The Wayne Corporation was an American manufacturer of
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es and other vehicles under the "Wayne"
marque
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
. The corporate headquarters were in
Richmond, Indiana
Richmond is a city in eastern Wayne County, Indiana. Bordering the state of Ohio, it is the county seat of Wayne County and is part of the Dayton, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 36,812. Situa ...
, in
Wayne County, Indiana
Wayne County is a county located in east central Indiana, United States, on the border with Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 68,917. The county seat is Richmond.
Wayne County comprises the Richmond, IN Micropolitan Statistica ...
. During the middle 20th century, Wayne served as a leading producer of
school bus
A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bus ...
es in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
.
Among innovations introduced by the company were the first application of
cutaway van chassis
Cutaway van chassis are used by second stage manufacturers for a wide range of completed motor vehicles. Especially popular in the United States, they are usually based upon incomplete vans to be bigger or smaller than pickup trucks and SUVs mad ...
for a school bus and an improvement in structural integrity in bus body construction, involving the use of continuous longitudinal panels to reduce body joints; the design change happened before federal standards required stronger body structures in school buses.
After 1980, Wayne faced difficulty competing in a market with overcapacity. Declaring bankruptcy, the company discontinued operations in 1992 and its assets were liquidated. Later in 1992, the Wayne brand was reorganized as
Wayne Wheeled Vehicles
Wayne Wheeled Vehicles (WWV) was a tradename of a division of a vehicle manufacturer that specialized primarily in the production of school buses. It was owned by Harsco Corporation, who purchased the rights to use the Wayne brand name, certain ...
, doing business through 1995.
Overview
Wayne is a name in school transportation that predates the familiar yellow
school bus
A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bus ...
seen all over the United States and Canada. Beginning in the 19th century, craftsmen in
Richmond, Indiana
Richmond is a city in eastern Wayne County, Indiana. Bordering the state of Ohio, it is the county seat of Wayne County and is part of the Dayton, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 36,812. Situa ...
at Wayne Works and its successors built
horse-drawn vehicle
A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have m ...
s, including
kid hack
A kid hack was a horse-drawn vehicle used for transporting children to school in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. The word "hack," meaning a horse-drawn cab, is short for hackney carriage. The vehicle was actually power ...
s, evolving into automobiles and virtually all types of bus bodies during the 20th century. Wayne products eventually included school buses,
transit bus
Transit may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film
* ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world
* ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...
es,
highway coaches, military and
shuttle buses
Public transport bus services are generally based on regular operation of transit buses along a route calling at agreed bus stops according to a published public transport timetable.
History of buses Origins
While there are indications ...
,
ambulance
An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport.
Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...
s and even
huge bus bodies pulled by tractor trailers used to haul oil field workers in the Middle East.
Among many innovations, Wayne pioneered the side-mounted guard rails of modern school buses, inboard wheelchair lifts, and high-headroom doors (a special accommodation for mobility-challenged persons requiring head and neck support from above). The company was the first with a school bus based upon a
cutaway van chassis
Cutaway van chassis are used by second stage manufacturers for a wide range of completed motor vehicles. Especially popular in the United States, they are usually based upon incomplete vans to be bigger or smaller than pickup trucks and SUVs mad ...
, the
Wayne Busette
The Wayne Busette is a minibus that was assembled by Wayne Corporation from 1973 to 1990. During its production, many examples of the Busette were produced as school buses. One of the first examples produced with a cutaway van chassis, the Busett ...
, a body design that would set a precedent for small school bus design, more than 40 years after its introduction.
The crowning safety achievement was the "Wayne Lifeguard" structural body design introduced in 1973, which featured continuous interior and exterior longitudinal panels. The body design helped pave the way for U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards
FMVSS for school buses, most of which became applicable on April 1, 1977. In the years after, Wayne continued to be a leader in bus safety engineering.
Through nearly 160 years of existence, Wayne went through several ownership and name changes. From 1955 to 1975 alone, the business underwent periods under the ownership of
Divco
Divco was a brand name of delivery trucks built and marketed in the United States. Divco is an acronym which stands for Detroit Industrial Vehicles COmpany. Divco became known for its multi-stop delivery trucks, particularly in use as home de ...
(as "Divco-Wayne"),
Boise Cascade
Boise Cascade Company (), which uses the trade name Boise Cascade, is a North American manufacturer of wood products and wholesale distributor of building materials, headquartered in Boise, Idaho.
with sales over $7.9 billion in 2021, it is trad ...
, "Indian Head, Inc.", and the
Thyssen-Bornemisza Group
TBG AG, named for the Thyssen-Bornemisza Group (), is a private venture capital firm based in Zurich, Switzerland. The company is the investment arm of the Thyssen-Bornemisza family and is chaired by Georg Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, the e ...
.
In 1967, Wayne opened the largest school bus manufacturing facility in the United States; adjacent to
Interstate 70
Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15, I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of Interstate 695 (Maryland), I-695 in ...
, the factory became a familiar landmark to millions of travelers. During the 1980s, the company struggled against an industry downturn fueled by overcapacity and a difficult market cycle. Following millions of dollars of losses, Wayne Corporation declared bankruptcy in 1992.
During the 1990s, Wayne was briefly reorganized as
Wayne Wheeled Vehicles
Wayne Wheeled Vehicles (WWV) was a tradename of a division of a vehicle manufacturer that specialized primarily in the production of school buses. It was owned by Harsco Corporation, who purchased the rights to use the Wayne brand name, certain ...
, with the Richmond factory utilized by rival manufacturer Carpenter, building school buses from 1996 until its closure in 2000.
Early history (1837-1956)
1837-1900
The ultimate beginning of Wayne Corporation traces back to 1837 in
Dublin, Indiana
Dublin is a town in Jackson Township, Wayne County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 679 at the 2020 census.
History
Dublin was laid out and platted in 1830. It is named after the city of Dublin in Ireland. A post office has been ...
, as the Witt family set up a foundry.
Alongside the initial manufacturing of stoves, the foundry expanded its manufacturing to farm implements.
Through the 1840s and 1850s, the foundry would undergo several changes of ownership. In 1868, the company produced its first vehicle, a horse-drawn utility wagon derived from the then-popular
Conestoga wagon.
The 1870s saw two major events that would change the company forever. In 1871, Wayne Agricultural Company was founded out of a reorganization of the foundry ownership (deriving its name from
Wayne County, Indiana
Wayne County is a county located in east central Indiana, United States, on the border with Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 68,917. The county seat is Richmond.
Wayne County comprises the Richmond, IN Micropolitan Statistica ...
). In 1875, Wayne Agricultural relocated its operations to Richmond, Indiana.
In the late 1880s, Wayne Agricultural fell into receivership and was nearly closed; in 1888, the company was reorganized as Wayne Works.
In 1902, Wayne Works was forced to rebuild after a fire destroyed the factory.
Kid hacks
Following the closure of Wayne Agricultural in 1888, Wayne Works began focusing its product range from farm implements towards horse-drawn vehicles, including wagons and carriages.
In 1892, Wayne Works was commissioned by an Ohio school district to build a wagon designed for
student transport
Student transport is the transporting of children and teenagers to and from schools and school events. School transport can be undertaken by school students themselves (on foot, bicycle or perhaps horseback; or for older students, by car), they ...
