Thus, the major two functions of the Richmond, Indiana plant were manufacturing of parts, and assembly. Wayne bus bodies were also assembled at multiple locations of truck body dealers around the US and at a Canadian assembly plant, Welles, Ltd. in Windsor, Ontario. Kits were also shipped overseas even after all North American assembly was eventually centralized in Richmond, Indiana and Windsor, Ontario in the early 1960s. During the earlier years of the school bus industry, the factory manufactured most of the parts used to assemble a bus body, but it was customary for these to be shipped unassembled to body dealers around the United States and Canada, for assembly onto an incomplete truck chassis. Gradually, as highway transportation of completed buses became more practical, and school bus bodies became more sophisticated, the assembly of complete bodies onto truck chassis in the United States and Canada became centralized at locations owned by the body companies. The companies often continued to ship "kits" overseas. By the mid-1960s, several other body companies (notably Blue Bird Body Company and Perley A. Thomas Car Works) maintained assembly plants at multiple locations. Instead of establishing multiple assembly points in the U.S., Wayne chose to replace the overcrowded and aged Wayne Works facility on E Street near downtown Richmond with a single new plant large enough to handle both manufacturing and assembly for United States production. Due primarily to Canadian import tariffs, the separate Canadian assembly plant (Welles, Ltd.) had been established and was maintained for Canadian production. In 1963, Divco-Wayne acquired Welles entirely, making it a subsidiary of the company. Professional cars The professional car (quoted from a leading trade association) "is loosely defined as a custom-bodied vehicle, based on passenger car styling, and used in the funeral, rescue or livery services." Such vehicles may be ambulances, funeral cars (hearses, flower cars, service cars), limousines, or combination cars, vehicles specially built to combine multiple functions (hearse-ambulances, sedan ambulances or invalid coaches). From the 1930s to the 1970s, a common starting point for such vehicles was the Cadillac Commercial Chassis (or similar vehicles); using a heavy-duty frame, the vehicle was a bare chassis aft of the dashboard, leaving all exterior and interior bodywork to be completed by coachbuilders (much of the vehicle was completed by hand). Divco-Wayne Corporation acquired two professional car manufacturers, Miller-Meteor and Cotner-Bevington; both companies produced funeral cars and ambulances. Miller-Meteor Wayne Works