Coachbuilder. A coachbuilder manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.

The trade of producing coachwork began with bodies for horse-drawn vehicles. Today it includes custom automobiles, buses, motor coaches, and railway carriages. 

The word "coach" was derived from the Hungarian town of Kocs. A vehicle body constructed by a coachbuilder may be called a "coachbuilt body" (British English) or "custom body" (American English), and is not to be confused with a custom car.

Prior to the popularization of unibody construction in the 1960s, many independent coachbuilders built bodies on rolling chassis provided by luxury or sports car manufacturers, both for individual customers and makers themselves.  Marques such as Ferrari originally outsourced all bodywork to coachbuilders such as Pininfarina and Scaglietti. 

Today, the coach building trade has largely shifted to making bodies for short runs of specialized commercial vehicles such as motor coaches and  luxury recreational vehicles. A 'conversion' is built inside an existing vehicle body.

Many renowned automotive coachbuilders are have been based in Italy (carrozzeria) and France (carrosserie).

Terminology
Construction of specialty vehicle bodies has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily fragile, but satisfactory wheels by a separate trade, a wheelwright, held together by iron or steel tyres, was always most critical. From about AD 1000 rough vehicle construction was carried out by a wainwright, a wagon-builder. Later names include cartwright (a carpenter who makes carts, from 1587); coachwright; and coachmaker (from 1599). Subtrades include wheelwright, coachjoiner, etc. The word coachbuilder first appeared in 1794.

Horse-drawn vehicles

A British trade association the Worshipful Company of Coachmakers and Coach Harness Makers was incorporated in 1630. Some British coachmaking firms operating in the 20th century were established even earlier. Rippon was active in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Barker founded in 1710 by an officer in Queen Anne's Guards. Brewster, the oldest in the U.S., was formed in 1810.

Coach-building had reached a high degree of specialization in Britain by the middle of the 19th century. Separate branches of the trade dealt with the timber, iron, leather, brass and other materials used in their construction. And there were many minor specialists with each of these categories. The “body-makers” produced the body or vehicle itself, while the “carriage-makers” made the stronger timbers beneath and around the body. The timbers used included ash, beech, elm, oak, mahogany, cedar, pine, birch and larch. The tools and processes used were similar to those used in cabinet-making, plus other specific to coach-making. Making the curved woodwork alone called for considerable skill. Making the iron axles, springs and other metal used was the work of the “coach-smith,” one of the most highly paid classes of London workmen. The coating of the interior of the coach with leather and painting, trimming, and decorating the exterior called for specialist tradesmen with a high degree of skill. Building carts and wagons required similar skills, but of a coarser kind.

Automobiles
From the beginning of the automobile industry manufacturers offered complete cars assembled in their own factories commonly using entire bodies made by specialist people using different skills. Soon after the start of the twentieth century mass production coachbuilders developed such as  Mulliners or Pressed Steel in Great Britain, Fisher Body, Budd, Briggs in the U. S., or Ambi-Budd in Germany. Many other big businesses remain involved.

Specialist market sector
There remained a market for bodies to fit low production, short-run and luxury cars. Custom or bespoke bodies were made and fitted to another manufacturer's rolling chassis by the craftsmen who had previously built bodies for horse-drawn carriages. Bespoke bodies are made of hand-shaped sheet metal, often aluminum alloy. Pressed or hand-shaped metal panels were fastened to a wooden frame of particularly light but strong types of wood. Later many of the more important structural features of the bespoke or custom body such as A, B and C pillars were cast alloy components. Some bodies such as those entirely alloy bodies fitted to some Pierce-Arrow cars contained little or no wood, and were mounted on a conventional steel chassis.

The car manufacturer would offer for sale a chassis frame, drivetrain (consisting of an engine, gearbox, differential, axles, and wheels), brakes, suspension, steering system, lighting system, spare wheel(s), front and rear mudguards (vulnerable and so made of pressed steel for strength and easy repair) and (later) bumpers, scuttle (firewall) and dashboard. The very easily damaged honeycomb radiator, later enclosed and protected by a shell or even reduced to an air intake, was or held the visual element identifying the chassis' brand. To let car manufacturers maintain some level of control over the final product their warranties could be voided if coachbuilders fitted unapproved bodies.

