BEAVER

Beaver Transit Equipment Co. (1934-1936)
Beaver Metropolitan Coaches, Inc. (1936-1953)
National Coach & Manufacturing Co. (1955-1956)
Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania

This is a Beaver coach emblem (c1940's)     mjs
Size: 168mm wide 97mm high   MM: None

In 1934, G. M. Davis, who had been head of the ACF sales office in Philadelphia and was well aware of the post Depression demand of many small bus operators for an economical lightweight bus, decided to enter the bus building business and joined Beaver Coach. Beaver Coach had been established by the Beaver Valley Motor Coach Company to manufacture inexpensive buses for its own fleet. 

A prototype bus based on a standard Ford commercial chassis with body formed by an all-steel framework covered with an aluminum skin was built and demonstrated to local city transit companies. The response was so good that the Beaver Transit Equipment Company was set up to continue with the production of the Beaver Coach. Guy Davis was able to secure orders for more buses from other bus transit operators. 

The initial Beaver buses were "metropolitan" style front engine coaches with the passenger door behind the front axle, which was most appropriate for city transit operations and, as a result, the company name was changed to Beaver Metropolitan Coaches, Inc. in 1936. The Beaver bus design was developed over the following two years with design improvements involving different chassis and engines. In 1937, the first transit bus with the passenger door ahead of the front axle was introduced. Further developments continued, including widening the bus and making it longer, until the introduction of the rear engine transit bus design in 1938. Rear engine, metropolitan and front engine models continued in production until 1949, after when only rear engine models were built. 

Beaver bus production ceased in 1942 due to the war and production moved to personnel carriers for the war effort. When production resumed after the Second World War in 1945, the new Beaver buses were basically unchanged but were given a more modern appearance.  Orders for new Beaver buses began to fall in the early 1950's resulting in serious financial problems. Guy Davis bought the company and renamed it the National Coach & Manufacturing Company. However, new orders failed to meet expectations. The end came in 1956 when the plant was seriously damaged by flooding. Beaver Coaches continued in service, in some locations into the mid-1970's.

Emblem

The Beaver Coach carried a pressed metal oval shaped emblem mounted on the front of the bus, see example shown above at the top of this post. This Beaver Coach emblem is rare.