Strafford limo builder expands to Bolivar

S&R Coach LLC has built limousines at 316 N. Airport Road in Strafford since July 1, 2003. Adin Baban, co-owner and sales manager, anticipates opening a second production facility at 4852 S. 138th Road in Bolivar by the end of January. The Bolivar location previously housed Baban’s father-in-law’s 12-year-old business, Rosia Sportswear, which recently sold.

The expansion may not end there.

Bud Godfrey, economic development director for Bolivar and Polk County, is courting Baban’s business for a location in Bolivar’s 81-acre industrial park, empty except for a Comfort Inn under construction. Godfrey and Baban are negotiating for the space, even before the 138th Road location begins production.

“My feeling is probably not even half a year after we’re up and running full bloom in the Bolivar location, we’re already going to be outgrowing that location,” Baban said. “We’re kind of looking in that direction and they’ve offered us some pretty good options up there to build a building in the new industrial park.”

Neither Godfrey nor Baban would disclose details. “We would probably give them some type of incentive to do that and some job credits that we have available through our (industrial development authority) board. That’s really out in the future. We’re just in the starting gate right now,” Godfrey said.

Baban – who co-owns the business with his wife, Corinna Baban, office manager, and their fathers, Petre Baban and Liviu Rosia, who oversee production – said that increased demand for their limos required adding to their full-time staff of 24 and caused the company to outgrow its 15,000-square-foot Strafford location.

“We have the offices up and running (in Bolivar) already and we’ve got (four new) employees that we’ve hired already for that facility, and we’re looking to hire 10 more employees. Hopefully, sometime this month we’ll make that shift up there and open the doors,” Baban said. “The manufacturing end of it is not all there yet.”

The Strafford location will continue to produce limousines crafted from Hummer, Lincoln, Chrysler and Cadillac products. Finished limos range in price from $60,000 to $120,000. The crew at the new location will concentrate on building two new lines: buses and racing limos. The buses, Baban said, are targeted for limousine operators in “the VIP transportation business.”

S&R Coach is the sole authorized builder of the racing limos for licensees of Racing Limos Inc. of Naples, Fla.

“It’s basically a stretched NASCAR,” Baban said. “You’ve got everything on these limousines: racing trim, the hood pin, the safety windshield pins, the trim along the top, the wind deflectors … the racing decals, the racing stripes.” The interiors have a checkered flag theme and fiber optic lighting.

Bryan Pease, president of Racing Limos, came up with the racing limo concept in May 2002 and approached Baban about building them in June 2004, after parting ways with his previous builder. “When I went through the shop I saw a lot of activity and I felt like (his) was a growing business,” Pease said from his Florida headquarters. “He has not let me down.”

Racing Limos now has 21 licensees across the United States and expects to have around 50 by the end of the year. The previous company built about eight limos, and S&R Coach began building racing limos in August 2004.

“We’ve got two (completed racing limos) out in the field now and we’ve got 10 on order … we’ve got six to 10 more on the way,” Baban said. “For the next six months we’re completely booked on these racing limos.”

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