Coachbult.com - Highway Products Inc.



Highway Products - 1960-1975 - Kent, Ohio

After the Twin Coach Co. ended production of buses in 1953, manufacture of Fageol-Twin Coach gasoline engines and marketing of Fageol-Leyland diesels was continued. By 1959, however, both types of engines had fallen from favor among truck and bus manufacturers, and Twin Coach entered the truck body business to utilize excess plant capacity. Starting in 1960 the company was able to bid successfully on special vehicles for the Post Office, thanks to the efforts of a local businessman and company director named J.T. Myers. He formed Highway Products, Inc. to bid on these contracts and at first arranged to have the vehicles built in leased space within the Twin Coach plant, but in 1962 Highway Products acquired part of the former Twin factory. In addition to 40 ft. long 6wheel Highway Post Offices with under-floor Cummins or Fageol-Leyland engines and postal delivery vans, the company made the Compac-Van for general commercial use. This was a forward-control van for 18,000 to 26,000 lbs. GVW, powered by a choice of Chrysler, Ford, Cummins or Perkins engines. Some had one-man cabs and loading at front as well as rear. Prior to 1965 Highway had produced the Compac-Van for White, but subsequently it was marketed by Highway.

In 1968 Highway Products introduced a 25-passenger bus with a rear-mounted Chrysler V-8 engine and automatic transmission, in an effort to capitalize on a renewed interest in mass transit for small cities generated by the availability of federal grant funds. The Twin Coach name was used for the new bus, which was joined by a 29passenger version in 1969. A single batch was completed with Perkins diesel engines, but the Detroit Diesel 4-53 powerplant has been the most popular since it was first offered in 1970. Brakes were originally hydraulic, changed to air in 1970, and full air suspension was introduced in 1971.

Highway Products operated at a loss during 1974 while fulfilling substantial contracts at guaranteed prices during a time of rapid upward pressure on costs of labor and materials. Production stopped temporarily in. February 1975, when creditors refused further financing, and resumed briefly from June to October while existing commitments were honored but no further selling efforts were undertaken. The last Highway Products "Twin Coach'.' buses were delivered in October 1975. Approximately 900 buses were built in eight years, with a variety of engines, the later ones being equipped for the most part with Detroit DieseI4-53's.

For more information please read:

Ed Strauss & Karen Strauss - The Bus World Encyclopedia of Buses

G.N. Georgano & G. Marshall Naul - The Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles

Albert Mroz - Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks & Commercial Vehicles

Tad Burness - American Truck & Bus Spotter's Guide, 1920-1985

Donald F. Wood - American Buses

Denis Miller - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trucks and Buses

Susan Meikle Mandell - A Historical Survey of Transit Buses in the United States

David Jacobs - American Buses, Greyhound, Trailways and Urban Transportation

William A. Luke & Linda L. Metler - Highway Buses of the 20th Century: A Photo Gallery

William A. Luke & Brian Grams - Buses of Motorcoach Industries 1932-2000 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Greyhound Buses 1914-2000 Photo Archive