. Its "School Car" featured perimeter seating with wooden bench seats.
Other wagons at the time adapted for transporting students were referred to as "school hacks,","school trucks," or "
kid hack
A kid hack was a horse-drawn vehicle used for transporting children to school in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. The word "hack," meaning a horse-drawn cab, is short for hackney carriage. The vehicle was actually power ...
s."
1900-1930: From wagons to buses
In 1902, Wayne Works was forced to completely rebuild after a fire destroyed the factory.
Moving away from farm implements, the company began a transition towards the manufacturing of automobile bodies. In addition, the company began production of complete automobiles, with the
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
built between 1901 and 1917.
The Wayne County Historical Museum in
Richmond, Indiana
Richmond is a city in eastern Wayne County, Indiana. Bordering the state of Ohio, it is the county seat of Wayne County and is part of the Dayton, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 36,812. Situa ...
has a rare 1907 "Richmond" on display, along with horse-drawn "kid hack" also manufactured by the Wayne Works.
In 1922, Wayne introduced the Touring Home, a
recreational vehicle
A recreational vehicle, often abbreviated as RV, is a motor vehicle or trailer that includes living quarters designed for accommodation. Types of RVs include motorhomes, campervans, coaches, caravans (also known as travel trailers and camper ...
derived from its bus body. By 1927, Wayne introduced the use of steel for its external body panels (combined with a wood internal frame).
First buses
In the 1910s, Wayne chose to become a body manufacturer for truck chassis (such as the
Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...
). In 1914, alongside a line of commercial truck bodies, the company introduced its first motorized "School Car", its first school bus mounted on an automotive chassis.
In the vehicle bodies for school transportation that the company produced during this era, passengers sat on perimeter seating, facing the sides rather than the front of the bus. In place of wooden benches, the 1914 School Car was fitted with padded seats.
Entry and egress was through a door at the rear, a design first utilized from the days of wagons (to avoid startling the horses). This feature was retained, becoming the rear emergency exit seen on the buses of today; the primary mode of ingress/egress is now through a curbside door.
Following World War I, Wayne Works began to produce the School Car in large numbers; alongside changes in education funding and school modernization, the motorized school bus was a contributing factor in the decline of rural
one-room school
One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...
s in United States. Although fewer children lived within walking distance of school, school systems consisted of fewer but larger multi-room schools.
1930s: Safety innovations
The 1930s marked a number of significant changes in school bus design. Among other manufacturers, Wayne would introduce changes that have remained part of school bus design, even decades later.
In 1930, Wayne Works became the first manufacturer to replace steel-sheathed bodies with full-steel construction, including the internal body frame. Initially offered as an option, the all-steel body became standard in 1933.
In 1933, Wayne became the first manufacturer to offer an all-steel body with
safety glass
Safety glass is glass with additional safety features that make it less likely to break, or less likely to pose a threat when broken. Common designs include toughened glass (also known as tempered glass), laminated glass, and wire mesh glass (al ...
windows. In addition, the company began to phase in the heavy-duty reinforced side rails seen on school buses, "collision rails" or "guard rails" became an added safety feature.
For 1936, Wayne redesigned its school bus body, making it sectional, allowing a customer to add or remove sections for repair or change capacity.
In 1937, the company produced its largest school bus, seating 115 students.
In 1938, Wayne Works introduced its first forward-control school bus, offered as a second-party conversion on its conventional-chassis body.
In contrast to later front-engine buses, the driver sat on top of the front axle (instead of before the front axle).
1940s: Production transition
In April 1939, a school bus industry conference hosted by rural education expert
Frank W. Cyr
Frank W. Cyr (July 7, 1900 – August 1, 1995) was an American educator and author known especially for his contribution to school busing.
As a specialist in rural education, he organized the United States' first national standards conference fo ...
would change the design of the school bus forever. Although Wayne Works was not a participant, the results would lead to many industry-wide changes. Along with the adoption of
chrome yellow
__NOTOC__
Chrome yellow is a yellow pigment in paints using monoclinic lead(II) chromate (PbCrO4). It occurs naturally as the mineral crocoite but the mineral ore itself was never used as a pigment for paint. After the French chemist Louis Vau ...
as a standard color for school buses, the conference resulted in the development of a number of industry-wide standards, including the adoption of forward-facing seats and the standardization of many body dimensions.
World War II production
For World War II, as with other school bus manufacturers, Wayne Works retooled as a military supplier for the Armed Forces. From 1942 to 1945, Wayne would produce 22,857 ambulance bodies for the
Dodge WC-54
The Dodge WC-54, Ambulance, -ton, 4 x 4, (List of U.S. Army weapons by supply catalog designation, SNL supply catalog
List of U.S. military vehicles by supply catalog designation#G500 to G599, designation G-502), was the main military ambulance var ...
4x4 chassis.
The military also were supplied with other vehicles from the company, including mobile machine shops and buses. Along with conventional-chassis buses, Wayne produced
trailer bus
A trailer bus is a trailer vehicle designed specifically for the transportation of passengers (a bus). Trailer buses typically comprise one of two forms:
*a semi-trailer pulled by a tractor unit (in the same way as a semi-trailer truck). The tr ...
es pulled by a semi-tractor; the latter buses could transport up to 150 passengers.
To conserve steel for war use, Wayne Works and other manufacturers reverted from all-steel construction to building some bus bodies with wooden components during World War II. The company also did some reconstruction on older buses and trucks to extend their lives during the war years, as did other bus body manufacturers. In 1944, as the end of World War II approached, Wayne returned to building all-steel bodies.
Post-war era
Following World War II, Wayne Works began to adapt for new markets for its vehicles. In 1948, Wayne entered a joint venture with
Crown Coach
The Crown Coach Corporation (founded as the Crown Carriage Company) is a defunct American bus manufacturer. Founded in 1904, the company was best known for its Supercoach range of yellow school buses and motorcoaches; the former vehicles were ...
to distribute a separate bus; the joint venture resulted in Crown becoming the West Coast distributor for Wayne.
The same year, Welles Corporation of
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...
became the sole Canadian distributor of Wayne Works school buses.
Named for Halsey V. Welles (who founded H. V. Welles Ltd. in 1925), Welles Corporation was first established as Warford Corp. of Canada to distribute Warford transmissions.
1950-1956: End of Wayne Works
In late 1950, Wayne Works changed hands, as the Jeffery Ives Corporation acquired Wayne Works from the Clements family, involved with the company ownership since 1897.
For 1952, the company introduced a redesigned bus body, introducing wraparound rear windows and an optional wraparound windshield.
In the mid-1950s, Wayne expanded beyond bus manufacturing, as it acquired two manufacturers of
professional car
A professional car is loosely defined as a vehicle based on a special long wheelbase commercial chassis and sometimes, though rarely, on modified passenger car chassis, for use as a hearse, flower car, service car, ambulance, limousines or for a c ...
s. In 1954, the company acquired Meteor Motor Car and A.J. Miller Company in 1956, merging them together as Miller-Meteor.
In 1956,
Newton Glekel
Newton most commonly refers to:
* Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist
* Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton
Newton may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film
* Newton ( ...
began negotiations with Divco to undergo a merger with Wayne Works. After having inspected the Richmond factory for a potential 1949 sale, the New York-based investor retained interest. At the time in the United States, Wayne controlled a 25% share of school bus manufacturing with Miller-Meteor controlling a 50% share of professional car manufacturing.
