First Lady

EDITOR’S NOTE: In 1990, some 20 years after Frank and Jeanne Konigseder began work on their first bus conversion, they unveiled a new coach design that would prove iconic and define the company for years to come: the Liberty Lady.

“The inspiration was Lady Liberty – the Statue of Liberty,” Jeanne Konigseder remembers. “She was the perfect symbol, a way to tie the company name in with the spirit of what we were trying accomplish.”

Their goal, as it had been back in 1970, was simple: build a motorhome that measured up to their standards. But after a decade in which Liberty Coach first started, and then dominated, the new Prevost conversion industry, those standards had risen considerably.

“The decision was made to refocus our efforts on one model and make it the best in every respect,” Jeanne says. “The highest quality materials. The finest fabrics. The most uncompromising craftsmanship. The best of everything in every coach.”

It was a departure from the latter half of the1980s, when Liberty had offered three distinct tiers of standard equipment and price points, and a production schedule of up to 24 coaches per year. The Liberty Lady’s 1990 arrival signaled the company’s commitment to designing and building the finest motorhomes on the planet. Nothing less would do.

That dovetailed perfectly with Prevost’s introduction later that year of the first H3-40 coach, the touring bus platform that quickly became the conversion industry standard. Then in 1991, Kim Konigseder joined the team as Interior Designer and kick-started the evolution toward the ultra-modern interiors of today.

“It really was the beginning of the modern era of Liberty Coach,” Jeanne says of the first Liberty Lady. “But more than that, she’s the heart and soul of the Konigseder family.”