page_title: Carpenter Body Company
section_title: Closure
hierarchical_section_title: Carpenter Body Company / History / Closure
caption_attribution_description: A closeup front 3/4 view of a 2000-2001 Carpenter Classic 2000 school bus built on an International 3800 chassis.
context_page_description: Carpenter Body Works was a former American bus manufacturer. Founded in 1918 in Mitchell, Indiana, the company produced a variety of vehicles, with the majority of production consisting of yellow school buses for the United States and Canada.
  After remaining a family-owned company into the late 1980s, Carpenter was sold and relocated in 1995 to the former Wayne Corporation facilities in Richmond, Indiana. In 1998, Carpenter was acquired by specialty vehicle manufacturer Spartan Motors. After struggling to regain lost market share, Carpenter was closed by Spartan in early 2001.
context_section_description: Carpenter had been struggling for almost 20 years when it ended school bus production in 2001.  During the economic times around the millennium, lower initial capital costs seemed to trump longevity as a selling factor.  When it was time for purchasing decisions, financially pressed districts and contractors tended to select lower-cost products with shorter life cycles.  Spartan Motors, by then the ⅔ owner of the company, did not see a solution to the market dilemma and felt the projected continued losses would exceed the value to their business plan, voted to end its venture.
caption: A Carpenter "Classic 2000" conventional school bus viewed close up
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