In late 1979 "Conversions By Odyssey, Inc." opened in a small 2,000 square foot highway location with shop and showroom in Whippany as a custom van and auto shop building vans, installing sunroofs, truck accessories, stereos and alarms. The business grew and three years later Odyssey moved into a 4,000 square foot highway location in Mountain Lakes. With custom van popularity going towards mass manufacturers in the mid West and small shops opening on every corner it was time to look at other markets.
In 1982 a local hospital using a Suburban for the paramedic response unit contracted Odyssey to build them a new vehicle. The job required a dependable heavy-duty electrical system, emergency lighting, custom paint, reflective lettering, interior control console and custom cabinets to hold the various emergency medical support equipment. Odyssey found a new niche. These emergency vehicles were being produced by commercial truck shops and badly needed to be addressed as a dependable emergency response vehicle. As more hospitals offered paramedic services Odyssey grew and branched into the fire chief and command market. The SUV was slowly replacing the sedan as the vehicle of choice as ambulances were moving away from station wagons.
With the new focus on emergency and specialty vehicles the company name changed to "Odyssey Automotive Specialty, Inc.". The name "Odyssey" was becoming very well known in the industry. As the demand for high end, dependable emergency vehicles grew and retail became more competitive Odyssey again needed more space and in 1990 moved to an off highway, 15,000 square foot manufacturing facility with a large showroom and multiple offices. This new facility enabled Odyssey to work on more vehicles and added the capabilities to work on trucks, trailers, large vans, fire trucks, ambulances and other large vehicles. State and Federal agencies were added to Odyssey's customer list and special high tech covert vehicles became a new specialty.
In 2000 the demand grew again adding a 4,000 square foot adjoining warehouse, expanded the main shop another 5,000 square feet, added a two story in plant office complex bring the total today to over 24,000 square feet. Now, in 2009 Odyssey again expands up to 33,000 square feet where they can comfortably manufacture many, one of a kind vehicles, run multiple vehicle production lines and still produce almost 1000 mail order cabinets per year. At any time you will see anything from an all terrain unit, SUV, Van, Truck, trailer and other specialty vehicles destined for agencies and locations world wide, all in production on at the same time and as a sole source provider Odyssey can supply the base vehicle and equipment as well as the conversion.
As the demands for custom emergency response units require new technology Odyssey has the expertise, reputation, experience and resources to assure that their customers receive the highest quality products for specific missions. The Odyssey motto is: " If you can pick up the phone and call 10 companies, Odyssey is probably not one of them. If you go for the phone and can not figure who to call, Odyssey is usually the answer."