ProfileBy Lisa Howard-Fusco

Armbruster & Co. was known for constructing “holdup proof”stagecoaches with secret compartments for valuables built intothe coaches’ floors and interiors. Although the company thatwould be Armbruster-Stageway later enjoyed a long, successfulhistory of building stretched cars, buses, and limousines, itwould seem to simply die of neglect, with the trade name being

abandoned by 1990.All that would change in 2013, when Sean Myers and Richard Lester of

Southwest Professional Vehicles Inc. (the largest distributor of funeral limou-sines and funeral coaches in the country) resurrected the Armbruster-Stage-way name, manufacturing six-door limousines, funeral coaches and XTS-XLsedans for the funeral industry.

“Ever since we got into the professional car business, Armbruster-Stage-way was the premiere name in six-door limos,” said Richard Lester, vicepresident of the most recent incarnation of Armbruster-Stageway. “It’s anold name that’s been around forever, and everybody knew that name. It wasnot gone so long that everybody forgot it. We found out that it wasn’t beingused and I thought, ‘I wonder if there’s a website.’ I looked and it was avail-able. We applied to the patent office for the logo, and we were off to theraces. I really couldn’t believe it. It was kind of magic.”

In 1887, three men -Tom Armbruster,

Charles Kaiser andWalter Walkford -

began a modestbusiness building andrepairing horse-drawnvehicles in Fort Smith,

Arkansas, a busysupply depot catering

to settlers moving westinto “Indian territory.”

Armbruster-Stageway

The Comeback of

Pg. 20 Armbruster-Stageway (Howard-Fusco)_AFD May BOOK 2/9/15 3:18 PM Page 20

A History of Celebrities andFuneral Service

Although the first Armbruster fu-neral car was custom-built to orderin 1934 on a Dodge chassis, and thecompany would also convert stationwagons and sedan deliveries to mini-hearse or ambulance configurationsometime in the 1950s, it would besome time before it became a signifi-cant player in the death-care profes-sion. However, throughout themid-1950s to the early 1960s, Arm-bruster limousines began to becomewell-known to the more elite, andwere used by the likes of the All-American Red Heads basketballteam and Willie Nelson, who touredin his own 1959 Armbruster eight-door Chevrolet.

But it wouldn’t be until the early1970s that Armbruster-Stagewaywould begin to market directly tofuneral directors, when then-vicepresident Milt Earnhart coaxed hisson, Tom Earnhart, to join the firm.

“In the early 1970s, Tom Earn-hart saw the market for the six-doorlimousine for funeral service andbegan to market directly to funeraldirectors,” explained Tom McPher-son, author and co-author of over adozen books on professional cars.“From 1973 to 1975, you saw thesix-door limos built on a Chrysler orPontiac chassis. This was a radicalbreakthrough, as each seat had itsown door, and they were competingdirectly with the factory-built limosby Cadillac.”

Also during its heyday of expan-sion in the late 1970s, many celebri-ties sought out Armbruster-Stagewaylimousines; owners included KingOlav V of Norway, actor SylvesterStallone and author and commenta-tor William F. Buckley Jr.

By the 1980s, however, the Arm-bruster-Stageway name was sold sev-eral times to various companies; in1989, it was acquired by ExecutiveCoachbuilders, which relocated oper-ations to Springfield, Missouri, andin the next few years would abandonthe trademark.

Meanwhile, Chris Witte, a FortSmith businessman, would purchasethe vacant, former Armbruster-Stage-way plants and rehire its workers tobuild limousines under the new name

Partners Richard Lester and Sean Myers,shown with coaches from the newArmbruster-Stageway fleet. (Photocourtesy of Armbruster-Stageway)

Pg. 20 Armbruster-Stageway (Howard-Fusco)_AFD May BOOK 2/9/15 3:18 PM Page 21

of Federal Coach. But in 2010,after the advent of the luxury SUVand the “party bus” shrank de-mand for the traditional stretchlimousine, the original plantswould again be shut down, for thelast time. After 123 years, it ap-peared that nothing was left to rep-resent Armbruster-Stageway,neither its trademark nor its assem-bled craftsmen.

