Photos: Wheeled Coach Celebrates 50 Years, 50,000 Ambulances Delivered
WINTER PARK, FL – Wheeled Coach marked their 50th anniversary Wednesday with a celebration of their history, their workers and they role they play saving lives as more than 50,000 ambulances have left their production line to go in service in all 50 states and dozens of countries.
“It is hard for me to believe that when I started here in 1981, I've been around a long time, that I would be here appreciating this ceremony at Wheel Coach 50 years down the road,” said Vice President of the Ambulance Division, Mark Van Arnam. “It's been an incredible journey.”
He boasted his pride in the company building ambulances to provide emergency care, thanks to a strong dealer network, in communities across the world.
The beginning
Before Florida had registered paramedics, Scott Barnes started his career in EMS, as an EMT with the Altamont Springs Fire Department. He went on to become a paramedic and later taught an EMT program where a group of men from Starline Enterprises, a San Francisco-based ambulance manufacturer, asked him for assistance in getting into the program so they could understand the needs of the ambulance crews they were serving.
One of the students was Robert “Bob” Collins Sr., and he reached out and offered Barnes a consulting job at Starline Enterprises. When Collins was denied an offer to buy Starline Enterprises the fall of 1975, he left to start Wheeled Coach.
He rented a building on Church Street in Winter Park and began building vehicles to transport wheelchairs. They evolved to manufacture Type II ambulances then expanded customization offerings.
“He knew he needed to get in the modular ambulance business because that was where the trend was,” Barnes said, who is now vice president of REV’s Ambulance Group.
He began buying bodies from a company in Rhode Island, with Barnes recalling, “it’s kind of like taking a van and turning it into an ambulance because it was cabinet work, electrical work, things of that nature.
He recalled the story when Harry Hawn stopped to talk with Collins, asking him who was in his engineering department had.
“And the famous words from Bob Collins was, ‘I don't need no damn engineering department. We know what we're doing,’” Collins said as the crowd laughed, Hawn threw more questions at Collins who was unphased by it at the time.
Days later, Collins saw Hawn and hired him on the spot to head up engineering for Wheeled Coach. Soon after, they stopped purchasing bodies from Rhode Island and manufacturing their own.
Around the same time as Wheeled Coach’s expansion in 1979, Barnes became a dealer and then-Metro-Dade Fire Department (now Miami-Dade Fire Department) was seeking a long-term contract for Type III ambulances so Barnes brough their staff to the factory and showed them around.
In July 1980, Metro-Dade came to the plant to look at a protype to the specs and they wanted to change the traditional D-ring rotary lock with rods to keep compartment doors shut, Barnes recalled. “Harry Hawn designed the first ambulance on the market that used nadir pins and rotary latches like in an automobile that we all use today. So, we did the pitch and at the end of the day, first year order for Miami-Dade was 20 units.”
The Metro-Dade ambulance, which was painted in their customary lime green, was delivered to Pinellas Park and that was the first Wheeled Coach modular body to go in service. Today, the department still uses the 45-year-old rig for community events and fire prevention.
Wheeled Coach today
Wheeled Coach employs nearly 700 people in 2025 at the multi-building facility on both sides of Forsyth Road, with some areas of the facility working two shifts to keep the production line moving.
“You don't realize that here in Winter Park, Florida, we have the largest ambulance manufacturing site in the country,” said REV – Orlando Vice President/General Manager Erik Stoor.
He explained that REV has invested millions in the facility, the production equipment and their employees developing a skilled labor force.
He highlighted the workers, noting that 16 employees have been with Wheeled Coach have more than 30 years. Two have celebrated 43 years with the company.
“One thing in common among the employees is a tremendous sense of pride in what we do,” said Stoor.
Reflecting on 43 years
Paul Holzapfel, director of sales operations, has been with Wheeled Coach for 43 years.
He reflected on the many changes since he first started, including workers using table saws to cut out the cabinetry, hand-held plasma cutters for making the vehicle, etc.
“Back then, our engineering department, I think was two people. We have 35 engineers sit behind Pro E software computers, designing vehicles to the complete packages,” Holzapfel said. “Back then, they stood with a lead pencil, drawing lines on paper and handing the paper to the people in the shop.”
Holzapfel spoke of one design features that’s been a constant since 1992, Wheeled Coach’s use of corner cap lights atop the ambulance body.
“(When) my kids were younger, we'd go to movies or on TV and we'd see ambulances on there and they'd always say, ‘Is that yours, daddy?’ You know, I'd say, “Well, does have a corner cap light?’” and had the corner cap lights.
Customers far and wide
“We sell vehicles from the South Pole to the North Pole,” Holzapfel shared.
