Serving our industry for over 100 years
The Farber name has been associated with the automotive industry since 1920, originally selling Ford cars and trucks and in 1947 the innovative Tucker car. Farber Motors was established in 1920 by N.C Farber as an automotive retail and service outlet and incorporated in 1949 by second-generation owner Donavin N. Farber (Don). Don further expanded the business into recreational vehicle sales in the mid-sixties later to be joined by his four sons D. Steven Farber (Steve), John C. Farber (John), Kenneth J. Farber (Ken) and Nicolas C. Farber (Nick).
The earliest Farber custom vehicles were van to camper conversions in the early 1970’s. The roofs were cut out of the vans to allow for an extended fiberglass top and an interior up-fitted with camping equipment. The “plant” consisted of a small shed at the rear of the RV facility in Whitehall, Ohio only large enough to accommodate one conversion at a time. By the early 1980’s, requests for custom-built mobile units had accelerated. Sons Ken led “Specialty Vehicle” sales, while John drafted the original vehicle designs with drafting paper and pencil.
By 1995, the specialty vehicle division exceeded the capacity of the RV dealership and operations were moved into an existing 18,000 sq. ft. facility on the East side of Columbus. Ken, with his brother Steve managed and operated the business out of this facility until 2002, when the business once again outgrew the building capacity and relocated production operations to a 50,000 sq. ft. industrial plant at 7052 Americana Parkway, where the company corporate offices reside today. The 18,000 sq. ft. facility was retained for service operations and updating or retro-fitting older units. The company expanded operations again in 2017 adding an additional plant with 145,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space located on 16 acres. Total sales, engineering and production space now exceeds 200,000 sq. ft.
In 2002 FSV purchased the customer base, trade name, equipment and inventory of Custom Coach; an established manufacturer of entertainment and executive transportation vehicles. High line conversions now include Prevost busses and custom vans.
Today, Farber has a team of 170 full-time employees utilizing the latest technology to design and build custom specialty vehicles. All vehicles are custom designed by a team of electrical and mechanical engineers and manufactured to meet the customer’s unique needs. Auto Cad and SolidWorks computer aided design software is used to design interiors as well as body shells. The factory includes the most up to date CNC, machine press, and HVAC equipment in the industry. FSV custom manufactures on many different platforms including Freightliner, International, Ford, Prevost and Sprinter. A broad scope of work includes emergency management, medical, laboratories and educational vehicles. Quality is assured with ISO certification.
FSV is currently managed by Ken Farber, President as well as a fourth generation of family members and many dedicated employees with 10-35 years of experience with the company. Nick Farber has taken on a role designed to accelerate the company’s pursuit of innovative technologies, and to expand and increase the velocity of product development activities. More so today than ever, FSV remains committed to the spirit of innovation by which the company was founded, and continues to be the leader in specialty vehicle manufacturing.
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