Custom Coach rebirth

[Merlin]

Local rag (Columbus Dispatch) has a short story on the start-up of the new Custom Coach.  Since I live only 8 miles from the old CC operation, I know some details not mentioned in the story.  The last two years of the old CC would rival the infamy of the Sam Walker saga.

Hope this URL will open the news story for you.    http://tinyurl.com/qj6w6

Merlin

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Merlin,

Dosn't Farber own Custom Coach now?

Nick-

[DrivingMissLazy]

Yep. At least that is what the attachment says. LOL
Richard

Merlin,

Dosn't Farber own Custom Coach now?

Nick-

[Merlin]

Dosn't Farber own Custom Coach now?
Nick-

Farber Motors purchased the name and a bit of equipment.  The building was sold to someone else.  Farber hired Elmers to be the front man for the Custom Coach name.  They mostly cater to commercial buyers, and have stayed out of the motorhome field.  Part of the reason for the slow down of the former Custom Coach business was heavy competition from Marathon, and Liberty.  My personal feeling is that CC did not keep current with the glitzy trend of the big money buyers.  The interiors of the CC conversions were very functional, but dated in design.  Even the last few units that they built made me feel like I was inside a 1980's unit. Sort of the "industrial fork lift" look.  They made one futile attempt to take a swipe at the RVer clientèle with the production of a 35' MCI conversion.  As far as I know, they only completed one, and MCI took back the other empty shells.

The final blow that sent them into bankruptcy was gross mismanagement, and of course the little matter of fleecing the worker's retirement fund.  I have some hair-raising stories of the final days of management neglect, but won't go into them on a public forum.  There are many former CC employees who could elaborate on how customers were bilked.

For me, the demise of CC was sad.  Just as I was about to get full-tilt into purchasing a bus shell and converting it ... they fold.

There is a very small bus service operation working out of the old CC building.  I think they are struggling ... only see a couple of buses there in the huge parking lot.

My recollection goes WAY back when that building was originally constructed as a bowling alley.  When CC took it over, they cut out the wood lanes and installed roll-up doors behind where the pin setting machines were.  The front offices were where the snack bar and entry was.  The man that really started Custom Coach was Kirwin Elmers father who was a commercial soap salesman.  The dad used a converted bus to do his sales calls and found it rather comfortable for family trips too.  Hence the idea of buying bus shells for RV's caught on.  They built the business up the hard way ... the honest way ... but unfortunately some big money slickster got his fingers on it and downhill it went.

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Merlin,

When I drove past CC's old lot last week, I saw about 5 converted busses and some small shuttle busses. Now that I read the story, My question to you

sounds silly. Sorry. But, I'm glad to see one of the orrigenal owners involved with Farber.

Nick-

[Merlin]

Merlin,

When I drove past CC's old lot last week, I saw about 5 converted busses and some small shuttle busses. ...
Nick-

Three of those buses are parked in long-term storage area (50 amp hook-ups).  CC did that too, to add to their income.

[JerryH]

The interiors of the CC conversions were very functional, but dated in design.  Even the last few units that they built made me feel like I was inside a 1980's unit. Sort of the "industrial fork lift" look.

You got that right.  I think virtually anyone could look at an interior photo of a CC unit and peg it instantly as a "CC" unit.  It was like they got stuck in a time warp and couldn't escape.  Blame that on management -- keep up with styling requests and the times or die.

Maybe the commercial/ business market is a better direction for them.