History History History History
The original Serro SCOTTY factory, circa 1960, was located near the Irwin exit on the PA Turnpike.
On July 4, 1956, the first draft of a SCOTTY trailer was made on the back of a calendar.
John Serro, a 55-year old retired auto dealership owner, was on a trip where bad weather kept him from enjoying outdoor activities. It was then that a vision came to him, and he decided to sketch it out. It consisted of a bed, sink, two-burner stove, and dinette tucked into a 13 ft. long trailer that could easily fit inside an average garage.
After returning from his trip, John immediately got to work and made the very first SCOTTY Sportsman. The small, yet stylish and practical trailer quickly grew to be a hit with customers, so he decided to partner with his son-in-law, Joe Pirschl, to open the first SCOTTY Serro factory in Irwin, PA. In the years to come, SCOTTY Serro became a well-established household name within the Pittsburgh region and beyond.
Since the popularity of SCOTTY trailers only continued to grow, the Scottyland Campground was opened in 1963. Additionally, this led to the creation of the SCOTTY Serro Owners Association across the country. This feat made SCOTTY Serro the first camping trailer manufacturer located east of Mississippi to operate factories in Pennsylvania, Ashburn, Georgia, and Bristow, Oklahoma. Soon enough, the company’s mascot, the Scottish terrier, was printed on all kinds of apparel. “We became known as the big name in little trailers,” stated Joe Pirschl, “and that’s how the Scottish terrier found its place in our business. It’s a well-known little dog, just like our trailers.”
Starting in 1990, Joe Pirschl’s daughter, Anne Degre, joined the family business discovered a niche for the trailer now known as the SCOTTY Safety Theater.
With her innovation, fire departments and other first responders were able to bring fire prevention and safety education into their communities in the form of our lightweight trailers.
However, on April 17, 1997, the company’s original 45,000 square-foot factory in Irwin burned to the ground. The owners and staff, determined to endure, got back to work at a temporary location 25 days later.
By 2001, the company’s name was changed to “Mobile Concepts by Scotty” to reflect a new focus on engineering, designing, and manufacturing specialty trailers such as the Fire Safety House.
Since then, the company has specialized in manufacturing task-specific vehicles and trailers for everything from fire departments and command centers used by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Thirteen years later, the “by Scotty” was replaced with “Specialty Vehicles” to better emphasize the evolving company’s expanding expertise.
Despite the changes that occurred over the past six decades, the SCOTTY brand has been, and will continue to be, a trusted name. To this day, the Scottish terrier is still the company’s mascot and represents family, value, and integrity.
In December of 2017, the former CEO, Anne Degre, passed away after a hard-fought battle with cancer. Despite the difficult loss, Mobile Concepts Specialty Vehicles continued to grow and evolve.
In January 2021, a local family with an automotive background, much like John Serro, acquired Mobile Concepts.
The siblings, Christine Mohler-King, Bill Mohler, and Rob Mohler, are involved in the automotive retail business, own an automotive collision center, have a wholesale parts business, and are experienced in real estate development. With their combined expertise, the company’s expansion into specialty vehicles has only grown. To this day, the Mohlers continue to work closely with the experienced employees at Mobile Concepts Specialty Vehicles to explore new opportunities and product offers.
Mobile Concepts Specialty Vehicles is here to stay and continue to bring the same high-quality, customized specialty vehicles and trailers for many more years to come! We look forward to working with our customers and providing your company with the best mobile solutions.