Wheeled Coach has had ambulances in all 50 states, they have been sold to 27 counties, including, Guam, Kenya and across the Middle East and South and Central Americas. With a redesign of the units, they have delivered right-hand drive ambulances to the United Kingdom and Japan.
With ambulances being delivered to Caribbean Island, Holzapfel said, “When we have to do training down there, I usually go down there and do the training. I get a lot of volunteers to, to help me do that.”
“We've got two vehicles we sent to the top of the world to Mount Everest,” Holzapfel said.
They also build custom units many branches of the U.S. government, including U.S. National Parks, all branches of the military, the FBI and Secret Service.
“Anywhere the president of the United States goes, there's a Wheeled Coach ambulance following him,” said Holzapfel.
While not an ambulance, Wheeled Coach built a rescue body vehicle that was used in the 1990s TV series, Baywatch.
Van Arnam said he was “proud to thank our local customers,” as he pointed to representatives of Orange County Fire Rescue Department, Greater Orlando Aviation Authority and Orlando Fire Department. Two have been customers since 1979.
During the ceremony, Van Arnam introduced Orange County Fire Chief James Fitzgerald and they moved in front of one of the ambulances that was on display to turn over the keys to their latest delivery with pomp and circumstance.
Fitzgerald asked, “Where are the other 32?” and the crowd laughed.
Milestones
A wall in the delivery building highlights the many milestones by Wheeled Coach.
In 1980, they moved to the current facility, which has seen many expansions over 50 years, and a year later they were building Type I and Type III ambulances on the production line.
By 1983, there was a demand for Wheeled Coach units outside they U.S. and they began exporting vehicles.
In the 1990s, they engineered the Advanced Vehicle Warning grille to ensure motorists could see their emergency lights, which were usually mounted atop the body. They brought the ModuVan, later named the CitiMedic to market, designed for private ambulance companies in urban areas, and they developed the PureAir air filtration system. A new design included a Type II Crusader Plus van ambulance with new features.
The 2000s brough innovation to Wheeled Coach, including the DuraLite cabinet systems, and a CNC system to cut doors to ensure consistency and accuracy.
In 2010, they introduced the safePASS emergency egress handles, and became the first ambulance company to take part in side-impact crash testing. They engineered the Cool-Bar air conditioning system that allowed more comfort for the crew and patients.
Since then, Wheeled Coach began offering NFPA 1917-compliant ambulances, was certified for crashworthiness standards, introduced anti-corrosion protection, enhanced ToughCoat paint application, the RelayPlex electrical system.
In the last five year, For safe they added RollTek airbags, redesigned the CitiMedic ambulance model, designed the SecureAmp power system and updated the SafePass feature.
FDNY’s 1,000th Delivery
Barnes said Wheeled Coach built ambulances for New York City in the 1980s and had an order following the September 11 attacks.
In 2009, they began regularly producing FDNY’s ambulances, which have become a cornerstone for ambulance design.
With FDNY’s highly customized specifications needed for the ambulances that work the streets of the nation’s largest city, Wheeled Coach has a dedicated production line at the facility in 2021.
On average, they complete four to five FDNY units each week.
Last fall, Wheeled Coach completed their 1,000th FDNY ambulance.
The Winter Park Facility
Multiple buildings comprise the facility where Wheeled Coach products are designed, manufactured and finished before delivery.
Structures are designed for building the bodies, painting and production, plus the delivery building where the rigs receive their final inspections from customers.
They have three production lines. In addition to FDNY’s line, the plant has a modular production line and one for the Type II units. There’s also a production line for Road Rescue, another REV brand, which has it’s own staff.
The painting process could require the rigs to go through the pain booth three times, depending on the color schemes, said Greg DeForge, the national sales manager for Wheeled Coach. Each time, the rigs are carefully tapped and covered to avoid overspray.
Among recent changes, DeForge said, is that Wheeled Coach transitioned to PPG paint from Sikkens for a better-quality finish.
Looking forward
Van Arnam said they expect to put 1,200 ambulances on the street from the Winter Park factory this year.
“For the last 50 years, Wheeled Coach has been the brand known around the world, and I know that the next 50 years, they're also going be the brand known around the world,” Holzapfel.
Peter Matthews | Editor-in-Chief/Conference Director
Peter Matthews is the conference director and editor-in-chief of Firehouse. He has worked at Firehouse since 1999, serving in various roles on both Firehouse Magazine and Firehouse.com staffs. He completed an internship with the Rochester, NY, Fire Department and served with fire departments in Rush, NY, and Laurel, MD, and was a lieutenant with the Glenwood Fire Company in Glenwood, NY. Matthews served as photographer for the St. Paul, MN, Fire Department.