As well as bespoke bodies the same coachbuilders also made short runs of more-or-less identical bodies to the order of dealers or the manufacturer of a chassis. The same body design might then be adjusted to suit different brands of chassis. Examples include Salmons & Sons' Tickford bodies with a patent device to raise or lower a convertible's roof, first used on their 19th-century carriages, or Wingham convertible bodies by Martin Walter.

Obsolescence
Separate coachbuilt bodies became obsolete when vehicle manufacturers found they could no longer meet their customers' demands by relying on a simple separate chassis (on which a custom or bespoke body could be built) mounted on leaf springs on beam axles. Unibody or monocoque combined chassis and body structures became standardised during the middle years of the 20th century to provide the rigidity required by improved suspension systems without incurring the heavy weight, and consequent fuel penalty of a truly rigid separate chassis. The improved more supple suspension systems gave vehicles better road-holding and much improved the ride experienced by passengers.

Ultra-luxury vehicles

Larger car dealers or distributors would commonly preorder stock chassis and the bodies they thought most likely to sell and order them for sale off their showroom floor.

All luxury vehicles during the automobile's Golden Era before World War II were available as chassis only. For example, when Duesenberg introduced their Model J, it was offered as chassis only, for $8,500. Other examples include the Bugatti Type 57, Cadillac V-16, Packard Twelve, Ferrari 250, Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8, Hispano-Suiza J12, and all Rolls-Royces produced before World War II. Delahaye had no in-house coachworks, so all its chassis were bodied by independents, who created their designs on the Type 135. For the Delahaye, most were bodied by Chapron, Labourdette, Franay, Saoutchik, Figoni et Falaschi, or Pennock.

The practice continued after World War II waning dramatically in the 1950s and 1960s. Rolls-Royce debuted its first unibody model, their Silver Shadow, in 1965.

Unibody construction

Independent coachbuilders survived for a time after the mid-20th century, making bodies for the chassis produced by low-production companies such as Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, and Bentley. Producing body dies is extremely expensive (a single door die can run to US$40,000), which is usually only considered practical when large numbers are involved—though that was the path taken by Rolls-Royce and Bentley after 1945 for their own in-house production. Because dies for pressing metal panels are so costly, from the mid 20th century, many vehicles, most notably the Chevrolet Corvette, were clothed with large panels of fiberglass-reinforced resin, which only require inexpensive molds. Glass has since been replaced by more sophisticated materials, if necessary hand-formed. Generally, these replace metal only where weight is of paramount importance.

The advent of unibody construction, where the car body is unified with and structurally integral to the chassis, made custom coachbuilding uneconomic. Many coachbuilders closed down, were bought by manufacturers, or changed their core business to other activities:
Transforming into dedicated design or styling houses, subcontracting to automotive brands (e.g. Zagato, Frua, Bertone, Pininfarina)
Transforming into general coachwork series manufacturers, subcontracting to automotive brands (e.g. Karmann, Bertone, Vignale, Pininfarina)
Manufacturing runs of special coachworks for trucks, delivery vans, touring cars, ambulances, fire engines, public transport vehicles, etc. (e.g., Pennock, Van Hool, Plaxton, Heuliez)
Becoming technical partners for the development of roof constructions (e.g., Karmann, Heuliez), for example, or producers of various (aftermarket) automotive parts (e.g., Giannini)

Gallery

List of automobile coachbuilders

Coachbuilders by nation have included:

Austria

ABC Auto-Karosseriefabrik
Armbruster
Josef Breiter
Carl Blaha & Söhne
Karl Czerny
Johann Grimas
Franz Hanek
Johann Heinrich
Hölbl
Jauernig
Kastenhofer
Ferdinand Keibl
Kohlruss
Köllensperger
Wilhelm Kübler
Lohner
Öffag
Reichelt
Rohrbacher
Brüder Schafranek
Schreiner & Blaha
A. Schwanzar
Stadtherr & Klimesch
Josef Swoboda
Wiener Karosserie-Fabrik
Weingartshofer & Griess
Weiser & Sohn

