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Although they remained in relative obscurity
J. Tom Moore
& Sons (and their successor MCT) produced a reported 85% of the
world’s
armored bank trucks constructed during their half-century in business.
Their
high-security vehicles transported money, bullion, jewelry and other
valuables for
Brinks, Loomis, Wells-Fargo, Garda and others using purpose-built
International
Harvester truck chassis.
The firm dates to 1942 when Memphis,
Tennessee truck body
manufacturer J. Tom Moore found a waiting niche market constructing
armored
trucks for Brinks and whose main supplier became engaged in
manufacturing war
materials. The firm’s initial plant was located in downtown Memphis at
295 Court
Ave. across the street from Memphis’ Masonic Temple on property now
occupied by
the loading docks of the Downtown Elementary School. Moore’s listing in
the
1948 Memphis directory follows:
“Alf. T. Moore
(Eva;
J. Tom Moore & Sons) h 532 Goodland
Alvin Moore (Alma) welder, J.Tom Moore &
Sons h 1308
Englewood
Benj. F. Moore (Ida M; J. Tom Moore &
Sons) h 476 Goodland
J. Tom Moore (Mabel; J. Tom Moore &
Sons) h. 500 Haynes
J. Tom Moore (Claudine) h. 504 Haynes
J. Tom Moore & Sons (J. Tom Moore, B.F.
Moore and A.T.
Moore), Custom Truck Body Mfrs., Truck Bodies Built, Repaired,
Painting,
Welding, Auto Upholstering, Seat Covers, Convertible Tops, Truck
Cushions
Rebuilt and Recovered. 295 court Ave (3), Tel 5-6283 (For further
information
see page 18 Buyers Guide.”
Brink’s was the first in the industry to
reinforce its cars
with armor and weapons. Brink’s vehicles were equipped with .38
caliber
revolvers, .44 caliber repeating rifles, 12 gauge shotguns, gas riot
guns and
sub-machine guns.
As demand increased the firm relocated to a
20,000 square
foot facility located adjacent to Memphis’ airport at 2900 Airways
Blvd. in the
facility currently occupied by the Memphis branch of ABC Supply Co., a
wholesale
distributor of roofing and siding materials.
The first diesel-powered Brink’s trucks were
bought in 1956
for $25,000 each.
They also manufactured hi-lift catering
trucks for air
carriers, poultry transport trucks and trailers. An offshoot of their
armored
car business was the construction of mobile banking units and riot
control
vehicles. A short history of the firm was published in the February 21,
1967 issue
of the Nashua Telegraph:
“Memphis Firm Specializes In Building
Armored Cars
“By Morris B. Baker
“MEMPHIS – Eighty-five per-cent of the
world's armored cars
are reported to be manufactured in a 20,000 square-foot plant built on
a
five-acre site that adjoins Memphis Metropolitan Airport.
“The firm, J. Tom Moore & Sons, Inc., is
also said to be
the South’s largest manufacturer of custom-made truck bodies.
“When the company was in its infancy a
quarter century ago,
the late J. Tom Moore looked for an area to create a business that
would not be
attractive to other manufacturers.
“‘We talked to armored-car operators,’ said
B. Frank Moore,
president and son of the founder, ‘and found two vital
necessities—security of
the valuables to be carried and comfort for the personnel. We set out
to
achieve these goals.’
“Today Memphis-made armored cars transport
money, bullion
and other valuables in all 50 states and in most countries of the Free
World.
“B. Frank Moore has been responsible for
innovations now
included in every unit made by the company. Among them are laminated
construction of door locks for greater strength, improved gunposts and
an
efficient ventilation system for the interior.
“Each armored car is custom-made to the
specifications of
the customer and required an average of six weeks to complete. Usually
a dozen
armored vehicles are under construction at a time.
“The company also builds mobile bank units.
They are driven to
shopping centers, large manufacturing plants and communities which have
no
banking service.
“The mobile banks are constructed basically
on the order of armored
cars but are much more elaborate inside. They have wall-to-wall
carpeting,
paneled interior walls, fluorescent lighting, air-conditioning and a
picture
window of bullet-resistant glass that weighs 175 pounds.
“Two persons ride in each car, and, upon
reaching the
destination, they serve as cashiers. Financial transactions are carried
out by
sliding drawers of the type used at a bank's drive-in window and
communication
with patrons is via two-way intercom.
“The company recently signed a $148,000
contract with the
State of Virginia to build six maximum protection personnel vehicles
for the Virginia
State Police. Delivery is to be made by the end of this year.
“International Harvester Co. will build
special chassis for
these units which will weigh approximately 33,000 pounds apiece.
“The four-wheel-drive vehicles will have
armor plating of
sufficient thickness to withstand a direct hit by a .30-caliber bullet,
three-inch-thick bulletproof windows and a built-in battering ram,
capable of
knocking down a brick or concrete wall.
“‘If a criminal starts shooting form within
a building. ‘
said Felix G. Tanner, sales manager, ‘one of these vehicles can move
in, knock
down a wall, if necessary, and open fire on the gunman without
endangering
police personnel in the car.’
