of passenger transport.