Divco-Wayne Corporation (1956-1968)
In November 1956, under the leadership of Newton Glekel, a real estate investor from New York, completed a merger of Divco and Wayne Works, with Divco acquiring the assets of Wayne; a 26% share was owned by the law firm owned by Glekel.
Under the merger, Wayne began business as the Divco-Wayne Corporation; by 1961, all management of the merged company came from Wayne, with Glekel serving as president.
Divco-Wayne structure
Following the merger, Divco-Wayne expanded into a manufacturing conglomerate; beyond its bus, professional car, and truck product lines, Divco-Wayne expanded into the manufacturing of mobile homes, recreational vehicles, and ambulances.
Although Divco would continue the manufacturing of its namesake delivery vehicles, nearly all vehicle manufacturing was completed through Wayne and its professional car subsidiaries.
Delivery vehicles (Divco)
Divco
Divco was a brand name of delivery trucks built and marketed in the United States. Divco is an acronym which stands for Detroit Industrial Vehicles COmpany. Divco became known for its multi-stop delivery trucks, particularly in use as home de ...
stands for Detroit Industrial Vehicles COmpany. Founded in 1926, Divco was known for its pioneering
delivery vehicles, with many examples built as
milk trucks. At the time of the Divco-Wayne merger, 75% of milk delivery vehicles sold in the United States were manufactured by Divco.
First built in 1926, Divco produced its delivery trucks until 1986; only the
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...
remained in production under a single generation for longer. Divco trucks have become popular collectible vehicles today.
Following the 1956 merger, Divco-Wayne continued manufacturing of Divco trucks in its
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
facility. From 1959 to 1961, the company produced the Divco Dividend bus, a Divco truck modified with seats and windows from Wayne buses.
In 1967, Divco-Wayne sold off its namesake truck manufacturing arm to air conditioning manufacturer Transairco.
As part of the sale, Transairco shifted manufacturing of Divco trucks in 1969 from Detroit to Delaware, Ohio, lasting until 1986.
File:Divco delivery truck - front.jpg, Divco milk delivery truck (vintage unknown)
File:Divco truck.jpg, Divco dairy truck
File:1962 Divco delivery truck 02.jpg, 1962 Divco delivery truck
Bus manufacturing (Wayne)
As Wayne started out as the Wayne Agricultural Works in the 19th century, all manufacturing had been centralized at its facility in Richmond, Indiana. Most bus bodies consisted of in-house manufactured parts and purchased components manufactured by others, combined into bus bodies in assembly operations. Thus, the major two functions of the Richmond, Indiana plant were manufacturing of parts, and assembly. Wayne bus bodies were also assembled at multiple locations of truck body dealers around the US and at a Canadian assembly plant, Welles, Ltd. in
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...
.
Kits were also shipped overseas even after all North American assembly was eventually centralized in Richmond, Indiana and Windsor, Ontario in the early 1960s.
During the earlier years of the school bus industry, the factory manufactured most of the parts used to assemble a bus body, but it was customary for these to be shipped unassembled to body dealers around the United States and Canada, for assembly onto an incomplete truck chassis. Gradually, as highway transportation of completed buses became more practical, and school bus bodies became more sophisticated, the assembly of complete bodies onto truck chassis in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
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 ...
became centralized at locations owned by the body companies. The companies often continued to ship "kits" overseas.
By the mid-1960s, several other body companies (notably
Blue Bird Body Company and
Perley A. Thomas Car Works
Perley A. Thomas Car Works, Inc. was an American manufacturer of streetcars based in High Point, North Carolina. Founded in 1916, the company was formed from the liquidation of Southern Car Works by its engineer, Perley A. Thomas. Along with the ...
) maintained assembly plants at multiple locations. Instead of establishing multiple assembly points in the U.S., Wayne chose to replace the overcrowded and aged Wayne Works facility on E Street near downtown Richmond with a single new plant large enough to handle both manufacturing and assembly for United States production. Due primarily to Canadian import tariffs, the separate Canadian assembly plant (Welles, Ltd.) had been established and was maintained for Canadian production. In 1963, Divco-Wayne acquired Welles entirely, making it a subsidiary of the company.
[Mark Theobald (2004)]
CoachBuilt
/ref>
Professional cars
The professional car
A professional car is loosely defined as a vehicle based on a special long wheelbase commercial chassis and sometimes, though rarely, on modified passenger car chassis, for use as a hearse, flower car, service car, ambulance, limousines or for a c ...
(quoted from a leading trade association) "is loosely defined as a custom-bodied vehicle, based on passenger car styling, and used in the funeral, rescue or livery services." Such vehicles may be ambulances, funeral cars (hearse
A hearse is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin at a funeral, wake, or memorial service. They range from deliberately ano ...
s, flower car
A flower car is a type of vehicle used in the funeral industry of the United States, frequently under the Cadillac brand.https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/you-dont-bring-me-flowers/amp It is used to carry flowers for the burial service, or ...
s, service cars), limousines, or combination cars, vehicles specially built to combine multiple functions (hearse-ambulances, sedan ambulances or invalid coaches). From the 1930s to the 1970s, a common starting point for such vehicles was the Cadillac Commercial Chassis
The Cadillac Commercial Chassis is a chassis that was built by the Cadillac division of General Motors. Produced from 1931 to 1979, the Commercial Chassis was constructed as an incomplete vehicle intended for use by coachbuilders for final ...
(or similar vehicles); using a heavy-duty frame, the vehicle was a bare chassis aft of the dashboard, leaving all exterior and interior bodywork to be completed by coachbuilders (much of the vehicle was completed by hand).
Divco-Wayne Corporation acquired two professional car manufacturers, Miller-Meteor and Cotner-Bevington; both companies produced funeral cars and ambulances.
=Miller-Meteor
=
Wayne Works purchased Meteor Motor Car Company in Piqua, Ohio
Piqua ( ) is a city in Miami County, southwest Ohio, United States, 27 miles north of Dayton. The population was 20,522 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area.
It was founded as the village of Washington in ...
in 1954. Meteor built professional cars, such as limousines and ambulances.
In 1956, Wayne acquired A.J. Miller's professional car building company of Bellefontaine, Ohio
Bellefontaine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Logan County, Ohio, United States, located 48 miles (77 km) northwest of Columbus. The population was 13,370 at the 2010 Census. It is the principal city of the Bellefontaine, OH Micropo ...
. The A.J. Miller Company had begun in 1853 by making horse carriages and then started making automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
s in the early part of the 20th century. However, the small company found it could not compete in the general market with the larger automobile makers, so they began specializing in hearses and ambulances. Over the years the Miller hearses became known and used throughout the world. The Miller Co. was combined with Wayne's existing professional car subsidiary, Meteor Motor Car Company, forming the new Miller-Meteor
The Wayne Corporation was an American manufacturer of buses and other vehicles under the "Wayne" marque. The corporate headquarters were in Richmond, Indiana, in Wayne County, Indiana. During the middle 20th century, Wayne served as a leading p ...
(M-M) division of Wayne.
