The Country Coach Company Bob Lee Built

Bob Lee:  RV Industry Pioneer and Company He Built

*Originally written and printed in FMC magazine, this article doesn’t scratch the surface of the contributions of Bob Lee to the RV industry. It is however, a small means of saying “thank you” to Terry and Bob for the wonderful Country Coach experiences I have enjoyed. My favorite life lesson from Bob was first heard at a plant wide meeting. He talked of growing up on a farm in southern Oregon, and how when they planted seed they would just hang the empty gunny sacks over the fence poles at the end of the rows and how over the years there got to be a lot of gunny sacks on their fence poles. He said they got so used to those gunny sacks they never even noticed them. But none the less they were eyesores. He encouraged me (us) to go back to our departments and look for our gunny sacks, to remove those things and to strive for excellence in everything we turned our efforts too.”  I never forgot and I think of it yet today as I move through my professional and personal life.

The RV Industry has had its share of ups and downs over the past several decades, and the same can be said of RV pioneer Bob Lee of Junction City, Oregon. His tenacity and perseverance over four decades of the RV industry’s cyclical highs and lows as well as in his own adjustment to health issues which demanded he downshift are commendable (and if you know Bob Lee, then you know slowing down is not something he easily agreed to). Bob’s passion for the recreation vehicle industry and his enjoyment of the Country Coach lifestyle are unstoppable. 

His is an inspiring story of the pursuit and achievement of the American dream.

Bob was born in the Klamath Falls, Oregon area in 1939 into a farming and logging family. After high school Bob joined the U.S. Navy training as a jet mechanic. He left the service in 1962 and went to work in the Los Angeles area for North American Rockwell, where he was hired as an equipment buyer with the Apollo space program. In 1968 he left the aerospace program and with two friends started a camper manufacturing business in Oregon. “We left our families and took off up I-5 having no idea where we were going to get off,” Bob reminisced. They ended up in Junction City and began what would become Monaco. In 1972 Bob left Monaco to start his own company. He went to work days for Kendall Ford as an RV service manager and in the evenings he built camper canopies in a rented garage with his partner Lowell Swartz. Eventually he built his first small motorhome which sold for $10,500. He was on his way!

“Being a guy with a little ingenuity, it wasn’t too hard,” Lee said about those formative years. “It’s like building a house—once you learn how, it’s easy.” The business was known as Country Camper back then, named after his daughter’s little Barbie doll camper. The company incorporated in 1974. When the demand for slide-in campers waned in the late 1970s, Bob says he decided he wanted “to be in the high end of the RV market as that wasn’t as volatile.” In 1984 the company was renamed Country Coach. It grew to span over 42 acres of industrial land turning out hundreds of motorcoaches per year. “Building hundreds, not thousands per year, allowed Country Coach to focus on the quality upon which the business had been founded,” Bob noted. “I always told my employees, “Build it as if your own mother will be driving it, and they did.”

Lees in 1984

Country Camper’s humble beginnings of two employees building slide-in campers grew to a corporation encompassing over eight city blocks in Junction City, Oregon and employing 1500+ employees at Country Coach’s peak manufacturing years. Country Coach’s product lines encompassed both front and side door entry diesel pusher motorcoaches from 32’ in length to 45’, with up to 4 slide rooms. Country Coach built  at least twelve different Class A models (and even briefly a Class C Max), along with the custom-tuned DynoMax chassis. Over his 40 year career, Bob Lee founded a motorcoach company that became one of the industry’s premier manufacturers of luxury diesel pusher motorcoaches.

“There were definitely some challenges to overcome,” said Terry Lee. “When we had the gas crunch in the late 70’s/early 80's, we also built trailers and park models too; we even put our employees to work fabricating stove inserts.....anything to survive the industry downturn.” Terry worked in the company and served as corporate secretary and treasurer for the first 20 years of the company’s history. The Lees, along with brothers Ron and Lenard in early years and in later years, Bob and Terry’s daughters Kenda and Brenda, ran a family operation.

For many years, Bob and Terry logged 10,000 to 15,000 miles per year on their motorcoach, traveling to industry shows and rallies, where they’d park beside Country Coach owners. “Motorcoachers are the best source of information as to what is most important to have designed into their home on wheels,” Bob always said. So he and Terry would listen, gather ideas; and then take that input back to his Country Coach team. The next model year debut usually found many of those motorcoachers’ suggestions incorporated into the new coach designs.

Recognition of Bob’s accomplishments came from many avenues. Country Coach was presented the Oregon Governor’s Award for Corporate Excellence in 1984, the Private Industry Council’s Outstanding Employer Award in 1987, the U.S. Senate Productivity Award in 1988, Oregon’s Private 150 Award in 1994, and by RVIA with a “Distinguished Service to the RV Industry” award in 1995. He was later inducted into the RV/MH Heritage Hall of Fame in 2000. Bob served this industry with gusto, holding positions of leadership for nearly 30 years on the Commercial Council for Family Motor Coach Association, Recreation Vehicle Industry Association, and the Oregon Reinforced Plastics Association. He also chaired the Annual RVIA Manufacturers Shows, held each year in Los Angeles, CA and Louisville, KY, for many years.