Belgium

Auto-Carrosserie Nationale
Bidée
Bogaerts, Stoelen & Van Ouytsel
Bousson
Carrosserie Parisienne
Colson
Jacques Coune
D'Ieteren
De Mola
De Ruytter
De Wolf
Delisse
Dens
Devaux
Driessens & Oblin
Feval
Franeau
Gamette
Généraux
Grümmer (Bruxelles)
Jean Hackir
Hofkens
Joachim
Jonckheere
Lahaye
Lefèvre & Heuvels
Lilien
Lorenz & Walch
Louis Maes
Matthys & Osy
Meeussen
Monchamps
Navez
Oblin
Phlups
Pritchard & Demollin
Purnelle
Seghers & Fils
Snutsel
Simons
Sprengers
TTT
Vanden Plas
Van Dun
Van Hool
Van Muylder
Verhaest
Verwilt
Vesters & Neirinck
Vogt & Demeuse
Walch

China 

The Auto Palace Co (Shanghai)
The Central Garage Company (Shanghai)
China Motors LTD (Shanghai)
Grand Garage Français (Shanghai)
H.S. Honisberg & Co., Inc.
Hudford Garage (Shanghai)
The Shanghai Horse Bazaar and Motor Company Limited (Shanghai)
Universal Motor Car & Body Works (Shanghai)

Czech Republic 

Bohemia
Brozik
Fischer
Jech
Kadrmas
Karosa
Klubal & Co.
Julius Kubinsky
Leitner
Lepil
Petera
Plachy
Pokorny & Beiwl
Snydr
Sodomka
Spacil
Antonin Tomas

Denmark

Aagaard
Andreasen
Asnæs
Carsten Jakobsen
Dansk Karosseri Fabrik
Funder
I. C. Hansen
J.H. Jensen
Næsby
Nørrebros
Odsherred
Vesterbros