Professional car manufacturers Miller and Meteor, newly combined as Miller-Meteor, were brought into the fold of Divco-Wayne as the newly formed conglomerate was developing its opportunities in this field. Although the recently combined Miller-Meteor company was initially based at Bellefontaine, Ohio
Bellefontaine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Logan County, Ohio, United States, located 48 miles (77 km) northwest of Columbus. The population was 13,370 at the 2010 Census. It is the principal city of the Bellefontaine, OH Micropo ...
, originally the home of the A.J. Miller Company, under Divco-Wayne ownership, it was later relocated to Piqua, Ohio
Piqua ( ) is a city in Miami County, southwest Ohio, United States, 27 miles north of Dayton. The population was 20,522 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area.
It was founded as the village of Washington in ...
, Meteor's old hometown nearby.
Ecto-1, the vehicle used by the protagonists in the 1984 film ''Ghostbusters
''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American Supernatural fiction, supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and ...
'' and its 1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
and 2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
sequels, is a 1959 Cadillac fitted with a Miller-Meteor ambulance body.[Wallace, Daniel (October 27, 2015). ''Ghostbusters: The Ultimate Visual History'', Insight Editions. ]San Rafael, California
San Rafael ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Raphael (archangel), St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), ...
. p. 41.
=Cotner-Bevington
=
Divco-Wayne acquired Cotner-Bevington
The Wayne Corporation was an American manufacturer of buses and other vehicles under the "Wayne" marque. The corporate headquarters were in Richmond, Indiana, in Wayne County, Indiana. During the middle 20th century, Wayne served as a leading p ...
Coach Company (C-B) in 1965, making it a subsidiary of Wayne Corporation. Founded as Comet Coach Company, the coachbuilder sold the rights in 1959 to the "Comet" name" to Ford Motor Company (which sought to use it for the Lincoln-Mercury Division); in 1960, the Mercury Comet
The Mercury Comet is an automobile that was produced by Mercury from 1960–1969 and 1971–1977 — variously as either a compact or an intermediate car. In its first two years, it was marketed as the "Comet" and from 1962 as the "Mercury Comet" ...
was introduced. In response, Comet Coach renamed itself Cotner-Bevington Coach Company, taking on the names of its two founders; the company also relocated from Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
, a few miles north to Blytheville, Arkansas
Blytheville is the county seat and the largest city in Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States. It is approximately north of West Memphis. The population was 13,406 at the 2020 census, down from 15,620 in 2010.
History
Blytheville was found ...
.
At the time of its acquisition by Divco-Wayne, Cotner-Bevington specialized primarily in ambulances based on Oldsmobile commercial chassis.
In 1968, Wayne began production of truck-based ambulances, using the Cotner-Bevington facilities. For 1968, the "Sentinel" (based on the Chevrolet Suburban) was introduced, expanding to the "Vanguard" (based on the Chevrolet Van) in 1971, and "Medicruiser" (based on Dodge Ram Van) in 1973. The Sentinel received a headroom increase for 1971, but were only built through the 1972 model year. After that, the Sentinel brand name was used on Wayne's line of Type I (pickup chassis) modular ambulances. Body shells were produced at the Richmond, Indiana, bus plant for Care-O-Van ambulance units, based upon cutaway chassis and Wayne Busette bodies.
In 1973, Wayne truck-based ambulance production moved to Piqua, Ohio, home to Miller-Meteor. C-B stayed in business through the 1975 model year, building only on Oldsmobile commercial chassis after 1964; all other production would become truck-based ambulances. In 1967, the company became the first coachbuilder to standardize air conditioning on all vehicles produced.
File:1959 Cadillac Ecto-1 (12227773836).jpg, The 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Futura Duplex Ambulance "Ectomobile" that was used in the Ghostbusters films.
File:1964 Cadillac Ambulance (14754837380).jpg, 1964 Cadillac ambulance with Miller-Meteor body.
File:1972 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Cotner Bevington Ambulance (14941091152).jpg, 1972 Oldsmobile 98 ambulance (Cotner-Bevington body)
File:GMC Suburban -- 07-11-2012.JPG, Wayne Sentinel ambulance (GMC C20 Suburban 1969–1972)
Non-automotive divisions
Divco-Wayne Corporation manufactured housing
Manufactured housing (commonly known as mobile homes in the United States) is a type of prefabricated housing that is largely assembled in factories and then transported to sites of use. The definition of the term in the United States is regula ...
brands included Kozy, Elcar, Star, and National. The Divco-Wayne conglomerate also had a financial arm, Divco-Wayne Acceptance Corporation, which was also known as Divco-Wayne Financial, Wayne Acceptance or Financial Corporation and Wayne Financial Sales Corporation.
From 1958 to 1959, the company owned Divco-Wayne Electronics. In a $1.5 million purchase of the Electronics Division of Gruen Watch Company of Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, Divco-Wayne sought to enter the aerospace technology segment. After poor results, the Electronics Division was sold off.
Distribution network
More than a few Wayne dealerships were operated by school bus contractor
A school bus contractor is a private company or proprietorship that provides student transport services to a school district or non-public school. Of the 450,000 school buses operating in the United States, it is estimated that approximately ...
s. ARA Transportation and Laidlaw
Laidlaw (), organized as Laidlaw International, Inc. (with corporate headquarters in Naperville, Illinois) was the largest provider of intercity bus services, contract public transit and paratransit, and contract school bus service in both t ...
were the largest. Others included Bus and Bodies of Plaistow, New Hampshire
Plaistow (, ) is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 7,830 at the 2020 census.
History
Plaistow was officially established as a town in 1749 after the 1739 resolution ...
, Town & Country Transportation of Warren, Rhode Island
Warren is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 11,147 at the 2020 census.
History
Warren was the site of the Pokanoket Indian settlement of Sowams located on a peninsula within the Pokanoket region. The reg ...
, Rohrer of Duncannon, Pennsylvania
Duncannon is a borough in Perry County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,473 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. The center of population of Pennsylvania is located in D ...
, Virginia Overland Transportation of Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
, mapsize = 250 px
, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
, pushpin_label = Richmond
, pushpin_m ...
, and School Bus Services of Shawnee Mission, Kansas
Shawnee Mission is a region of northern Johnson County, Kansas, part of the Kansas City metropolitan area in the United States. Since August 1, 1960, the United States Postal Service has used the name to denote a large postal coverage area ( Z ...
. These school bus contractors, several of whom were also involved in contracting paratransit
Paratransit is the term used in North America, also known by other names such as community transport ( UK) for transportation services that supplement fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. ...
services, found having a dealership provided both a source and an input to product design at Wayne, as well as a natural outlet for sale of surplus equipment at the end of contract periods.
Wayne Export was a Divco-Wayne division which specialized in selling disassembled Wayne bodies knock-down kit
A knock-down kit (also knockdown kit, knocked-down kit, or simply knockdown or KD) is a collection of parts required to assemble a product. The parts are typically manufactured in one country or region, then exported to another country or region ...
s (CKDs) outside North America. By 1957, Wayne bus bodies were in use in 60 different countries.
