WHO WE ARE AND HOW WE GOT HERE

Written by Dan Coelho, Founder of DANCO Trailers, Inc.

It all started when . . .

. . . in my early teens, working with my father and a close friend of his, a comment was made that they wished they had learned how to weld so they would be able to repair the many things that would break on the farm. That comment gave me the desire to take up Ag Shop in High School and learn how to cut and weld. In my Sophomore year I built a small cow trailer for my father in Ag Shop class, then in my Senior year my brother had me build a tilt-bed trailer. While gathering parts to build the trailer I purchased an axle from a local truck yard. The owner of the yard wanted to know what I was going to use the axle for and when I told him, he asked if I would build a trailer for him. I was excited and agreed to do so. However, I had to finish it at home after I graduated, so I purchased a welder to finish the job.

This man hired me to work on truck trailers, repairing and rebuilding them. I worked for this person for a few years but always wanted my own shop. Meanwhile, my brother who is 10 years older than me, was already in the trucking business and had been hauling turkeys in wooden racks. When they made a change to steel wire racks I aquired one of the old wooden turkey truck racks and I disassembled the racks to used the wood to build my first welding shop, 20'x22' in size. About 1 year later I talked my father into letting me use the old cow barn for a shop which was 48'x60'. I still utilize this barn today.

In 1964 I officially started my welding business as "Dan Coelho Welding". At first I mostly did repairs for local farmers, but I did get a job to extend 20 dump truck bodies.

During my early years while helping my brother in his corn chopping business, I learned about the trucking requirements for hauling silage (chopped corn) and started building silage truck dump bodies with special silage racks.

In 1974 I registered "DANCO" as my trailer manufacturing name and started building side dump trailers for hauling fertilizer, along with silage boxes for trucks.

In 1977 I incorporated my business as "DANCO Trailers, Inc.".

I started exhibiting silage boxes at the Tulare Farm Equipment Show in about 1972 and have built up a large customer list from people interested in my products.

From the beginning I strived to build silage boxes and side dump trailers with unique labor saving and safety devices. Today DANCO has the most safety and labor saving devices for controlling doors, hydraulic tops, latches, side door closures, etc. on silage boxes & side dump trailers.

In 1997 a new 14,000 square foot manufacturing shop was added to the existing group of buildings at the same location, which has more than doubled the production with 1/3 more employees.

DANCO has 4 buildings which includes the new 14,000 square foot manufacturing shop. The old shop is now used for installing wood, chain floors, and preparing equipment for painting and storage. The old milk barn has a 150 ton press break, a 3/8"x8' shear, and parts storage. There is also a paint shop which is a 60'x42' paint booth.

Today we service the agriculture industry throughout the West and our reach continues to grow steadily. Please contact us with any comments or questions you may have regarding DANCO Trailers, Inc. and enjoy viewing the rest of this site. We look forward to hearing from you.