Celebrating 50 Years of Moving People

The Custom Coaches tradition of building quality buses and coaches started in 1955.
It was the year CCMC won the tender to supply 125 bus bodies to the NSW Department of Government Transport. With the withdrawal of trams in the streets of Sydney there was a pressing need for buses to fill the void.
The Custom Coaches bodied Leyland, Royal Tiger Worldmaster, was the Government's preference. The body design of these single deckers closely resembles the style of American buses at the time. These bodies were known as “standees” and allowed standing passengers to look out through the small fixed windows above the opening windows for seated passengers.

The 1960s were exciting times. A strong team was forming, led by Jack Violet, with Barry Reardon and the evergreen Norm Stott by his side. CCMC were busy converting SB Bedfords from front-engined trucks to mid-engined buses, as well as building aluminium bodies on International truck chassis. In this era CCMC started building buses for a growing number of operators, successful operators that form the backbone of the today's industry.

The 1970s represented growth for the manufacturer. Due to the increase in orders, along with local government rezoning, the building business was transferred to Sturt St, Smithfield. With that came the official name change to Custom Coaches (Sales) Pty Ltd.
This represented a substantial investment and a sign of confidence in the engineering and manufacturing skills of the organisation. It was a period that cemented the future of Custom Coaches. The business was developing, the product base was expanding, the customer base growing and life long relationships forming.
Such innovations of the time included a Triple Decker on an RFW chassis. It seemed that they wanted more steps back then, rather than less.

The eighties saw the company first hit the production of 100 buses in a calendar year.
The demand for vehicles was escalating with Expo coming to Brisbane and the popularly of coaches reaching unprecedented levels.
Twin deck and highdeck coaches led the way. It was an exciting time and an important period in regards to engineering and development.
The bus market was diversifying. Clear product categories emerged as the demands faced by operators became more distinguishable. Dedicated Metropolitan Citybuses, with low entry and high capacity, moved further away from Charter and School vehicles. While coaches became more 'highly spec'd' than ever before.
Custom Coaches markets also began to diversify. In 1988 the local Melbourne body builder, WA Newnham & Sons was purchased with production in Victoria continuing until it was centralised in the Adelaide plant in 2001.
The 1990s brought further expansion for Custom Coaches. 1995 saw the establishment of a purpose built bus manufacturing plant at Arundel, in Queensland's Gold Coast.


The year 2000 brought in the new millennium and with it the largest challenge faced by the Australian bus industry, the Olympic Games. Custom Coaches took a significant step-up to ensure the industry's needs were met and their achievements showcased to the world.
2000 also saw the acquisition of the Australian Bus Manufacturing Company, ABM, in Adelaide (previously Austral Pacific Group and PMC Adelaide). The Adelaide plant is the largest bus manufacturing plant in the country.
Late in 2001, the Melbourne manufacturing plant was closed with production streamlined into the three plants running today, Sydney, the Gold Coast and Adelaide. At the same time Custom Coaches set up an aftermarket network throughout Australia, Custom Care, specializing in parts, repairs, refurbishments and technical support to the entire industry, not just Custom Coaches clients.
In 2001 the adjacent Smithfield property was acquired, thus doubling the size of the Sydney operation. Custom Care and Custom Manufacturing expanded into the new site bringing new efficiencies to bus manufacturing.

Custom Coaches has remained focused on meeting the needs of the private bus industry. Over the same period Custom Coaches has developed a strategic plan to supply key Government operators in NSW, Canberra and South Australia.
The new millennium also brought a fresh business drive to Custom Coaches, with Mark Burgess as CEO, adding commercial expertise and acumen. A new era was borne with family connections that date back to the very start.
Today Custom Coaches has a proud array of products for the mini, midi, school, charter and route bus segments, headed by the 2005 high capacity CB60 C-Max .