Hemphill Brothers Coach Company is a motor coach sales and operations company that provides coach sales, leasing, maintenance, and custom conversion services. Established in 1980, it is a family-owned company located near

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

, USA. The company provides coach services to celebrities, such as Cher,

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

, Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez. The company provided high-security motor coaches to the Obama administration for the

2012 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January ...

campaign.

Overview

The company is owned by brothers Joel W. Hemphill, Jr. and Trent Hemphill. They started the company in October 1980, with the assistance of their father, Joel W. Hemphill, Sr., who had retired from the coach leasing business. The company operates a coach maintenance and conversion facility, and it maintains a fleet of over 110 motor coaches for lease. The company deals in used coaches and new custom conversions, and maintains a separate website for its sales operation. On its website, the company claims an extensive list of celebrity clients, including Cher,

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

, Aerosmith, George Strait,

, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Marilyn Manson, Korn and

Maintenance and conversion facility

The company operates three conversion and maintenance facilities totaling more than 48,000 square feet located outside of Nashville. It features a 12-bay maintenance shop and two 6-bay conversion shops, and is used to provide services for the Hemphill lease fleet as well as for select external customers. The operation also maintains a parts department that provides mechanical and conversion coach parts. As part of its customizing operation, the facility maintains woodfinishing and upholstery shops. The conversion operation provides a full range of customizing services to client specifications. For new custom conversions, the operation uses bare coaches from

Prevost Car Prevost (, , formally known as Prevost Car) is a Canadian manufacturer of touring coaches and bus shells for high-end motorhomes and specialty conversions. The company is a subsidiary of the Volvo Buses division of the Volvo Group. History ...

, a manufacturer of touring coach shells for specialty conversions which is located in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The operation is a Prevost-authorized maintenance facility.

Buses for 2012 Obama campaign

Hemphill Brothers Coach Company customized the buses that was used by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

for a trip to Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois during the week of August 15, 2011. Although the trip had the appearance of a

presidential campaign President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...

event, it was designated an official trip by the Obama administration and was thus federally financed. Two such buses were ordered by the

United States Secret Service The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...

in 2010 at a combined cost of $2,191,960. The buses were purchased to address security inadequacies encountered on previous such events where leased vehicles were used. The Secret Service intends to use the buses as a general asset, and they are not specifically dedicated to the President. As such, the second bus was used in a similar fashion by the Secret Service during the 2012 presidential campaign to transport Mitt Romney. This second bus is now held by the Secret Service as a backup vehicle. The Secret Service will not confirm details about the construction and appointment of the buses, but it is likely that they are extensively equipped with security and communication equipment. They are speculated to be similar to other presidential conveyances, such as '' The Beast''. If so, they are heavily armored, pressurized, and built to withstand a chemical or rocket-propelled grenade attack. The buses are reported to have lavish interiors similar to those provided to entertainment celebrities. They are similar in size to standard Greyhound buses, with black exteriors, blacked-out windows, and police lights. During the August, 2011 campaign event, the bus provoked considerable interest and commentary in the news and blogosphere. The '' LA Times'' reported a comparison of the bus to

Darth Vader Darth Vader is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. The character is the central antagonist of the original trilogy and, as Anakin Skywalker, is one of the main protagonists in the prequel trilogy. ''Star Wars'' creator George ...

's helmet.

Tea Party A tea party is a social gathering event held in the afternoon. For centuries, many societies have cherished drinking tea with a company at noon. Tea parties are considered for formal business meetings, social celebrations or just as an afternoon ...

activist and

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

commentator

Dana Loesch Dana Lynn Loesch ( ; ; born September 28, 1978) is an American radio and TV host. She is a former spokesperson for the National Rifle Association and a former writer and editor for ''Breitbart News''. Loesch was the host of the program ''Dana'' ...

called the bus "a big, black, hearsemobile of doom."

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web , url=http://www.hemphillbrothers.com/ , title=Hemphill Brothers Corporate Website , date=2011 , accessdate=August 17, 2011 {{cite web , url=http://hemphillbussales.com/ , title=Hemphill Brothers Bus Sales , date=2011 , accessdate=August 17, 2011 {{cite web , url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20092460-503544.html , title=U.S. Secret Service gets 2 new buses ahead of Obama tour , author=Mark Knoller , date=August 15, 2011 , work=cbsnews.com , publisher= CBS News , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818042534/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20092460-503544.html , archivedate=August 18, 2011 , accessdate=August 17, 2011 , url-status=dead {{cite web , url=http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2011/0817/1.1-million-bus-used-by-Obama-has-high-tech-defenses-but-what-are-they , title=$1.1 million bus used by Obama has high-tech defenses – but what are they? , author=Chris Richardson , date=August 17, 2011 , work=csmonitor.com , publisher=

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818033758/http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2011/0817/1.1-million-bus-used-by-Obama-has-high-tech-defenses-but-what-are-they , archivedate=August 18, 2011 , accessdate=August 17, 2011 , url-status=dead {{cite web , url = http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-bus20110816,0,3337720.story , title = Obama's big bad bus draws stares, taunts , author = James Oliphant , date = August 16, 2011 , work =

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

, archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110818121831/http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-bus20110816,0,3337720.story , archivedate = August 18, 2011 , accessdate = August 17, 2011 , url-status = dead Bus companies of the United States Companies based in Nashville, Tennessee