Putting the Band BackTogether

Yet Armbruster-Stageway wouldonce again rise from the ashes in2012, when Myers and Lester filedand received approval to obtainand use the abandoned trademark,arranged to rehire many of the for-

mer Armbruster-Stageway/FederalCoach workers and opened forbusiness in a new building justsouth of Fort Smith in Hackett,Arkansas.

“I think we were driven by theemployees that we wanted to hire,”said Myers, president of Arm-bruster-Stageway. “We wanted topay homage to the name and theworkers; we kind of came in andput the band back together. Wethink manufacturers have gottenaway from their ideals. Armbruster-Stageway had a very well-receivedand recognized name that had goneby the wayside, and our goal was tobring back the well-built cars ofyesterday.”

In May 2013, the first unit, built

on the new XTS chassis, was un-veiled at the Kansas, Missouri andNebraska Tri-state Funeral Direc-tors Association Convention inKansas City. The response was pos-itive, Lester said. “We decided thatwe were going to come into town,do it, and do it right … and so farit has worked. When funeral direc-tors see the coaches, some haveeven used the word ‘sexy’ to de-scribe it. It’s a good looking car.”

Despite some calling them ‘sexy,’most agree that the design wasn’tover-the-top, either. “I think thestyle of the new coaches retainedthe conservative dignity of the fu-neral industry,” said Todd VanBeck, a veteran funeral director andexperienced educator and consul-

American Funeral Director • March 201522

Armbruster & Co. is formed by Tom Armbruster,Charles Kaiser and Walter Walkford in Fort Smith,Arkansas. The company built and repaired horse-drawnvehicles and built “holdup proof” stagecoaches.

Jordan Bus Lines commissions Armbruster tobuild an extended-wheelbase, multi-doortouring, car-based coach for short intercityruns; this leads to its first “stretched” car.

Tom Armbruster retires, andCharles Kaiser dies suddenlyof a heart attack.

Armbruster offers the business to Ed Robbenof Stageway, a Cincinnati distribution firm.Robben takes over the business with hisson-in-law, Milt Earnhart, who serves as vicepresident.

1887 1921-1923 1949 1950

Left: Sean Myers and Richard Lester, with a 1941 Henney Packard 3-Way Hearse from the Southwest Professional Vehiclesantique collection, on display in their Kansas City Showroom. Right: A worker polishes up a newly-built Armbruster-Stagewaylimousine in the early 1980s. (Photos courtesy of Armbruster-Stageway)

Pg. 20 Armbruster-Stageway (Howard-Fusco)_AFD May BOOK 2/9/15 10:37 AM Page 22

tant. “A great amount of sensitivedesign work went into them, butnone of them were ever overdone.”

“I hate to say it, but so manycompanies just do ‘cookie cutter’hearses; I think it’s a sign of thetimes,” added Tony Karsnia, presi-dent of the Professional Car Soci-ety. “What’s ironic is that we arein a time of encouraging personal-ization in funeral service, but withstandardized equipment. It used tobe that a company would offer 10,20, even 30 different models of ahearse, to make to the liking of in-dividual funeral directors. I have tocompliment Armbruster-Stagewayon standing out with pleasing mod-els, offering a variety of hearseswith both wraparound windowsand the Landau style.”

What seems to be the real innova-tion is just how difficult it has beento design anything distinctive on thecurrent Cadillac chassis. As McPher-son explained, Cadillac, for safetyreasons, will not allow the manufac-turers to alter the A-pillars (the wind-shield pillars) on the chassis, becausethe air bags are incorporated intothem. As a result, many manufactur-ers “build from the coach,” and limittheir styling to something “recycledfrom 1977.”

“The people at Armbruster-Stage-way have done a particularly goodjob with what they have had towork with,” McPherson said.“They use historic styling cues toresonate with the funeral industry.They are doing something very in-teresting, their cars look good. What

you see is a spark of imaginationand fresh design that incorporatesthe older styles.”

