Brand
Country Coach
Country Coach built luxury diesel motorhomes in Junction City, Oregon. Bob Lee started the company in 1973 as Country Campers. It built its own DynoMax chassis and sold families such as the Affinity, Magna, Intrigue and Allure. National R.V. Holdings owned it from 1996 to 2007. The company went through bankruptcy in 2009 and stopped building coaches. Today a service and repair business in Eugene, Oregon uses the Country Coach name.
Photo: MHSRV · All rights reserved
Models
Veranda
Class A
Rhapsody
Class A · 2007–present
Lexa
Class A
Concept
Class A
Affinity
Class A
Magna
Class A
Intrigue
Class A
Allure
Class A
Inspire
Class A
Tribute
Class A · 2007–present
History
Country Coach began in 1973. Bob Lee had helped start Caribou Manufacturing in Junction City, Oregon, in 1968; that company later became Monaco. In 1973 he left and founded Country Campers. The Oregon Encyclopedia says the new company began building small motorhomes in 1974. By 1983 it had about 100 workers and was building rear-engine diesel motorhomes.
The company took the name Country Coach in the 1980s. Its present-day website gives 1984 and the Oregon Encyclopedia gives 1987. Along with its own motorhomes, the company finished Prevost bus shells as custom coaches. Filings by its later owner date that work to 1979 in some years and to 1983 in others. Those conversions are covered in a separate converter record.
Country Coach's own Class A line grew in steps. Filings by National R.V. Holdings say the Concept arrived in 1988, the Magna in 1991, the Intrigue in 1994 and the Allure in 1995. The same filings give 1991 for the Affinity in early years and 1990 in later years. The company also built its own chassis, called DynoMax. By the 2001 annual report, every Country Coach motorhome except the Prevost conversions was built on it.
National R.V. Holdings, which also owned the motorhome builder National RV, bought Country Coach on November 6, 1996. It paid with 543,806 shares of its stock, valued at $9.0 million, and took on $10.1 million of debt. Under National RV, Country Coach added the Lexa in 2001 and the Inspire in 2003. It redesigned the Magna and Affinity in spring 2004 and the Intrigue in March 2005, and it introduced the Tribute and Rhapsody in 2006. Country Coach sold 618 motorhomes in 1999, 571 in 2000 and 468 in 2001.
In February 2007 National RV sold Country Coach to Country Coach Holdings LLC, a company owned mainly by Riley Investment Management. National RV received $38.7 million in total, which also covered some related assets it transferred. The business became Country Coach LLC. The present Country Coach website says the investor group included founders Bob and Ron Lee and that the company was cut by about half afterward.
The Oregon Encyclopedia says national RV sales fell by a third in 2008. In a letter to federal safety regulators, Country Coach said it was forced to shut down in December 2008 and was operating under an involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. On April 13, 2009 the court let it operate for the rest of the year, and it reopened with about 100 workers and a bank loan. It kept losing money. In late November 2009 a judge changed the case to a Chapter 7 liquidation.
The plant's contents were auctioned in February 2010. The Associated Press reported that Bob Lee and his brother Ron made the high bid of $170,000 for the company's intellectual property, which also gave Bob Lee the rights to the Country Coach brand. Lee said he wanted to better serve customers at Oregon Motorcoach Center, a service shop he owns. Matt and Elaina Carr bought Oregon Motorcoach Center in 2016. In November 2021 they announced they were bringing back the Country Coach name. Today Country Coach is a repair, parts and renovation business in Eugene, Oregon. Its website describes service work, not new coach production.
Timeline
Bob Lee and friends founded Caribou Manufacturing, which the present Country Coach website says was later known as Monaco. The Oregon Encyclopedia says Lee and three other young entrepreneurs started it in Junction City.
Lee left Caribou and started Country Campers, the company that became Country Coach. The Oregon Encyclopedia says it began building small motorhomes in 1974 and had about 100 workers building rear-engine diesel motorhomes by 1983.
National RV's annual reports for 1996 through 2002 say the Country Coach Prevost conversion was introduced in 1979. Its reports for 2003 through 2005 say 1983.
The present Country Coach website says the company took the name Country Coach, Inc. in 1984. The Oregon Encyclopedia gives 1987. The owners' club says its chapter was registered in November 1984 and that it was named International Country Coach Country Club at its first rally.
National RV's filings say the custom, bus-style Concept was introduced in 1988.
Filings date the Magna to 1991. They date the Affinity to 1991 in earlier annual reports and to 1990 in later ones.
