Fitzjohn
FitzJohn is a former North American bus manufacturer.
Contents
History
FitzJohn was based in Muskegon, Michigan. The company was founded in 1919, by Harry Alphonse FitzJohn.
A second plant was built in Brantford, Ontario in 1949. The plant manufactured 197 buses during its existence. The plant was later sold to Blue Bird, in 1958.
Shortly after World War II FitzJohn established a sales unit in Mexico City. Mexico proved to be a fertile market for the company, and 40-passenger Super Duraliners were sold there until 1956, many built to an unusual rear-entrance/exit configuration. Although sales dropped in the mid-1950s when the Mexican government began to encourage domestic manufacturing, over 50 Roadrunners were exported. Following the dissolution of FitzJohn, a Mexican company began building the Roadrunner.
FitzJohn was one of many bus manufacturers in United States and Canada. Most of the companies products emerged in the 1940s and 1950s, but it was undermined by larger players like General Motors.
FitzJohn built more than 5000 bus bodies, complete buses, sedan stretchouts and trailer conversions (as well as truck bodies).
FitzJjohn dissolved in May, 1958.
Corporate names
| Corporate names | |
|---|---|
| FitzJohn-Erwin Manufacturing Company | 1919–1933 |
| FitzJohn Manufacturing Company | 1933–1935 |
| FitzJohn Body Company | 1935–1937 |
| FitzJohn Coach Company | 1937–1958 |
| FitzJohn Coach of Canada Ltd. | 1949–1959 |
Products
- 300 (1930s–1942)
- 310 (1944–1950)
- 325 (?–1940)
- 350 (1936–1937)
- FTG/FTD (1950-1956)
- 500 (1939–1945)
- 510 (1946–1952)
- 525
- 600 (1939–1940)
- 610 (1940–1946)
- 615 (1940–1946)
- 625 (?–1946)
- 635 (1949-1956)
- FIG/FID (1954–1958)
References