“In addition to being a volume builder of
armored cars, J.
Tom Moore & Sons is one of the largest builders of specialty truck
bodies in
the nation.
“Its units range from a trailer built for a
casket
manufacturer to carry and display four caskets to the bodies used by
food-catering firms that serve the airlines. The catering units can be
raised hydraulically
to a height of 13 feet for easy access to the service doors of jet
aircraft.
“‘We don’t know of any company that comes
close to building the
variety of trucks today that we do,’ said William C. Moore, also a son
of the
founder and current executive vice-president and general manager of the
firm.
“‘One customer wanted a horse transportation
van with a
walnut paneled interior. We had never heard of horses being transported
around
the county in such a luxury vehicle but we build what the customer
wants and
this customer got his walnut paneled horse van.”
An article in the August 25, 1967
Harrisonburg Daily News
Record provides more details about the Vehicles constructed for the
Virginia
State Police:
“Massive Armored Car For State Police Rolled
Out
“Memphis (AP) – They rolled out Thursday the
latest weapon
the Virginia State Police will be using if civil disorder hits that
state – a
massive battleship class armored car designed to withstand a major
attack.
“The Memphis firm building six of the huge
vehicles for
Virginia says the one unveiled Thursday is the only one of its type
especially
designed for police department use.
“The manufacturer terms the bullet-proof
trucks ‘maximum
personnel protection vehicles’ and each one costs in excess of $35,000.
The air
conditioned truck carries eight officers.
“The Virginia State Police have had armored
cars for a
number of years. But W.C. Moore, vice-president of J. Tom Moore &
Sons,
says his firm has never been called upon to construct a police vehicle
of the
heavy-weight type now being made for Virginia. The Moore firm is a
major
manufacturer of armored cars.
“Moore says police departments can easily
find uses for
armored cars. ‘Had the Austin, Tex., police had one of these vehicles
available
when Charles J. Whitman stationed himself atop the 27-story tower on
the
University of Texas campus Aug. 1, 1966, they presumably could have
stopped him
before he shot 44 people, killing 14 of them,’ he said.
“Many man-hours of engineering went into the
new vehicle in
the Moore drafting rooms, which like the plant are kept closed to the
public by
a platoon of security guards.
“The aim was to make the new vehicle nearly
invincible.
“Precautions were taken against the truck
being overturned
by a mob. The entire lower edge of the body has steel finger-piercing
barbs.
Even without the barbs, it would not be an easy matter to topple the
30,000-pound vehicle.
“The gasoline tanks are inaccessible except
when the driver
opens his door. All windows have three-inch laminated glass capable of
stopping
a .30 caliber armoring-piercing ammunition.
“For added protection, the driver can
hydraulically lower a
steel plate across the windshield. The radiator is protected from any
bullet
punctures by armored louvers controlled by the driver.
“The truck has all-wheel-drive, six 14-ply
tires, with 10
forward and two reverse speeds, and is powerful enough to ouch a car
out of the
way or go straight through a brick or concrete block wall.
“It also has a winch to pull obstacles from
its path.
“Like a tank, the weight of the vehicle
prevents it from
winning any road races. Its top speed is 45 miles per hour.”
A J. Tom Moore & Sons mobile banking
truck was pictured in
the August 1967 issue of Popular Science with the following caption:
“Instant money from instant bank
“Mobile banks now serve shopping centers,
industrial plants,
and towns without banks. Wood paneling and fancy drapes add dignity,
but that
teller's window is of bullet-resistant glass. The builder is J.
Tom
Moore & Sons, Memphis, Tenn.”
Moore & Sons passed down to Rick Moore's
father, William
C. Moore, who sold it to a Fort Worth-based conglomerate in 1975.
William
C. Moore took the proceeds and organized a competing firm, MCT
Custom Trucks Bodies,
Inc., at 3155 Industrial Dr.,
in Hernando, Mississippi, his son Rick taking over the helm as
president. The
February 3, 1992 issue of the Memphis Business Journal revealed that at
the time 70% of its sales come from armored truck bodies.
In 1985 the firm survived a chapter 11
bankruptcy
and within the decade it was purchased by John Halstead who transferred
MCT’s operations to a leased facility 4 miles to the north of the
Hernando plant - adjacent to Interstate 55/69 - at
60
Pleasant Hill Rd., Nesbit, Mississippi. Unfortunately, succees did not follow and MCT had vanished from industry
directories
by 2001.
Coincidentally another leading armored bank
vehicle
manufacturer was founded by a former Moore employee named Elon Griffin
(b.1926-d.2010).
He left the J. Tom Moore & Sons in 1969 founding his own firm,
Griffin
Inc., in Byhalia, Mississippi. Griffin retired in 1994 and sold the
firm
to its current owner Greg McKay who has transformed it into one of
today’s
leading manufacturers of armored vehicles in the cash transit industry,
manufacturing vehicles for Brinks, Loomis and others.
©2013 Mark
Theobald for Coachbuilt.com
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