MILLERSBURG — The final chapter of Carriage Inc. will be written Tuesday as the recreational vehicle maker goes on the auction block.

Myron Bowling Auctioneers, based in Ohio, will be running the event which starts at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the plant on Wabash Street. Everything wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor will be sold, said Greg Hengehold, managing partner at the auction company.

The pre-auction inspection will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today.

Equipment, fixtures, office furniture, finished and partially-finished fifth wheels will all be auctioned. Also, the intellectual property including the Carriage name and the brand names will be going to the highest bidder as well.

The real estate will not be part of the event.

Hengehold noted the complete liquidation of luxury fifth-wheel maker is sad but, he pointed out, through the auction, other manufacturers will be able to get equipment and tools that they can then use to grow and expand their own businesses which will help put people back to work.

Carriage abruptly stopped production and laid off 180 employees in October 2011. The manufacturer said it was trying to work through some financial problems and wanted to restart production.

However, PNC Bank filed a complaint against the company and its owner, Glenn Cushman. In court documents, the bank described the Carriage as “insolvent or in imminent danger of insolvency” and it asked the court to foreclose on the property.

The 45-year-old company then pointed an accusatory finger at the financial institution, saying it was working on a turnaround plan to keep the jobs in the small community and to provide units for dealers and customers.

Rick Van Es, a consultant brought in to try to salvage Carriage, told RVBusiness the company had developed a blueprint to restore it to profitability in 30 days but the bank did not seem willing to find a solution.

“But we just don’t understand their reluctance to support us when we have a viable enterprise and we have raised money that they asked us to raise from other sources to pay down on their debt,” Van Es was quoted as saying. “Fact is, they told us that ‘if you can’t pay us all the way off, we’re not interested.’”

Carriage and PNC Bank apparently were never able to come to terms so the RV company’s remnants are up for sale.

One asset of Carriage has already been absorbed by another RV manufacturer. EverGreen Recreational Vehicles in Middlebury hired key personnel, who had been furloughed when Carriage shutdown, and used them to help launch a high-end fifth wheel division called Lifestyle Luxury Resort Vehicles.

Hengehold expects that what remains of Carriage will draw interest and bids from buyers across the country. Tuesday’s event will be a “walk around auction,” with the purchasers and auctioneers moving from one item to the next, and will be broadcast over the Internet.

“I would expect a couple hundred at people at the auction,” Hengehold said. “But you never know. It depends on what the weather is, I guess.”

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