In 1963, Wayne licensed the Spanish S.A. Bosuga to build in Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
coach bodies based on Wayne's technology and designs. These were marketed as Bosuga Wayne, utilizing mainly Pegaso
Pegaso (, "Pegasus") was a Spanish manufacturer of trucks, buses, tractors, armored vehicles, and, for a while, to train apprentices, and have a good brand image, some sports cars. The parent company, Enasa, was created in 1946 and based in the ...
and Barreiros- AEC chassis. The venture was short-lived since the Spanish market for coach bodies was crowded.
Factory relocation
As early as 1964, Divco-Wayne started plans for the construction of a new plant. In need for over 100 acres of land to build a factory, the company purchased a site in Florence, Kentucky
Florence is a home rule-class city in Boone County, Kentucky, United States. Florence is the second largest city located in Northern Kentucky, after Covington, and part of the Greater Cincinnati Metropolitan Area. The population was 31,946 at ...
. In response, $450,000 was raised by the community of Richmond and local UAW to persuade the company to build on a 100-acre parcel of land outside of the city, located near the intersection of Interstate 70
Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15, I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of Interstate 695 (Maryland), I-695 in ...
and US 35 northwest of the city.
In late 1964, construction began on the new facility, at a cost of $3.5 million. As it opened at the beginning of 1967, the new Richmond factory included assembly and manufacturing for all Wayne product lines under one roof, including steel manufacturing presses, rust-proofing equipment, and paint booths. Although export buses would remain shipped in CKD form (to ease shipping), the new factory allowed all buses to leave the factory fully assembled and driveable.
Divco-Wayne breakup
From 1967 to 1968, the makeup of Wayne Corporation would change significantly, changing hands twice within 2 years. At the end of 1966, Divco was put up for sale and sold to Transairco. At the beginning of 1967, Newton Glekel put the entirety of Divco-Wayne Corporation up for sale.
After several offers, the company was sold for $47.1 million in January 1968 to Boise Cascade
Boise Cascade Company (), which uses the trade name Boise Cascade, is a North American manufacturer of wood products and wholesale distributor of building materials, headquartered in Boise, Idaho.
with sales over $7.9 billion in 2021, it is trad ...
, a wood-products manufacturer. As Boise Cascade had sought out Divco-Wayne for its manufactured-housing division, Wayne Corporation was resold in October 1968 for $15 million to Indian Head, Inc., a textile conglomerate. The sale included Wayne Corporation and its transportation-segment subsidiaries: Welles, Miller-Meteor, and Cotner-Bevington.
Wayne Corporation (1968-1992)
Indian Head ownership (1968-1975)
Divco-Wayne had formed a union and had expanded into a moderate sized-conglomerate, with all facilities basically within of Wayne's Richmond, Indiana base. In contrast, Indian Head was already a large and diversified corporate conglomerate when it purchased Wayne Corporation and its subsidiaries in 1968. Indian Head Inc. acquired Wayne Corp., which its history recorded as "maker of school buses, ambulances, hearses, professional cars" from Divco-Wayne.
New-generation buses
The late 1960s and early 1970s led to the development of new platforms suitable for use for small school buses. Additionally, to improve the basic structural integrity of full-size school buses, Wayne engineers went back to the drawing board and changed how school buses were constructed with an all-new body design.
= Small buses: Papoose and Busette
=
In the early 1970s, the principal platform for school buses smaller than conventional types but with more than 4 wheels was the truck chassis in widespread use for commercial delivery work: the step van
Multi-stop trucks (also known as walk-in delivery or step vans) are a type of light-duty and medium-duty truck created for local deliveries to residences and businesses. They are designed to be driven either sitting down or standing up, and oft ...
. Essentially developed as a newer, larger generation of the Divco truck or IHC Metro van, the step van chassis was built with dual rear wheels and shipped to a body manufacturer with a bare frame. Often referred to as a "P-chassis", step-van chassis were produced by both Ford or General Motors.
In 1969, Carpenter Body Works became the first company to build a school bus on a P-chassis, named the Cadet. In 1970, Wayne developed its own vehicle line for a Chevrolet P-chassis, named the Wayne Papoose. The front bodywork of the Papoose was designed in an effort to maximize forward visibility; in what would make for an unusual appearance, the front bodywork also maximized the use of flat glass and flat-paneled sheetmetal. Described by some observers as "severe" in its appearance, the Papoose earned other nicknames even less kind.
Although the Papoose failed to gain ground in the school bus segment and was discontinued in 1973, other school bus manufacturers would develop buses of a similar configuration by the end of the 1970s, with the Blue Bird Mini Bird and Carpenter Cadet remaining in production into the late 1990s.
Following the failure of the Papoose, Wayne chose to develop an even smaller school bus, becoming the first manufacturer to adapt a cutaway van
Cutaway van chassis are used by second stage manufacturers for a wide range of completed motor vehicles. Especially popular in the United States, they are usually based upon incomplete vans to be bigger or smaller than pickup trucks and SUVs mad ...
chassis for school bus use. For 1973, the Busette
The Wayne Busette is a minibus that was assembled by Wayne Corporation from 1973 to 1990. During its production, many examples of the Busette were produced as school buses. One of the first examples produced with a cutaway van chassis, the Buset ...
was introduced, using Chevrolet/GMC and Dodge chassis. Prior to the Busette, small school buses were conversions of full-size vans or large SUVs (such as the Chevrolet Suburban or International Travelall). Using a cutaway chassis, the Busette placed a purpose-built bus body on a dual rear-wheel chassis; the wider rear axle provided an extra margin of stability and capability over converted passenger vehicles.
Following its introduction, the Busette (and its Transette commercial variant) set a design precedent for the configuration of all small buses, not just school buses. The Busette and Transette also were among the first small buses to be fitted with wheelchair lifts.
=Full-size buses: Lifeguard
=
In the early 1930s, Wayne was one of the first school bus manufacturers to introduce guard rails and all-metal construction into school bus design. While safer than wooden body construction, riveted metal body panels posed problems of their own; in a crash, a weak point of the body was identified as the joints where body panels were fastened together.
In 1967, safety engineers of Ward Body Works
Ward Body Works (also known as Ward Industries and Ward School Bus Manufacturing, Inc.) was an American bus manufacturer. Headquartered in Conway, Arkansas, Ward specialized in yellow school buses, alongside buses for other uses. Founded in 193 ...
of Conway, Arkansas
Conway is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Faulkner County, located in the state's most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area, Central Arkansas. Although considered a suburb of Little Rock, Conway is unusual in that ...
(a competing bus manufacturer) subjected one of their school bus bodies to a multiple roll test and noted the separation at the joints. Ward noted that many of their competitors were using far fewer rivets and fasteners. This resulted in new attention by all manufacturers to the number and quality of fasteners.
As opposed to simply adding more fasteners, Wayne engineers proposed eliminating the body panel joints entirely; essentially, the entire side of the bus would have to be formed from a single piece of metal. The roof panel would be manufactured in the same fashion: one piece, cut to length. Fasteners would only be needed for the interior structure, the guardrails, and at the rear of the bus.
In 1973, Wayne introduced the new design, branded the Lifeguard. Although Wayne needed specialized equipment to manufacture the Lifeguard's body panels, the design also reduced overall body weight and man-hours required for assembly.
Indian Head and Thyssen
In 1973, Indian Head established a joint business venture with Thyssen-Bornemisza Group N.V., a Dutch holding company. In 1975, the rest of Indian Head Industries was sold to (and folded into) Thyssen-Bornemisza, a conglomerate based in Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
, which was owned by one man: Baron Hans Heinrich (Heini) Thyssen-Bornemisza.