France

Achard, Fontanel & Cie (Lyon)
Ailloud & Dumond (Lyon)
Alin & Liautard (Courbevoie)
Amiot (Dinard, Dinan)
André Roze
Angé (Toulouse)
Ansart & Teisseire (Neuilly)
Antem
Arthur Boulogne
Aubertin
Audineau
Augereau (Brou)
Autobineau (Neuilly)
Baehr
Bail (Paris)
Baqué (Toulouse)
Barbier (Cannes)
Barou
Bedel
Belvallette Frères
Bergeon & Descoins
Berlioz & Gouillon (Paris)
Berluteau (Melun)
Bernin (Tours)
Berton-Labourdette
Besset (Annonay)
Beuzelin
Bigatti (Nice)
Billeter & Cartier (Lyon)
Binder
Boneberge (Lyon)
Bonneville & Chabrol (Toulouse)
Boré (Saint-Lô)
Botiaux
Bourack & de Costier
Brandone
Breteau
Broadwater
Busson
Candelaresi (Lyon)
Carrier (Argenteuil, Alençon)
Candelarési (Lyon)
Carde & fils (Bordeaux)
Chabrol (Toulouse)
Chapelle & Jabouille
Chappe et Gessalin, (Brie-Comte-Robert)
Chapron (Levallois-Perret)
Philippe Charbonneaux
Chatellard (Toulouse)
Chaussende (Lyon)
Chausson (Asnières, Gennevilliers)
Chavet
Chéreau (Avranches)
Chesnot
Chicot (Levallois)
Chilbourg (Paris)
Clabot (Alfortville)
Crouzier
Currus
Darl'mat (Paris)
Declerq & Cordonnier (Lille, Roubaix)
De Corvaia
DeCostier (Boulogne s/Seine)
Decultil & Cie (Lyon)
Delaroche & Turquet (Le Mans)
Delaugère (Orléans)
Deloche (Paris)
Derouault & Jongen
Desouches, David & Cie (Pantin)
Desvaux (Rueil)
De Villars
Di Rosa (La Garenne-Colombes)
Drouet & Gaucher (Courbevoie)
Driquet
Maurice Dumas (Bordeaux)
Louis Dubos (Neuilly)
Dubos (Puteaux)
Duchesne
Duhamel et Compagnie (Paris)
Durisotti
Dupont
Duval
Duvivier (Levallois-Perret)
Ehrler (Paris)
Ehmgard et Delbenque (Paris)
Esclassan – Tôlerie automobile et industrielle (Boulogne s/Seine)
Facel-Métallon (Dreux)
Faget & Varnet (Levallois)
Faurax (Paris since 1808, later Lyon)
Faurax & Chaussende (since 1920, Lyon)
Felber frères (Puteaux)
Fernandez & Darrin (Paris)
Figoni et Falaschi (Boulogne s/Seine)
Firmin (Paris)
Fleury (Thonon)
Floquet (Saint-Amand)
Forrler (Strasbourg)
Fournier (Bordeaux)
Fournier (Suresnes)
Franay (Levallois-Perret)
Frugier (Toulouse, Limoges)
Gallé (Boulogne s/Seine)
Gangloff (Colmar)
Garros (Toulouse)
Gaston Grümmer
Gaudichet & Turquet (Le Mans)
Henri Gauthier (Villeurbanne)
Gilotte (Courbevoie)
Girardo frères (Cannes)
Grange frères (Valence-sur-Rhône)
Gras (Dijon)
Gruau (Laval)
Guilloré
Léon Hanovre (Paris)
Hénon (Albert)
Henry (Nancy)
Heuliez (Cerizay)
Hibbard & Darrin (Paris)
Carrosserie Industrielle
Jamet (La Guerche, Berry)
Jeanteaud (Paris)
Jouan, carrosserie de cuirs (Clichy)
Jousse & Parsy (Montargis)
Justrobe (Toulouse)
Kellner (Paris)
Kelsch (Levallois)
Klapper (Toulouse)
Kraemers fils (Paris)
Labarre (Evreux)
Labbé (Lamballe)
La Carrosserie Industrielle (Courbevoie)
Lacoste frères (Toulouse)
Lagache & Glaszmann (Montrouge)
Lagogué (Alençon)
 (Vonnat)
Lamplugh & Cie (Levallois-Perret)
Lavocat & Marsaud
Letourneur et Marchand (Neuilly)
Le Vieux (Paris)
Lourtioux (Montluçon)
Mamy (Besançon)
Mandement (Toulouse)
Manessius (Puteaux)
Maron-Pot (Levallois-Perret)
Massias (Toulouse)
Mercier (Toulouse)
Meulemeester (Clichy)
Michel (Nice, Marseille)
Million-Guiet
Monjardet (Besançon)
Montel & fils (Marseille)
Morel (Paris)
Morin (Parthenay)
Morin (Rennes)
Mühlbacher & fils (Puteaux)
Nicolas (Angoulême)
Ottin (Lyon)
Paul Née
Philippe Mühlbacher (Toulouse)
Pelpel (Noyal s/Vilaine)
Petitprez & Verschure (Tourcoing)
Pezet (Toulouse)
Phaetonia (Courbevoie)
Plante (Pau)
Poinsenet (Epernay)
Pourtout (Rueil-Malmaison)
Pralavorio Simon (Lyon Montplaisir)
Privat (Dijon)
Pruneville (Lyon)
Radovitch (Reims)
Rambert & fils (Clermont-Ferrand, Courbevoie)
Raquin (Montrichard)
Rasp (Paris)
Ravistre & Martel (Annonay)
Repusseau & Cie (Levallois-Perret)
Rétif (Sancoins, Berry)
Rheims & Auscher, La Carrosserie Industrielle (Levallois-Perret)
Rousseau (Montargis)
Rungette (Levallois-Perret)
Saoutchik (Neuilly)
Soulé (Toulouse)
Spinnewyn (Tourcoing)
Surirey (Flers)
Tassé (Pontchâteau)
Tirbois (Niort)
Tizot & Viguier (Marseille)
Tremble (Puteaux)
Tual (Tredion)
Vallas (St-Just en Chevalet)
Van den Bussche (Lille)
Van den Hende (Roubaix)
Vanvooren (Courbevoie)
Vedrine & Cie (Courbevoie)
Verplancke (Roubaix)
Veuillet (Fleurieu-sur-Seine)
Vinet
VOG (Chartres, Neuilly)
Wanaverbecq (Lambersart)
Wantz (Meaux)
Warengehm (Levallois-Perret)
Weymann (Paris)
Widerkehr (Colmar)
Willy van den Plas (Paris, Lille)

