Bus converter
Angola
Angola Coach was a custom bus converter in Angola, Indiana. It built motorhomes on Prevost shells, and MotorHome magazine said it also worked with MCI and Van Hool shells. Coaches from 1987 through model year 2002 turn up in used-coach listings. An owner-forum post says the company closed in 2001. Indiana records show its original corporation was dissolved by the state in July 2000.
Photo: Prevost-Stuff.com listing · All rights reserved
Models
History
Angola Coach built custom motorhomes on bus shells in Angola, Indiana. MotorHome magazine wrote that the company started with a Prevost, MCI or Van Hool shell and then worked with each buyer to fit the coach to that person's needs. Its mailing address was a post office box in Angola.
The company's early years are poorly documented. A bus owner writing on the Bus Conversion Magazine forum in 2022 said Angola Coach opened in 1965, built on both MCI and Prevost shells with the MCI coaches being rarer, and finished only six to eight coaches a year. No company record was found to confirm the 1965 date or to name the founders. Indiana records, as copied by OpenCorporates, list Angola Coach Inc at the Angola post office box, with business reports filed from 1995 to 1997.
The same forum account says the founders sold the company in 1994. State records point to a change a little later. A new corporation with a Fort Wayne address began using the name Angola Coach, Inc. on November 7, 1996. Another company at the Angola address, Angola Coach South, Inc., was formed on October 6, 1997. The records that could be read do not name the owners.
Used-coach listings give a picture of what the company built. The oldest coach found is a 1987 40-foot Angola with a Detroit Diesel 8V92 engine. Listings from the 1990s show Prevost Le Mirage XL and H3-45 coaches without slide-outs. MotorHome magazine reviewed a 45-foot 2000 Prevost Le Mirage XL with living-room and bedroom slide-outs and described it as the company's most technologically advanced coach up to then. The magazine gave a suggested retail price of $800,000 to $900,000, depending on equipment. The newest coach found is a 2002 H3-45 with two slide-outs, in a listing that has expired. The 2001 coaches found are on the Prevost XLII and H3-45 shells.
The forum account says Angola Coach closed in 2001. Indiana records show the original Angola Coach Inc was dissolved by the state on July 14, 2000, and Angola Coach South, Inc. on September 5, 2001. Two other companies took up the Angola Coach name in 2002, and the state dissolved them in 2004 and 2008. A 2002 model-year coach appears in a listing, so the end of building is not pinned down. No source was found showing that coaches were built after the 2002 model year.
Timeline
A 2022 post on the Bus Conversion Magazine forum says Angola Coach opened in Angola, Indiana, in 1965. No company record was found to confirm the date.
A 1987 40-foot Angola coach with a Detroit Diesel 8V92 engine and a five-speed transmission is the oldest Angola coach found in used-coach listings.
The same forum post says the founders sold the company in 1994. State records show a new corporation taking the name in late 1996, so the date is uncertain.
Indiana records show a corporation with a Fort Wayne address using the name Angola Coach, Inc. from November 7, 1996. It merged out of existence on December 15, 1999.
MotorHome magazine reviewed a 45-foot 2000 Prevost Le Mirage XL conversion with two slide-outs and a 500-horsepower Detroit Diesel Series 60 engine. The archived article does not show its publication date.
The forum post says the company closed in 2001. No other source gives the year, and a 2002 model-year coach appears in used-coach listings.
Indiana records show ACC Acquisition, Inc. was incorporated on July 1, 2002, and registered Angola Coach as a business name on September 3, 2002.
The state of Indiana dissolved ACC Acquisition, Inc. on April 24, 2008.