Thyssen-Bornemisza ownership (1975-1984)
Thyssen spent much of the next 8–10 years selling off or closing its North American investments. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the portions of Thyssen-Bornemisza which formed the Wayne Corporation went through a period of decline. By 1980, Wayne existed solely as a bus manufacturer in a segment itself struggling to survive.
In 1975, when the ownership of Wayne Corporation shifted from Indian Head to Thyssen, Wayne was one of six major school bus body builders in the United States. Wayne apparently enjoyed some profitable years in the late 1970s, buoyed by sales of its Busette
The Wayne Busette is a minibus that was assembled by Wayne Corporation from 1973 to 1990. During its production, many examples of the Busette were produced as school buses. One of the first examples produced with a cutaway van chassis, the Buset ...
and Transette product lines. By 1980, the company was one of the "Big Six" school bus body manufacturing companies in the United States, competing with Blue Bird Body Company, Carpenter Body Works, Superior Coach Company
Superior Coach was a coachbuilder in the American automotive industry. Founded in 1909 as the Garford Motor Truck Company, Superior is best known for constructing bodies for professional cars (hearses) and school buses. Following major downtur ...
, Thomas Built Buses, Inc.
Thomas Built Buses, Inc. (commonly known as Thomas) is an American bus manufacturer. Best known for its production of yellow school buses, Thomas produces other bus designs for a variety of usages. Currently, its production is concentrated on sc ...
, and Ward Body Works
Ward Body Works (also known as Ward Industries and Ward School Bus Manufacturing, Inc.) was an American bus manufacturer. Headquartered in Conway, Arkansas, Ward specialized in yellow school buses, alongside buses for other uses. Founded in 193 ...
; the Big Six were joined by Crown Coach Corporation
The Crown Coach Corporation (founded as the Crown Carriage Company) is a defunct American bus manufacturer. Founded in 1904, the company was best known for its Supercoach range of yellow school buses and motorcoaches; the former vehicles were ...
and Gillig Bros., manufacturers which traded primarily on the West Coast.
A downturn in North American school bus purchase volumes began in the late 1970s as the children of the Baby Boom
A baby boom is a period marked by a significant increase of birth rate. This demographic phenomenon is usually ascribed within certain geographical bounds of defined national and cultural populations. People born during these periods are often ca ...
completed their elementary and secondary educations. Bidding competition for reduced volumes became devastating to profits and even liquidity.
Closure of professional car manufacturing
The professional car industry was negatively and profoundly impacted by three factors in the late 1970s. At the time, many units served as both ambulances and funeral vehicles, called "combinations." Combinations disappeared from general service in the late 1970s. The downsizing of America's biggest luxury cars, beginning with the 1977 model year, forced major changes upon professional car builders, who were dependent upon car frames purchased from General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
and Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
to begin their conversion processes.
Cotner-Bevington was closed in 1975, with Thyssen selling off its assets; Miller-Meteor was closed at the end of 1979.
;Downsizing
Alongside the rest of the full-size Cadillac product model line, the Cadillac commercial chassis
The Cadillac Commercial Chassis is a chassis that was built by the Cadillac division of General Motors. Produced from 1931 to 1979, the Commercial Chassis was constructed as an incomplete vehicle intended for use by coachbuilders for final ...
was downsized for 1977 to reduce vehicle weight and fuel consumption. The Cadillac Division built 1,299 commercial chassis for 1977; of that total, only 21 Lifeliner Cadillac ambulances were manufactured by Wayne's Miller-Meteor subsidiary.
For 1978, Cadillac's commercial chassis production further declined to only 852 units; Miller-Meteor received orders for only 4 ambulances. There were no 1979 Miller-Meteor ambulances. On December 13, 1979, the company, with roots tracing back to 1853, closed its doors. The company laid-off 252 employees and terminated the contracts of their 34 North American distributors. By the late 1970s, as the situation became critical, Wayne Corporation, the parent of M-M and C-B, and Wayne's Thyssen owners chose not to invest heavily in either firm as would have been required in the uncertain futures of the diverging professional car and ambulance building industries. There were no buyers for either subsidiary as a going business. In 1980, Cotner-Bevington ambulance product line was sold to Gene Knisley, owner of Mid-Continent Conversion Co., which was an ambulance and medicar builder in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
. The C-B plant in Blytheville, Arkansas
Blytheville is the county seat and the largest city in Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States. It is approximately north of West Memphis. The population was 13,406 at the 2020 census, down from 15,620 in 2010.
History
Blytheville was found ...
was closed.
A few years later, the rights to the Miller-Meteor name were acquired and resurrected by another professional car builder in Norwalk, Ohio
Norwalk is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Huron County, Ohio, Huron County. The population was 17,012 at the United States Census 2010, 2010 census. The city is the center of the Norwalk, OH μSA, Norwalk Micropolitan Stat ...
which in 2004 was producing a line of funeral coaches and limousines on Cadillac and Lincoln chassis under the Miller-Meteor brand name.
;Regulatory Changes
At the same time coachbuilders met downsizing in the automotive industry, the federal government in the United States updated its requirements concerning minimum width, headroom, and equipment levels of emergency vehicles. These changes were part of the 1973 National EMS Systems Act, which was passed by Congress in 1974, and implemented four years later (in 1978). In order for communities to receive federal funds, their ambulances were required to meet updated federal specifications. Passenger-based vehicles were purposely excluded from legislation and the last American-made automobile-based ambulance was built in 1978.
Three design styles meet the criteria and are still in use today (as of 2017):
In the early 1970s, Wayne introduced a full line of non-car-based ambulances; the Type III Medi-cruiser was based on the popular Dodge B-series van Tradesman panel van, the Care-O-Van was a Type II ambulance and the Type I Guardian, an early version of a 1-ton truck-based modular ambulance.
Rabbitransit: 41-MPG Taxi
About the time of the 1979 energy crisis
The 1979 oil crisis, also known as the 1979 Oil Shock or Second Oil Crisis, was an energy crisis caused by a drop in oil production in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Although the global oil supply only decreased by approximately four per ...
, Wayne's Engineering Department experimented with creation of a stretch conversion of the diesel
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
-powered Volkswagen Rabbit
The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates ...
. The "Rabbitransit" vehicle would have the potential to transport a large number of passengers (8–12) with very efficient fuel consumption in comparison with other automobiles.
The mini-taxi project was dropped by Wayne. For potential liability reasons, the frequently seen "Rabbitransit" at the Richmond plant could not be sold for highway use and it was later destroyed.
Sale by Thyssen
Although not publicly reported (as corporate ownership under Thyssen was private), it is likely that Wayne and Welles began incurring losses around 1980 or 1981, and these continued into 1982. By 1983, Wayne dealers and union leaders were told that the annual losses at Wayne/Welles were reportedly in the millions, and the Thyssen owners were poised to end the relationship and financial hemorrhage.
In 1984, following significant concessions by its unionized workers, members of United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico ...
Local # 721 which were intended to make the company more efficient, Wayne Corporation (and its Canadian subsidiary, Welles, Ltd.) were sold by Thyssen to new owners.
