Bill Steossel, Coachcraft, Business of the Year

CoachCraft was started back in 1939 by Mr. Rudolf "Rudy"Steossel Set up shop in Hollywood , a Custom Carpenter of cabinets he began to custom build cars for some of the greats, like Bill Boyd,aka " Hop a long Cassidy", Bill Holden, Gary Cooper, and many more. CoachCraft was famous for designing and manufacturing the Continental Kits, Luggage racks, Reclining Seats, head rests, back in the late forties and fifties, things that are now, a standard item in cars we drive today.

In fact the Ford executives would often visit CoachCraft to see what they were building, and some Custom cars for the Rich and Famous were on Fords Chassis, Customize the current 1940's model cars. Henry Ford II was a Close friend of Coach Craft.

After the war the aircraft manufactures like "Lockheed" had engineers and design crews working for CoachCraft when they built a Concept car called the "1946 Hewson Rocket", this car has been to Europe car shows and now sits at the "Lane Motor Museum" in Nashville TN. Lockheed backed this concept car in place of building aircraft, and at the time the US did not need fighter planes so they needed to branch out to the private sector, this was one of the branches.

Bill, the son of "Rudy" grew up in the shop and after a convincing talk by a local store owner, picked up after his dad, as they built and restored beautiful cars, from the chassis up to a finished show car.

Bill's wife of 47 years was not given a loving talk by his Father "Rudy" when they were engaged, Rudy (dad) sat the little lady down and explained to her that she is not going to merry his son if she thinks he'll be home at a regular time, and that cars are his life, plus he will need a hot meal when he get's home. Bill told me, "she did just that and her only complaint was the "He's always playing with his toys". Since 2006 his wife had a bad stroke and after several years of private home nursing, she now enjoys the living at a medical rest home.

In 1997 Fillmore became the home of this Hollywood Custom car builder, and has been a local supporter of High School Sports and Grad Nite Live, which now Bill has retired at the end of 2010 and his son Anthony, has taken the rains of CoachCraft and will continue to build/restore classic cars for the motor enthusiasts and a Collision Center for Ventura County right here in little town Fillmore. (Story courtesy Eric Vigil)