Bus converter
Featherlite
Featherlite Coaches builds custom motorhomes on Prevost bus shells under the Featherlite Vantaré name. The business began as Vantaré International in Sanford, Florida, and took the Featherlite name after trailer maker Featherlite bought it in 1996. It split from the trailer company in 2006 and joined the Adams family's businesses, alongside Amadas Coach, in 2008. Coaches are now built in Suffolk, Virginia, with sales and service still in Sanford.
Photo: Featherlite Coaches · All rights reserved
Models
History
The company's own history page traces the business to 1987, when Michael Guth set up Vantaré International in Sanford, Florida, to build motor yachts and motorhomes. In 1991 Vantaré showed its first motorhome, a yacht-style interior inside a Prevost shell, at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.
In 1996 Featherlite, a publicly traded maker of aluminum trailers led by Conrad Clement, bought the assets of Vantare International and took over its Sanford plant. Featherlite's annual report for 1997 lists the purchase agreement as dated July 1, 1996, and shows the coaches being sold as Vantare by Featherlite. It lists three coaches, built on the Prevost XL-40, XL-45 and H3-45 shells, with retail prices from $500,000 to $900,000 or more, and says a slide-out model had been added. Motorcoach sales grew from about $14.8 million in 1996 to about $34.4 million in 1997.
The Sanford plant was leased from the Seminole Port Authority and had about 55,000 square feet of production and office space. In 1997 it gained another 24,000 square feet plus 6,000 square feet of outdoor service bays. In 1998 Featherlite also bought the assets of the company that made Vogue motorhomes. It stopped building the Vogue in 2001.
By the mid-2000s the coaches were sold as Featherlite Vantare and Featherlite Luxury Coaches. The annual reports for 2004 and 2005 say Featherlite bought every shell from Prevost, and describe bus conversions as a high-end niche where the most luxurious coaches sell for $800,000 to $1,500,000 or more. The 2004 report describes Featherlite as the dominant producer of Prevost H model conversions. The company's history page says that in 2000 Featherlite became the only converter Prevost authorized to build and install its own slide rooms, and that it built its 500th motorhome in 2004.
In 2006 Featherlite agreed to be bought by Universal Trailer Holdings Corp. for $6.50 a share. The trailer buyer did not keep the coach business. A new company, Featherlite Coaches, Inc., was formed in June 2006 by Conrad Clement, Tracy Clement and a Featherlite shareholder named Bulk Resources, Inc. It took over the motorcoach division's assets and substantially all of its liabilities when the merger closed in late October 2006. From then on, Featherlite trailers and Featherlite coaches were separate businesses.
In 2008 Featherlite Coaches became part of the Adams family's group of businesses, which also includes Amadas Coach of Suffolk, Virginia. The two companies already knew each other: the history page says Featherlite hired Amadas Coach in 2003 to build its XLII motorhome. Jimmy Adams is the company's president. Production moved from Sanford to Suffolk, and the company says the first Vantaré built entirely in Suffolk was shown at the 2010 Tampa RV Super Show. The Sanford site stayed open for sales and service.
Today Featherlite is one of the converters listed on Prevost's motorhome site. The company says it builds six to eight coaches a year on the Prevost H3-45 and X3-45 shells, with up to four slide-outs, and that it has finished more than 800 coaches in all. Each coach carries a number and a name, such as #2126 Verbier.
Featherlite also sells a separate brand called Epic Motor Coach, built on the Prevost X shell. Epic's own website says the line draws on the teams at Ultra Coach, with advice from Featherlite and Amadas, and is sold only through Featherlite. Because those pages do not name Featherlite as the builder, Epic coaches are not listed as Featherlite models in this record.
Timeline
The company's history page says Michael Guth set up Vantaré International in Sanford, Florida, to build motor yachts and motorhomes.
Vantaré shows its first motorhome, a yacht-style interior in a Prevost shell, at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.
Trailer maker Featherlite buys the assets of Vantare International in Sanford under an agreement dated July 1, 1996, and enters the luxury coach business. Motorcoach sales for 1996 come to about $14.8 million.
Featherlite adds 24,000 square feet of production and office space and 6,000 square feet of outdoor service bays in Sanford. Motorcoach sales reach about $34.4 million, roughly a quarter of company sales, and Norm Allen takes over the coach division from Michael Guth.
Featherlite buys the assets of Mitchell, the maker of Vogue motorhomes. A published company history dates the deal to May 1998.
Featherlite stops building the Featherlite Vogue model.
The company's history page says Featherlite contracted with Amadas Coach to build its XLII motorhome, five years before Featherlite Coaches joined the Adams family's businesses.
The company's history page says the 500th motorhome was built in 2004.
The annual report for 2005 says Featherlite buys all of its conversion shells from Prevost, builds in a Sanford plant with about 79,000 square feet indoors, and says the most luxurious bus conversions sell for $800,000 to $1,500,000 or more.
Featherlite signs a merger agreement dated July 26, 2006 with Universal Trailer Holdings Corp. at $6.50 a share. Featherlite Coaches, Inc., formed on June 2 by Conrad Clement, Tracy Clement and Bulk Resources, Inc., arranges to take over the motorcoach division.
A release dated October 29, 2006 says the merger is complete and that the coach division's assets have been sold to Featherlite Coaches, Inc., the new company controlled by Conrad Clement, Tracy Clement and Bulk Resources, Inc.
Featherlite Coaches joins Amadas Coach and the Adams family's group of businesses. Production moves to Suffolk, Virginia, while Sanford stays open for sales and service.
The company's history page lists under 2009 the first Featherlite Vantaré built entirely in Suffolk, slide-out rooms included. It was first shown at the 2010 Tampa RV Super Show.
The company's history page marks thirty years of Featherlite-built coaches. It says the company finishes six to eight a year in Suffolk and has completed more than 800 in all.
Sources
- Featherlite Coaches History, 1987 to Today
- About Featherlite Coaches
- Custom Coach Models | Prevost Conversions by Featherlite
- Inventory | Featherlite Coaches
- Featherlite Mfg., Inc. annual report (Form 10-K) for fiscal 1997
- Featherlite, Inc. annual report (Form 10-K) for fiscal 2004
- Featherlite, Inc. annual report (Form 10-K) for fiscal 2005
- Featherlite, Inc. press release of August 1, 2006 (Form 8-K exhibit)
- Featherlite, Inc. definitive merger proxy statement (Form DEFM14A), 2006
- Universal Trailer Holdings Corp. completes its merger with Featherlite, Inc. (press release on The Auto Channel)
- Featherlite Inc. History (FundingUniverse)
- Amadas Coach (Wikipedia)
- Converter Partners | Prevost Motorhomes
- 2023 Prevost Motorhome Expo seminar program (Prevost-Stuff)
- Welcome to Epic Motor Coach