Richmond Transportation Corporation (1985-1992)
In 1984, Richmond Transportation Corporation (RTC) was formed by Jack H. Dekruif
Jack may refer to:
Places
* Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA
People and fictional characters
* Jack (given name), a male given name, i ...
, a Corona del Mar, California
Corona del Mar (Spanish for "Crown of the Sea") is a seaside neighborhood in the city of Newport Beach, California. It generally consists of all the land on the seaward face of the San Joaquin Hills south of Avocado Avenue to the city limits, as ...
-based industrialist, and several officers who had served at Wayne for many years under the Indian Head and Thyssen ownership. RTC acquired Wayne Corporation and its Welles subsidiary in Canada in February, 1985. Terry G. Whitesell
Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine).
People
Male
* Terry Albritton (1955–2005), A ...
was named President of RTC. A civic leader in Richmond, Indiana, his prior responsibilities at Wayne included sales, marketing, and purchasing over a period of more than 15 years. Whitesell was well known within the company, its dealer and supplier networks, and the industry.
Although as industrialist investor, Dekruif had a track record of liquidating troubled businesses, he was persuaded to allow the new organization to operate and compete. Several successful years followed. The Chaperone and Chaperone II products on cutaway van chassis
Cutaway van chassis are used by second stage manufacturers for a wide range of completed motor vehicles. Especially popular in the United States, they are usually based upon incomplete vans to be bigger or smaller than pickup trucks and SUVs mad ...
did well, and several Wayne dealer-contractors were expanding, most notably Laidlaw
Laidlaw (), organized as Laidlaw International, Inc. (with corporate headquarters in Naperville, Illinois) was the largest provider of intercity bus services, contract public transit and paratransit, and contract school bus service in both t ...
. In the fall of 1986, the company was preparing to launch an initial public stock offering (IPO) when "Black Monday
Black Monday refers to specific Mondays when undesirable or turbulent events have occurred. It has been used to designate massacres, military battles, and stock market crashes.
Historic events
*1209, Dublin – when a group of 500 recently arriv ...
" struck the stock market that October, forcing cancellation of the IPO.
New-generation buses: Chaperone and Lifestar
In 1985, Wayne introduced the Chaperone, a school bus designed to use a cutaway van chassis. Although the Busette had proven successful in the marketplace, its standard interior height of 63 inches was far shorter than a full-size school bus. In addition, the company sought to adapt the longitudinal-panel construction of the Wayne Lifeguard on a smaller bus. Using the same GM and Ford dual rear-wheel chassis as the Busette/Transette, the Chaperone fit the single-panel construction of the Lifeguard on its body, along with a standard bus-style door.
The Busette would remain in production alongside the Chaperone through 1990, when Wayne sold its body tooling to Mid Bus
Mid Bus was a corporation which specialized in manufacturing customized school buses. Formed in 1981 by former employees of Superior Coach Company in Lima, Ohio, it grew from a dozen employees working in a small facility in Lima to become one of ...
.
For 1986, Wayne Corporation introduced the Wayne Lifestar
The Wayne Lifestar is a product line of buses that was manufactured and marketed by Wayne Corporation and its successor company Wayne Wheeled Vehicles from 1986 to 1995. Produced nearly exclusively in a school bus configuration, the Wayne Lifesta ...
, its first transit-style school bus since the early 1970s and its first transit-style bus with a front-engine layout since World War II. Designed specifically for school bus use, the body of the Lifestar was designed to share the longitudinal side panels of the Lifeguard. Unlike its largest competitors, Wayne did not have the manufacturing equipment or capacity to build chassis in-house; consequently, chassis from an outside supplier was crucial. Supply problems outside of the company's control led to the use of several suppliers for the Lifestar over its production run.
Bankruptcy
In the school bus marketplace, Wayne struggled alongside its competitors. In 1986, a major potential order for Wayne in Canada was split between Wayne and Ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
. During 1987, its Welles factory in Canada was destroyed by fire; to keep the division in business, Wayne had to remodel a separate factory in Windsor; in June 1990, the Welles division was closed entirely.
Shortly after the introduction of the Wayne Lifestar, the Blue Bird TC/2000
The Blue Bird TC/2000 is a product line of buses that was produced by the American manufacturer Blue Bird Corporation (then Blue Bird Body Company) from 1987 to 2003. Introduced as a second transit-style product range alongside the Blue Bird All ...
was introduced; a model similar to the Lifestar, the TC/2000 captured a large share of the school bus segment. In 1991, Navistar, a chassis supplier for the Wayne Lifestar, purchased a controlling interest in AmTran; along with the end of Ward in school bus manufacturing, the purchase also began a period of mergers and acquisitions of school bus manufacturers by chassis suppliers.
Richmond Transportation Corporation (RTC) declared bankruptcy in August 1992, with the company put up for auction.
Epilogue
After the bankruptcy of Richmond Transportation Corporation, Wayne Corporation effectively ceased to exist. During its liquidation, the product rights and many of the assets of the company (aside from the company itself and its liabilities) were purchased in February 1993 by a subsidiary of Harsco Corporation
Harsco Corporation is a global industrial company based in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Harsco operates in 30 countries and employs approximately 11,000 people worldwide. The company provides industrial services and engineered products that serve ...
for $2.1 million. Re-organized as Wayne Wheeled Vehicles
Wayne Wheeled Vehicles (WWV) was a tradename of a division of a vehicle manufacturer that specialized primarily in the production of school buses. It was owned by Harsco Corporation, who purchased the rights to use the Wayne brand name, certain ...
(WWV), production of the Chaperone, Lifeguard, and Lifestar were transferred to a facility in Marysville, Ohio
Marysville is a city in and the county seat of Union County, Ohio, United States, approximately 27 miles (44 km) northwest of Columbus. The population was 22,094 at the 2010 census, a 38.59% increase from 2000.
Marysville's longtime slog ...
to supplement production of military trucks.
In June 1995, after an attempted sale of the company fell through, WWV was closed down by its parent company. At the time of its closure, Wayne was in the process of launching the ''RD-9000'', a rear-engine school bus. Featuring innovations that would have been new to the school bus industry, the RD-9000 was never mass-produced;[Wayne RD 9000 promo video](_blank)
some features were eventually adopted by competitive builders.
While initially shuttered after the closure, the large Richmond factory would play a key role in the future of a major competitor to Wayne late in the 1990s. Additionally, part of the Lifeguard and the Busette designs were adopted by competitors as well.
Mid Bus
In 1980, following the collapse of the professional car
A professional car is loosely defined as a vehicle based on a special long wheelbase commercial chassis and sometimes, though rarely, on modified passenger car chassis, for use as a hearse, flower car, service car, ambulance, limousines or for a c ...
industry and growing overcapacity among school bus body manufacturers, Superior Coach Company
Superior Coach was a coachbuilder in the American automotive industry. Founded in 1909 as the Garford Motor Truck Company, Superior is best known for constructing bodies for professional cars (hearses) and school buses. Following major downtur ...
of Lima, Ohio was shut down by its parent company Sheller-Globe. The next year, Mid Bus
Mid Bus was a corporation which specialized in manufacturing customized school buses. Formed in 1981 by former employees of Superior Coach Company in Lima, Ohio, it grew from a dozen employees working in a small facility in Lima to become one of ...
was formed by three former Superior employees; along with seven co-workers, they began manufacturing small school buses in a different facility in Lima. While full-size buses still retained the Superior name, the company debuted a small bus named ''Superior by Mid Bus''. A conversion of a full-size van, it also added a raised roof, reinforced body sides, and school bus windows. In 1987, the "Superior by Mid Bus" name was dropped in favor of "Mid Bus".