Germany

Ambi-Budd
Auer
Autenrieth
Baur
Binz
Buhne
Dannenhauer & Stauss
Deutsch
Dörr & Schreck
Drauz
Erdmann & Rossi
Friederich
Gläser
Glüer
Grümmer (Aachen)
Hebmüller
Ihle
Kässbohrer
Karmann
Kathe
Keinath
Kellner
Konigsberg
Kruse (Husum)
Kühlstein
Kühn
Johann Michael Mayer (München)
Mengelbier (Aachen)
Neoplan
Neuss
Nowack
Papler
Plenikowski (Hartha)
Rembrandt
Reutter
Rometsch
Setra
Spohn
Styling Garage
Szase
Voll & Ruhrbeck
Weinberger, Karl
Weinberger, Ludwig
Weinsberg
Wendler

Greece 

Tangalakis

Hungary 

Antal Zupka
Balogh
Glattfelder
István Tücsök
Lajos Zupka
Ludovika
Metallo
Misura
Nagy Géza
Schillinger
Uhri
Gyula Varga

India 

DC Design
Dykes & Co
French Motor Car & Electric Co
Press & Co
Ruby Industries
Simpson & Co
Steuart

Indonesia

Adi Putro
Antika Raya
Cipta Karya
Delima Jaya
Gunung Mas
Hartono Putra
KenKa
Laksana
Mekar Jaya
Morodadi Prima
New Armada
Nusantara Gemilang
Piala Mas
Rahayu Santosa
Restu Ibu
SKA
Stadabus
Tentrem
Trisakti
Tugas Anda
Tugas Kita
Tuksedo Studio

Ireland 

Booth Bros
Duffy Coachbodies
O'Gorman
Pierce

Italy

Accossato
Ala d'Oro
Albanesi
Alessio
Allemano
Ansaloni
Aprile
Ares Design
Arrigo Perini
Auto Sport
Autodromo
Balbo
Beccaria & Canè
Beccaris & Teraschi
Belloni
Bertone
Bertolini
Bizzarrini
Boano
Bollani
Boneschi
Borsani
Bottazzi
Brianza
Campana
Canta
Capozzi & Peraldo
Caprera
Casaro
Cattelan
Caselani
Castagna
Cecomp
Coggiola
Colli
Conrotto
Corna
Coriasco
De Simon
Drogo
Dux
Ellena
Eurostyle
Faina
Fantuzzi
Farina
Fiandri & Malagoli
Filacchione
Fioravanti
Fissore
Fona
Fontana
Frua
Garavini
Ghia
Ghia-Aigle
Giannini
Giugiaro
Gransport
Grazia
I.DE.A
Introzzi
Italdesign
Italiana Cooperativa
Italo-Argentina
Locato & Viarengo
Locati & Torretta
Lombardi
Lotti
Maggiora
Mantelli, Prato & Cornaglia
Marazzi
MAT
Meade
Meteor
Moderna
Monterosa
Montescani
Monviso
Morelli
Moretti
Motto
Nembo
Orlandi
OSI
Pavesi
Pavesi & Crespi
Pilato
Pininfarina
Riva
Sala
Savio
Scaglietti
Schieppati
Scioneri
Sibona & Basano
Simonetti
Sports Cars (Drogo)
Stola
Studiotorino
Touring
Varesina
Vendrame
Viberti
Vignale
Viotti
Zagato