Bob was one to share the credit with brother Ron Lee (VP of Engineering and Manufacturing for many years), Ed Read (then VP of Production), as well as the entire engineering, design and manufacturing team for the old world craftsmanship and significant product innovations Country Coach brought to the industry. Those innovations included a coach systems monitor with speech processor; air leveling for the motorcoach; HVAC control technology; and hydronic heating coach systems, as well as introducing code-compliant custom bus conversions built on a production line. Bob noted that “although extremely proud to have had the opportunity to be a part of this great industry’s evolution,” he and Terry “have treasured the many friendships they have formed over the years.”

“More than just friends,” that's how long-time Country Coach motorcoach owner Ted Wright described Bob and Terry Lee. "In 1989 I retired and moved to Scottsdale, AZ and bought our first Country Coach. That began a lifetime affinity for Country Coach. Back then Bob Lee was known for his BBQ and he pulled a cooking trailer and hosted parties for Country Coach owners. We traveled with Bob and Terry to several coach rallies over the years and visited often in Junction City, OR. I’ve seen the interaction between Bob and hundreds of his employees. On several occasions, when I walked through the Country Coach plant, I was amazed that every employee greeted him with so much respect and obvious admiration. I know it broke his heart when the original Country Coach closed its doors in late 2009 (*see author’s note below). His success as a leader in the motorcoach industry is undisputed," Ted said.

Past Country Coach motorcoachers Jack and Jan Gossett share a similar story. "We have been friends of Bob and Terry Lee for 30 years since we went to the factory in Junction City in the early 80’s to see how a Country Camper was built. We were sold and ordered one when we got home. A few months later, we went to Oregon to pick up our new coach and lo and behold, Bob was there to meet us with our new coach in front of the airport door and we stepped into it and a wonderful life of RVing. When we retired from our jobs in 1985, we went to work for Country Camper visiting dealers and showing new product at RV shows across the good ole USA and even a visit in Canada. We enjoyed our time with Bob and Terry over the years, parked beside each other at motorhome shows, rafting the Willamette River with the dealers, decorating coaches at a show or just sharing a glass of wine and tasty salmon that Bob barbecued."

Another hat the Lees wore was event planners. Bob and Terry enjoyed planning and presenting several special adventure rally events like the Indy 500 rally and Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta rally. Terry noted, “Bob and I would put together a high-end adventure rally agenda for a smaller group of Country Coachers and we always had as much fun as they did. It was a great way to deepen friendships while enjoying our Country Coach motorcoaches.”

Bob also built a high-end luxury RV resort in Indio, California, Desert Shores Motorcoach Resort. He later launched Oregon Motorcoach Center, a service and coach renovation facility in Eugene, Oregon, with his daughter Brenda Lee and co-owner son-in-law Pat Mason. Bob and Terry were and are avid Club supporters.  Bob and Terry were Founding Members of Country Coach Friends Inc. Club (a new chapter of FMCA) which formed in 2011.

Bob was fond of saying, “Country Coach was and is a family--the vendors with whom we did business, the community where we live and built motorcoaches, the employees, and the people who bought our coaches.” His pride in the Country Coach brand, his lifelong interest in the industry’s growth and development, and his genuine passion for people are all nearly tangible, and are among the reasons people still constantly inquire about Bob and Terry Lee.

These days Bob and Terry are enjoying a slower pace and quieter times with their children and grandchildren. Industry pioneers, successful entrepreneurs, and close friends to many Country Coach owners--the Lees have earned their place in the hearts and memories of Country Coachers nationwide. Motorcoachers still gather at rallies and talk about the friendliness of Bob and Terry when they'd join them at Club rallies or Family Motor Coach Association rallies across the country through the years. Many still keep in contact with the Lees and visit whenever their travels bring them to Oregon. Country Coach Friends truly are lifelong friends!

[*Bob Lee sold Country Coach to National RV Holdings, Inc in November, 1996. He continued to serve as Chairman Emeritus in an advisory capacity at Country Coach for several years. In November 2009 due to unfortunate economic factors, the company was forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy and closed its doors.  Bob Lee opened Oregon Motorcoach Center in Eugene, Oregon and it is still one of several wonderful service centers that visitors to Oregon have to choose from for their motorcoach care..  In January 2011, Country CoachCorporation (CCC), a service and parts facility, opened within buildings on a portion of the original Country Coach campus in Junction City, Oregon. CCC Owner Ron Lee (Bob Lee’s brother) plans to build motorcoaches in the future. Bob and Terry Lee are not involved in Country Coach Corporation.]