By the end of the 1980s, Mid Bus sought to compete with larger-scale school bus manufactures; the company sought expertise in developing a product based on a cutaway van. In 1990, Wayne Corporation discontinued Busette
The Wayne Busette is a minibus that was assembled by Wayne Corporation from 1973 to 1990. During its production, many examples of the Busette were produced as school buses. One of the first examples produced with a cutaway van chassis, the Buset ...
production in favor of its newer Chaperone model; additionally, the company was closing the Welles plant in Canada, where Busette production had been located. Mid Bus entered into an arrangement with Wayne to take over Busette production in its own facility in Ohio. Not only did the use of an existing design lower development costs, but the popularity of the Busette (especially among Head Start agencies) allowed for an existing customer base.
Crown by Carpenter
: ''See Also:'' Crown By Carpenter
In May 1991, Carpenter Body Works of Mitchell, Indiana purchased the tooling, intellectual, and product rights of Crown Coach Corporation
The Crown Coach Corporation (founded as the Crown Carriage Company) is a defunct American bus manufacturer. Founded in 1904, the company was best known for its Supercoach range of yellow school buses and motorcoaches; the former vehicles were ...
, a California-based school bus manufacturer that had closed that year. While Carpenter had originally planned to restart production of the Crown Supercoach Series II, its high cost and complexity of production would cause that proposal to be shelved in favor of its own design.
In 1995, Carpenter began a series of major changes within the company in order to regain lost market share. To modernize its production facilities, Carpenter moved out of its aging facilities in Mitchell, Indiana and leased the shuttered Wayne facilities in Richmond, moving its corporate headquarters there. By moving to the Wayne facilities, Carpenter had the asset of combining its own team with former Wayne Corporation employees. Both the leadership and workforce based at Richmond included a number of veterans of the former Wayne operations there; as such, they brought considerable experience and knowledge of the plant and industry to the effort. Nevertheless, major outside forces still to be faced were a supply of suitable chassis and the overcapacity of the body industry
As part of the move, Carpenter unveiled major changes for its 1996 product line. On the outside, the body now wore full-length guard rails above the wheels. Under the skin, the body was redesigned with single-piece roof bows; new welding procedures allowed by the equipment at Richmond strengthened roof joints (unlike a crucial structural flaw later found in Mitchell-produced buses). Inside the bus, Wayne tooling was used to update certain areas of the Carpenter buses; on conventional buses, Carpenter re-used the driver control panel and windshield from the Wayne Lifeguard; all full-size buses would use Wayne entry doors.
The company considered the transformation so extensive that it changed its name and company logo. Resurrecting the first half of the Crown Coach name, Carpenter was now known as ''Crown By Carpenter'' and used its own version of a logo introduced by Crown Coach in the late 1980s. In an effort to further diversify its product line outside of school buses, the company introduced a delivery truck
Delivery is the process of transporting goods from a source location to a predefined destination. Cargo (physical goods) is primarily delivered via roads and railroads on land, shipping lanes on the sea, and airline networks in the air. Cer ...
loosely based on its Cadet bus products.
In 1998, Carpenter was acquired by one of its largest chassis suppliers, Spartan Motors
The Shyft Group (), formerly known as Spartan Motors, is an American automobile design company that designs, engineers and manufactures specialty chassis, specialty vehicles, truck bodies and aftermarket parts for the recreational vehicle (RV), ...
of Charlotte, Michigan
Charlotte ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 9,074. It is the county seat of Eaton County.
Charlotte is in the central portion of the county, on the boundary between Eaton Township and C ...
. Spartan Motors was a chassis supplier known for high-margin, low-volume markets; some examples include chassis for fire apparatus and luxury motorhomes (Spartan was a supplier for certain models of the Blue Bird Wanderlodge
Wanderlodge is a retired series of recreational vehicles built by American bus manufacturer Blue Bird Body Company (now Blue Bird Corporation). Introduced as the Blue Bird Transit Home in 1963, the Wanderlodge was a derivative of the Blue Bird Al ...
, for example). During the economic times around the millennium, lower initial capital costs for school buses seemed to trump their longevity. When it was time for purchasing decisions, financially pressed districts and contractors tended to select cheaper products with short life cycles. This was much the same dilemma faced by Wayne Wheeled Vehicles parent company Harsco-BMY, where a lesser quantity of higher quality products (at a correspondingly higher price) had also been the plant's historical output.
Carpenter had been struggling for almost 20 years when it too finally ended school bus production in 2001. Spartan, by then a ⅔ owner, did not see a solution to the market dilemma and felt the projected continued losses would exceed the value to their business plan, voting to end the venture."Carpenter Buses"
School Bus Explorer Archives, retrieved on 2009-11-06.
Future of the Plant
The former Wayne Corporation plant, after standing idle for a number of years, was purchased by a group of investors in 2005 with the intention of using the plant and surrounding property for a business park. The investors intended to use the large plant to house a number of smaller companies, rather than looking for a single, large corporation. At the end of 2006, the property along
Interstate 70
Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15, I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of Interstate 695 (Maryland), I-695 in ...
was becoming re-utilized for a number of retail and industrial enterprises. Included was construction of new retail businesses such as restaurants and service stations near the busy Interstate highway exit which had been known for over 25 years for the massive bus factory and acres of yellow school buses and chassis of Wayne Corporation.
Products
* Wayne Papoose school bus (1971–1973)
*
Wayne Lifeguard
The Wayne Lifeguard is a type C school bus built by Wayne Corporation, introduced in 1973. Produced until Wayne Corporation declared bankruptcy and was liquidated in late 1992, the Lifeguard was also produced by successor Wayne Wheeled Vehicle ...
school bus (1973–1995)
*
Wayne Busette
The Wayne Busette is a minibus that was assembled by Wayne Corporation from 1973 to 1990. During its production, many examples of the Busette were produced as school buses. One of the first examples produced with a cutaway van chassis, the Busett ...
school bus (1973–1990)
* Wayne Transette bus
* Wayne Transette XT bus
* Wayne Chaperone school bus (1985–1995)
* Wayne Chaperone II school bus (1985–1995)
*
Wayne Lifestar
The Wayne Lifestar is a product line of buses that was manufactured and marketed by Wayne Corporation and its successor company Wayne Wheeled Vehicles from 1986 to 1995. Produced nearly exclusively in a school bus configuration, the Wayne Lifesta ...
school bus (1986–1995)
* Wayne RD 9000 school bus (1995 prototype only; never mass-produced)
References
External links
Wayne County Historical Museum – main pageThe History of Miller-MeteorU.S. DOT, NHTSA, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for School Buses (FMVSS)
{{Authority control
Companies established in 1837
Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1995
Coachbuilders of the United States
Richmond, Indiana
Defunct companies based in Indiana
1837 establishments in Indiana
1995 disestablishments in Indiana
Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States
Brass Era vehicles
Veteran vehicles
1900s cars
Vintage vehicles