| Founded | 1898 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Union City, Indiana, USA |
| Products | truck bodies |
| Parent |
Utilimaster Corporation GVW Group (former) |
Union City Body Company was founded in 1896 in Union City, Indiana, USA as a manufacturer of carriages, buggies and wagons. One of the first customers was Elwood Haynes of Kokomo, Indiana, the manufacturer of the Haynes-Apperson automobile, which was one of the country’s first production automobiles. Later customers included Auburn, Duesenberg, Essex, and Pierce Arrow, for whom they built bodies.
In the mid-20s, Union City began the producing school bus bodies for Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford Trucks, International Harvester and White Motor Company, as well as truck cabs for Studebaker. Union City produced buses for Ford, the Ford Transit bus.
Beginning in the 1950s, Union City began marketing their own step-vans under the Utility brand, manufactured by Utility Truck Distributors Inc. of Union City, a division of Union City. In 1957, an exclusive agreement was signed with GMC Truck & Coach division for GMC and Chevrolet step-vans.
From the 1970s through the 1980s, Union City provided delivery trucks (step-vans) directly to large fleet customers such as United Parcel Service.
Ikarus[]
A deal was made with Ikarus Bus, based in Hungary, for Union Body to assemble the Ikarus 416 bus for the US market. Ikarus USA was created as a subsidiary of Union City. Ikarus and Union City went into bankruptcy in 1992.
Quality Manufacturing[]
Union City owned Quality Manufacturing Company of Talladega, Alabama, USA from the 1980s until their bankruptcy. Quality Mfg manufactured heavy-duty airport fire and rescue vehicles & crash tenders.
GVW Group[]
Union City was purchased by Grand Vehicle Works LLC (GVW Group) and its founder Andrew Taitz in 1993, who saw an opportunity. It was returned to profitability, and Taitz convinced General Motors to sell him GM's Commercial and Motorhome Chassis Division.
GVW purchased Grumman Olson's dry van and refrigerated bodies division in 2003, and merged it into Union City.
Sale[]
In 2005, GVW sold Union City Body Company to Utilimaster Corporation, and the custom chassis portion, Workhorse Custom Chassis, to Navistar.
References[]
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