Japan

Mitsuoka
Watanabe

Luxembourg 

Conrardy

Netherlands 

Akkermans
Bronkhorst
Bij 't Vuur
Van Beurden Carrosserie Holland
Dolk
Donderwinkel
Egbers
Garstman
Gips & Jacobs
Hermans
Hover & Tiwi
Hulsman
Jac Met
Kimman
Lathouwers
Van Leersum & Co
De Ley
Van Lijf & Co
Mudde
Muller
Mijnhardt
N.A.M. (Nederlandsche Auto-Maatschappij)
Nederlandsche Carrosseriefabrieken
Oostwoud
Pennock
Van Rijswijk & Zoon
Roos
Schutter & van Bakel
Smulders
Soudijn
Spyker
Jean Stegen
Teulings
W J Van Trigt & Zoon
Vandenbrink Design
Verheul
Veth & Zoon

Poland 

Brzeskiauto
Danziger Karosseriefabrik
Feliks Strzalek
Plage i Laśkiewicz

Russia 

Bräutigam
Frese & Co
Ilyin
Krummel

Spain

Abadal
Ayats
Bettla
Blancou
Capella
Carrizo
J Farré
Forcada
Fiol
Galo Mateos
Herrero
Hijos de Labourdette
Irizar
Lucas
Molist
Reynés
Roqueta
Serra
Vert
Vidal

Sweden

Bröderna Johansson 
Frändbergs
Freyschuss
Hoflageribolaget
Heinels
Järbo
Jakobsson
Kabo
Nilssons 
Nordberg
Norrmalm
Nylunds
Ringborg
Thulinverken
Valbo

Switzerland

Beutler
C. & R. Geissberger
Gangloff
Geismeister
Graber
Ramseier
Tuscher
Worblaufen

United Kingdom

Abbey
Arthur Mulliner
Abbott
Alexander Dennis (formerly Walter Alexander Coachbuilders)
Aston Martin
Barker
Carbodies
Carlton
Crayford Engineering
Charlesworth
Corsica
Croall
Cunard
Gordon England
Flewitt
Freestone and Webb
Grose
Harold Radford
Harrington
Holmes (London)
Hooper
Hoyal
H. J. Mulliner & Co.
J Gurney Nutting & Co
James Young
John Hatchett (London)
Jones Brothers (London)
Jarvis of Wimbledon
Jensen
John Charles
Lancefield
Martin Walter
Mulliner Park Ward
Mulliners (Birmingham)
Nu-Track
Optare
Park Ward
Rippon Bros
Salmons
Swallow
Tickford
Thrupp & Maberly
Vanden Plas
Vince & Son
Walter Alexander Coachbuilders
Wesleys Newport Pagnell
Vincent of Reading
Windovers
Wingham Martin Walter
Wrightbus

United States

Alex Madjaric Body Works
Abbot-Downing
Biddle and Smart (Amesbury)
Bohman & Schwartz
Brewster
Briggs
Brunn
Budd
Coachcraft
Darrin of Paris
Demarest
Derham
Dietrich Inc.
Earl Automobile Works
Fisher
Albert Fisher (Detroit)
Fleetwood
Holbrook
Judkins
KEM Motorworks
LeBaron
Locke
Murphy
Murray
Rollson
Rollston
Rubay
Studebaker
Towson
Walker
Waterhouse
Widman
Willoughby
Wilson

Survivors of the unibody production-line system

These are 

Coway 
Jankel 
Jubilee 
MacNeillie 
Overfinch
Wilcox
Woodall-Nicholson

See also
 Bus manufacturing
 Carriage
 Body-on-frame
 Chassis
 Unibody
 Wainwright

References

External links

Coachbuild.com: Encyclopedia of worldwide Coachbuilders from past to present
Encyclopedia of American Coachbuilders
Goldarths: The Fine Art of Coachbuilding
The Kellner Affair: Matters of Life and Death by Peter M. Larsen and Ben Erickson. Details Jacques Kellner and George Paulin involvement in the French Resistance.
Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles - Southern Mobility Vehicles