“We wanted to bring back thelook of the late 1950s, early 60s,with interesting wrap-around glass inthe back,” Myers explained. “We de-cided to style it first, then reverse-en-gineer it. Our intention was to builda top-of-the-line look first.”

A History of Serving ThoseWho Serve Families

Myers and Lester have had expe-rience in learning what it is that fu-neral directors want and need intheir cars. Lester had originally ac-quired what was then called Superi-or Southwest in 1982 in Dallaswith Myers’s father, Carl; in 1988,the partners purchased Crain Sales

American Funeral Director • March 2015 23

Armbruster incorporates asArmbruster & Co. Inc.

Queen City sells its Stageway subsidiary toRobben, and incorporates it as StagewayCoaches Inc., with Milt Earnhart as president.Armbruster appoints Stageway as its nationaldistributor.

Ed Robben dies. The two Fort Smith operationsare combined as Armbruster-Stageway Inc.Tom Robben (Ed’s son) is appointed presidentand Milt Earnhart vice president.

The Armbruster-Stageway plant grows tocover over 50,000 square feet and a staff of55 full-time employees producing over 350coaches annually.

Tom Earnhart, Milt’s son, enters thebusiness. Shortly after, he success-fully introduces six-door limousinesto a local funeral home.

1956 1962 1966 1969 1973

Left, the heads of Armbuster-Stageway as of December 1984, Left to Right: Danny Aldridge, director of sales; Jim Mankowski, CEO;Ross Barrows, president. Right: The Armbruster-Stageway Cadillac 6-door, circa early 1980s. (Photos courtesy of Armbruster-Stageway)

Pg. 20 Armbruster-Stageway (Howard-Fusco)_AFD May BOOK 2/9/15 10:37 AM Page 23

American Funeral Director • March 201524

in Atlanta, Georgia, and becamethe largest distributor of funeralcars in the United States. WhenSean Myers was 19, he began hiscareer in the business, sweeping thefloors in the shops. “I learnedeverything from the back shopwhere we do maintenance, to usedcar reconditioning. I do everything,including cleaning the toilets,” hesaid. In 2004, the elder Myers be-came ill, decided to retire, and soldhis share of the company to Sean.

Based on what Myers and Lesterlearned from serving funeral directorsfor years with Southwest ProfessionalVehicles, Armbruster-Stageway carswould not be just about good looks.“In our history with delivering cars,we got to know the problems out inthe field, and we knew what we want-ed to do with Armbruster-Stageway,”Myers explained. “It gave us a hands-on, day-to-day experience in what fu-neral directors needed in theirvehicles. What was most important tothem in the hearse was to get the backof the car as wide as possible. Now,we could control what the finishedcar was going to be.”

The unique, yet practical, fea-tures of the Armbruster-Stagewayhearses is that the back door is 45inches wide in the rear, enough toaccommodate a double, oversizecasket. Myers and Lester also sawhow funeral directors would oftenstruggle against the rear door whenloading and unloading a casket. Inorder to eliminate this problem, itwas decided a double hinge wouldbe used in the rear door, so that it

Armbruster-Stageway introduces a line of Cadillacsix-door limousines built from a FleetwoodBrougham that prove popular with funeral directors.

Armbruster-Stageway issold to Carmatex Inc.

NEOAX acquires Armbruster-Stageway.

NEOAX sells the Armbruster-Stageway name to Executive CoachBuilders, and relocates to Springfield, Missouri. Later that year,Chris Witte purchases the vacant plants in Fort Smith, rehires theArmbruster-Stageway workers, and opens under Federal Coach.

1974 1981 1985 1989

Sean Myers and Richard Lester with the Crown Regal funeral coachthat is creating a buzz throughout the industry.(Photo courtesy of Armbruster-Stageway)

Pg. 20 Armbruster-Stageway (Howard-Fusco)_AFD May BOOK 2/9/15 10:38 AM Page 24

American Funeral Director • March 2015 25

could swing open 165 degrees andout of the way while loading andunloading.

