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| - Crown Body & Coach Corporation, also known as the Crown Firecoach Division of Crown Coach Corporation was a custom chassis and fire apparatus manufacturer located in Los Angeles and Chino, California. It's most famous product was the cab-forward Crown Firecoach chassis.
- Crown Coach Corporation was founded by D. Brockway in 1904 as the "Crown Carriage Company" in Los Angeles, California, eventually moving factory operations to Chino, California in San Bernardino County. Both factories have since been razed. The property in Los Angeles is now a manufacturing center and the office and paint shed of the Chino property stood for a while longer and were eventually torn down as well. General Electric supposedly owns the site. Since a large number of 30-plus year old Crown school buses are still in service, replacement parts are supplied by West Coach, a company started by a group of former Crown Coach employees.
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| abstract
| - Crown Coach Corporation was founded by D. Brockway in 1904 as the "Crown Carriage Company" in Los Angeles, California, eventually moving factory operations to Chino, California in San Bernardino County. Both factories have since been razed. The property in Los Angeles is now a manufacturing center and the office and paint shed of the Chino property stood for a while longer and were eventually torn down as well. General Electric supposedly owns the site. Since a large number of 30-plus year old Crown school buses are still in service, replacement parts are supplied by West Coach, a company started by a group of former Crown Coach employees. Crown Coach was the creator of the original large, flat nose (transit style or "Type D"), high capacity school bus. Their first example appeared in 1932. That vehicle still exists today. Beginning as a motorized truck builder, Crown expanded into passenger vehicles and quit building trucks. Working with Tanner Grey Line of Los Angeles, Crown designed the well-known Art Deco coach that eventually led to a school coach utilizing unibody construction, mid-ship underfloor mounted commercial truck engines (often by Detroit Diesel or Cummins; a handful of them had Caterpillar engines) and off-the-shelf Class 8 truck parts, which made them economical to operate. Starting with steel skins, Crown later switched to rust-resistant aluminum panels. As regulations changed, the coach evolved into one of the safest, most reliable school buses. They were so well built that one of the factors that forced Crown to shut down was their product's extremely long life. School districts would send in their aging Crown buses for rebuilding and repainting, and have them returned looking nearly new. The service life of the average school bus today is approximately ten years. There are many Crown buses over 20 years old still plying the roads of California, and in private use as converted coaches. Many Crown buses retired by school districts in the U.S. continue to serve in Mexico as local transit buses, private charters, and even cross-country tour coaches. From 1951 to 1985, Crown Coach Corporation was also a manufacturer of fire apparatus under the Firecoach brand, it was a 1965 open cab Crown Firecoach that was used to portray Engine 51, during the first two seasons of the NBC/Universal television series Emergency!, the coach actually belonged to Los Angeles Fire Department Engine Company 60, which was located on the Universal Studios lot. In 1974, Emergency! Executive Producer Jack Webb was able to purchase a fire engine, thereby allowing the Crown to return to the use for which it was intended. After being purchased by General Electric a few years prior, operation ceased in 1991.
- Crown Body & Coach Corporation, also known as the Crown Firecoach Division of Crown Coach Corporation was a custom chassis and fire apparatus manufacturer located in Los Angeles and Chino, California. It's most famous product was the cab-forward Crown Firecoach chassis.
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