Highway Products, Inc., based in

Kent, Ohio Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County, Ohio, Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeast Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 28,215 at the 2020 United States ...

, was formed by Joseph Thomas 'Joe' Myers in 1960 to manufacture truck bodies for specialty markets such as mobile

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

s. In addition to mail trucks and mobile post offices the company also manufactured small boats for both military and commercial use, missile launchers and engines. The company diversified into small

transit bus A transit bus (also big bus, commuter bus, city bus, town bus, urban bus, stage bus, public bus, public transit bus, or simply bus) is a type of bus used in public transport bus services. Several configurations are used, including low-floo ...

es and

motorhome A motorhome (or coach) is a type of self-propelled recreational vehicle (RV) which is as the name suggests, like a home on wheels. Features Motorhomes usually have sleeping spaces for two to eight people. Each sleeping space is either fixed o ...

s in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sold to

Alco Standard Corporation The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer that operated from 1901 to 1969, initially specializing in the production of locomotives but later diversifying and fabricating at various time ...

in 1970; the Highway Products division of Alco Standard declared bankruptcy in 1975, ending production.

History

The

Twin Coach Twin Coach was an American vehicle manufacturing company from 1927 to 1955, located in Kent, Ohio, and a maker of marine engines and airplane parts until the 1960s. It was formed by brothers Frank and William Fageol when they left the Fageol Mo ...

company, based in Kent and founded in 1927 by the brothers William B. and Frank R. Fageol, sold its bus manufacturing operation to

Flxible The Flxible Co. (pronounced "''flexible''") was an American manufacturer of motorcycle sidecars, funeral cars, ambulances, intercity coaches and transit buses, based in the U.S. state of Ohio. It was founded in 1913 and closed in 1996. The c ...

in 1953, and Twin Coach would go on to sell its marine engine division in 1958 after Louis J. Fageol (son of Frank) retired. Twin Coach consolidated its remaining aircraft fuselage and wing manufacturing in

Cheektowaga, New York Cheektowaga (; ) is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town has grown to a population of 89,877. The town is in the north-central part of the county, and is an inner ring suburb of Buffalo. The town is ...

, and Joe Myers initially leased a portion of the original Twin Coach factory in Kent to produce products for his new company, producing small and medium vehicles primarily on government contracts, then purchased a portion of the factory in 1962. In 1968 Highway Products introduced a 25-passenger bus and sold it under the

name as the TC-25. A 29-passenger TC-29 joined the lineup in 1969; the two models were sized identically, but the TC-29 had an extra row of seats instead of a rear door. The buses were powered by the Chrysler 440. Joe Myers sold the company to Alco-Standard in 1970. Approximately 900 buses were built under the Twin Coach name before production stopped in October 1975, due to bankruptcy. Alco Standard's subsidiary Kent Industries bought the Cortez Motor Home line of products from Clark Forklift Company in 1970 and manufactured the motor homes in the Kent production facilities of Highway Products.

Joe Myers

Joe Myers also served as the President of the Davey Tree Expert Company and was married to John Davey's granddaughter, Marilyn Davey.

References

External links

* Defunct bus manufacturers of the United States Kent, Ohio Defunct manufacturing companies based in Ohio {{US-bus-transport-stub