Crown Coach is probably best known as the manufacturer of heavy duty west coast transit style school buses. The company was a leader in its industry and created many of the industry standards in practice today. The company however met a sad end due to the success of its own products.

 

 

 

 

 

The Crown Coach SuperCoach was first introduced in 1948 and it was built for 43 years until Crown went out of business. Constructed out of 60psi pressurized steel, the Crown SuperCoach is extremely rigid and rust and corrosion resistant. This lead Crown to dominate its industry for years. The SuperCoach was the industry leader in School Buses 15 years before the initial success of the Blue Bird Type C School Buses. Other specialty vehicles such as Transit Buses, Police Prisoner Transport Buses were constructed on its frame as well. These buses were so well constructed some were used from 1948 until the 2000's with only Minor refurbishments made.

 

 

 

 

 

The SuperCoach's biggest selling points were its high capacity (no school bus today carries more than 70), low cost of maintenance and safe construction. Many school districts on the West Coast have been using the SuperCoach for over 40 years merely replacing normal wear and tear objects such as the brakes, interior seats, and engine components. However many are being finally sold off or scrapped with pressure from the federal and state government to replace them with modern buses as they can no longer comply with modern safety standards for school buses.

 

 

 

These factors however were the very reasons for the company's tragic end. As is said in the Ladder industry "We build the only thing people never need to replace". Crowns customers were so satisfied with their products that they never needed to buy new fleets of vehicles. After a few years on a decline, Crown began helping its competitors by selling their buses alongside the SuperCoach. After it became evident that Crown was in financial trouble, company executives decided to branch out into a new industry.

 

 

 

The FireCoach was built on the same chassis as the SuperCoach and was equally successful. At the time there was no clear industry leader in Fire Engine manufacturing. (Today its Pierce and Seagrave)

Crown was able to sell the FireCoach in more areas of the country due to lax regulations on Fire Engines in comparison to School Buses.