“Glaval had a reputation for producing a well-built, premium vehicle at a smart price point and for standing behind its warranty,” says Brian Engle of Wolfington Body Company. Like Glaval, Wolfington was attempting to expand into the commercial bus market about a decade ago and sought out the manufacturer based on its character. Wolfington dates back to 1876 as one of the leading carriage builders of the time, but more recently, the company is known as one of the largest providers of high-end school buses to the tristate area. One of its longest-running and largest volume dealer relationships is with Wolfington Body Company, which is based in Eastern Pennsylvania and sells exclusively to the Pa., N.J., and Del. We rely upon our dealers to identify market opportunities, and we support them in their efforts,” says David Wright, president of Forest River’s bus division. We’re driven by our dealer base, so we have that flexibility and experience to build most anything for our customers. L to R: Director of Sales Scott Mamone, Director of Customer Service Vickie Stout, and Director of Engineering John Skelton at Glaval’s headquarters in Elkhart, Ind., with a 25’ Universal model “One of the things that makes Glaval so unique is that we have the ability to build specialty-type vehicles, including limousine-style executive buses and for other types of transportation as well. But to really capture the unique challenges and needs of chauffeured ground transportation, Glaval relies heavily on its dealer network for direct feedback and design input from customers, which is currently 20 strong nationwide. With a forward-thinking R&D team in place and a catchy tagline-Think Glaval First-Glaval soon realized that its midsize buses were adaptable for a wide variety of industries, a positive position to be in in such a competitive marketplace. The one thing that remained constant was our culture of building higher quality vehicles than our competitors.” “To make the transition, Glaval required different skill sets in engineering and production. Vans were consumer products with very few structural modifications, while commercial buses require extensive structural work and must be built for commercial duty,” says General Manager Phil Hayes, who has been with the company for 37 years. “The commercial bus business is quite a bit different from the van conversion business. The infusion of capital jump-started a growth phase that continues through today.
Several years later in 2002, while the company was still finding its footing, it was acquired by recreation vehicle manufacturer Forest River (which also owns bus brands like Battisti Customs, Berkshire Coach, and Starcraft). In 1999, Glaval restructured and retooled its line to focus on a much more stable and upcoming market: shuttle and midsize buses. But, like any trend, tastes changed over time and OEMs shifted from vans to sports utility vehicles. At its peak, Glaval Vans was the largest in the industry, customizing upward of 200 vans per day to keep up with the intense demand. Every company has a foundation, and for Glaval, its history was rooted in custom vans more than 40 years ago. Cover photo by Ron Farina of Ron Farina Photography. Cover Art: Celebrating the Glaval Bus and Wolfington Body Company partnership (L to R): Eganne Wolfington and Richard Wolfington of Wolfington, Paul Marnocha of Forest River (Glaval’s parent company), and Brian Engle of Wolfington at the Philadelphia Art Museum.