“Design is now computer-gener-ated, and so many companies relyon solely that, too much,” Karsniasaid. “Armbruster-Stageway hasdone an excellent job of taking astep back and working to designsomething modern, functional, withquality, but with a touch of yester-year. I think they’ve hit a home runwith that.”

Myers agreed. “The response hasbeen phenomenal,” he said. “Wehave had a long wait list for deliv-eries, s ince the beginning. Wedidn’t want to increase productiontoo much, because we never wantto get into a situation where wewould have to lay people off. Wejust let people know our cars comewith a wait list.”

In 2014, as if to demonstrate itsrenewed success, an Armbruster-Stageway vehicle would once againbe used by a celebrity – this time inthe funeral of former Washington,D.C. mayor Marion Barry Jr. Butdespite the appearance in some-thing so high-profile, Armbruster-Stageway’s public image hashistorically been more subdued.

“Armbruster-Stageway has al-ways played it low key; they werenever at every convention or blitz-ing the magazines with ads,” VanBeck said. “And yet, the name sur-vives despite that.”

It seems Myers plans to continuethis tradition. “We build five cars aweek, 250 per year. I think it’s a

nice, comfortable level,” he said.“Our goal may not be to have thehighest volume but to have thehighest quality. I wouldn’t rule outus growing in the future, as long aswe can keep volume and our work-ers. I think that speaks to a lot ofour funeral directors in small townAmerica, who need those manufac-turing jobs in their community inorder to thrive.”

Business by the Golden RuleAlthough there is a generation

between them, Myers and Lesteract like family.

“He’s kind of like a son in someways, a brother in others,” Lestersaid of Myers. “Our working rela-tionship has been fantastic becauseof it. We don’t have any of that dotthe i’s and cross the t’s stuff. We dothings by the Golden Rule, and ifyou do that, you can’t go wrong.”

That philosophy carries throughto how the company conducts busi-ness, Myers said. “We care aboutthe product,” he said. “For me, it’smy reputation on the line. I thinkit’s similar to the quality of care ina funeral home. If I put my nameon it, I’m going to make sure I pro-vide quality.”

Lester agreed. “All too often peo-ple go out and buy something, andthe people there are nice to you andthey take your money, but thenthey don’t want to hear from youafterward,” he said. “Nowadaysthere’s a lot of corporate bureau-cracy, and it’s hard to get a deci-sion made, it seems nobody’s in

charge. It’s frustrating. We wantedto provide a vehicle funeral direc-tors want, with the styling theywant, and to be treated the waywe’d want to be treated.”

“A New Era of Distinctive andIndividual Styling”

Armbruster-Stageway has abright future in funeral service,McPherson said. “Aside from theirphysical premises, a funeral direc-tor’s motor equipment conveys tothe community an image of the lev-els of service and professionalismtheir firm renders,” he said. “As itmoves about the community, thefuneral coach, bearing a funeralhome’s nameplates, is a travelingbusiness card and a pretty accuratereflection of the owner’s businessand the standards he has estab-lished and maintains. The advent ofdistinctively-styled vehicles fromArmbruster-Stageway may wellhave a dramatic impact on the in-dustry as a whole. These vehiclesmay well usher in a new era of dis-tinctive and individual styling.”

Perhaps the current success ofArmbruster-Stageway, and its fu-ture, lies in the passion and dedica-tion of its owners.

“If your heart and soul isn’t intosomething, it’s not going to be thebest it can be. It’s the last thing onmy mind when I go to bed, and it’sthe first thing I think of when I getup. This is all we know, and welove what we do,” Lester said.“Armbruster-Stageway is backnow, and it’s going to stay.” •

The trademark of Armbruster-Stageway is officially filed as“abandoned” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The Fort Smith plant at FederalCoach is shut down.

Sean Myers and Richard Lester file toobtain the Armbruster-Stageway name.

The first newly restyled Armbruster-Stageway coach isunveiled at the Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska Tri-stateFuneral Directors Association Convention in Kansas City.

1990 2010 2012 2013

Pg. 20 Armbruster-Stageway (Howard-Fusco)_AFD May BOOK 2/9/15 4:14 PM Page 25