The Intrigue arrived in 1994 and the lower-priced Allure in 1995. National RV's filing for 1996 says both were built on the DynoMax chassis that Country Coach makes itself.
On November 6, 1996 National R.V. Holdings acquired Country Coach, Inc. for 543,806 shares of its stock, valued at $9.0 million, and took on $10.1 million of debt.
National RV's annual report for 1997 said Country Coach planned to begin building all of its motorhomes on its own DynoMax chassis during 1998 and to offer galley slide-outs on all models.
The largely custom Lexa debuted in 2001 in 42- and 45-foot lengths with a 515-horsepower Caterpillar C-15 engine. Suggested retail prices started at $682,000.
National RV said it intended to stop Country Coach's Prevost conversions in 2002 to free plant space for lower-priced coaches. Its later annual reports still list a Prevost XLII conversion.
The Inspire, a lower-priced family with an interior six inches taller than earlier Country Coaches, was announced for a late-spring 2003 debut with suggested retail prices starting at $221,000. National RV's report filed in March 2004 says it was introduced in 2003.
Redesigned Magna and Affinity coaches were introduced in spring 2004. A completely redesigned Intrigue followed in March 2005.
National RV's report for 2006 says Country Coach introduced the Tribute and the Rhapsody that year. It calls the Tribute an entry-level Highline product and places the Rhapsody at the upper end of the line, just below the Prevost conversion. The year before, National RV had said both would debut in summer 2006 as 2007 models.
National RV agreed on February 16, 2007 to sell Country Coach to Country Coach Holdings LLC, owned mainly by Riley Investment Management. National RV received $38.7 million in total, which also covered some related assets. The sale closed on February 20 and the business became Country Coach LLC.
Country Coach LLC later told federal safety regulators that the recession forced it to shut down in December 2008.
Operating under an involuntary Chapter 11 case, Country Coach received court permission on April 13, 2009 to run for the rest of the year with oversight by its bank and the court.
After the company kept losing money and an investor missed a deadline to deposit $1 million, Judge Albert Radcliffe converted the case to a Chapter 7 liquidation.
The plant's contents were auctioned in February 2010. Ten finished coaches brought $2.58 million. The Associated Press reported that Bob Lee and his brother Ron made the high bid of $170,000 for the company's intellectual property, which gave Lee the rights to the Country Coach brand.
Matt and Elaina Carr, who bought Oregon Motorcoach Center in 2016, announced on November 11, 2021 that they were re-forming Country Coach as a service, parts and renovation business in Eugene, Oregon.
Sources
- Our History & Story (Country Coach)
- Welcome to the New Country Coach Website! (November 11, 2021)
- Damon Rapozo: Country Coach Model History
- SEC EDGAR: National R.V. Holdings annual reports (Form 10-K)
- National R.V. Holdings Form 10-K for fiscal 1996 (filed March 28, 1997)
- National R.V. Holdings Form 10-K for fiscal 1997 (filed March 31, 1998)
- National R.V. Holdings Form 10-K for fiscal 1998 (filed March 30, 1999)
- National R.V. Holdings Form 10-K for fiscal 1999 (filed March 31, 2000)
- National R.V. Holdings Form 10-K for fiscal 2000 (filed April 2, 2001)
- National R.V. Holdings Form 10-K for fiscal 2001 (filed April 1, 2002)
- National R.V. Holdings Form 10-K for fiscal 2002 (filed March 28, 2003)
- National R.V. Holdings Form 10-K for fiscal 2003 (filed March 30, 2004)
- National R.V. Holdings Form 10-K for fiscal 2004 (filed October 11, 2005)
- National R.V. Holdings Form 10-K for fiscal 2005 (filed March 30, 2006)
- National R.V. Holdings Form 10-K for fiscal 2006 (filed April 2, 2007)
- Country Coach LLC letter to NHTSA, April 21, 2009
- Oregon Encyclopedia: Country Coach
- KVAL News: RV maker goes back to court to go back to work (March 23, 2009)
- KVAL News: End of the line: Country Coach RV to be liquidated (November 2009)
- KATU / Associated Press: Once-booming Country Coach's assets sold (February 2010)
- RV.com (MotorHome Magazine): Country Coach Asset Auction Starts Today
- J.D. Power RV price guide: 2009 Country Coach
- J.D. Power RV price guide: 2008 Country Coach
- J.D. Power RV price guide: 2007 Country Coach
- Country Coach International (owners' club)
- Country Coach Friends Incorporated (owners' club)