Coachbult.com - Thomas Built Buses



Perley A. Thomas Car Works - 1916-1950s - Thomas Built Buses Inc. - 1950s-1998 - Thomas div. of Freightliner - 1998-present - High Point, North Carolina

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Founded in 1916 as Perley A. Thomas Car Works in High Point, N.C., USA, manufacturers of streetcars and later trolley buses. Transitioned to production of school buses in 1936. Added commercial buses and specialty vehicles shortly thereafter. Named Thomas Built Buses, Inc., in 1972. Acquired by Freightliner LLC in 1998.

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The history of Thomas Built Buses reads much like the history of modern mass transportation. It begins in 1916 in the small North Carolina city of High Point. Economic hard times created by World War I has forced the closing of Southern Car Works, a major streetcar manufacturer based in High Point. Canadian-born car designer Perley A. Thomas has lost his job as chief engineer for the company and is designing and crafting fireplace mantels for local homes. Thomas would not stray from the world of transportation for long. Later that same year, he was contacted by representatives from the Southern Public Utilities Company in Charlotte, N.C., and asked to consider putting together a crew to renovate several streetcars he had designed for his former employer.

Within weeks, Thomas had reassembled many of his former coworkers, purchased a building in downtown High Point and opened the Perley A. Thomas Car Works. Thomas' reputation in the industry opened doors nationwide and within a few years, Thomas-built streetcars were carrying passengers in many of North America's largest cities, including Detroit, New York, New Orleans, Miami, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Helena, Montana.

Streetcars built by Thomas were renown for their expert craftsmanship and solid construction. In fact, cars built by Perley A. Thomas Car Works in the early 1920s are still operating today in New Orleans.

The 1920s and 1930s represented the heyday of streetcar transportation. Streetcar lines operated in just about all major cities in America during the period. They provided clean, efficient and inexpensive transportation and allowed for the development of suburban housing away from a city's central business district. For nearly two decades, Thomas was a leader in mass transportation building more than 400 streetcars.

But by the late 1930s, cars and buses were beginning to make streetcar transportation obsolete. Buses, unfettered by fixed-rail systems, could venture anywhere in the city and pick up passengers right at the curb. And many electric utilities, which operated most of the streetcar lines in the U.S., decided to spend their capital resources on power production and distribution rather than transportation.

Thomas Introduces Bus Products

The Perley A. Thomas Car Works adapted, and in 1936 ceased production of streetcars and launched a new product - school buses. Perley Thomas's reputation for design innovation and his personal commitment to quality manufacturing helped bring success in the new venture and helped transform the fledgling industry. School buses in the 1930s were nothing more than flatbed truck chassis with wooden sides and a canvas roof. They had no lights, no mirrors and were much more suited to transporting vegetables to market than children to and from school. Thomas Car Works introduced a number of safety features to their buses. Body ribs of bent steel were added and extended below the bus floor to help prevent smaller vehicles from running under the bus in a collision and causing a rollover. In 1938, the company introduced the first welded all-steel bus body.

As the 1940s began, Perley Thomas continued to provide his design skills to the company even as he began turning over day-to-day operation of the business to his children. He actively served as a design consultant to the business until the time of his death in 1958 at the age of 84.

Thomas Expands

Thomas's children and grandchildren proved to be worthy business leaders and smart bus designers, and by the early 1960s, the Thomas Car Works had built a national reputation in the school bus business.

In 1978 Thomas introduced its first bus chassis and began producing its popular Saf-T-Liner transit-style bus which features attractive looks and class-leading ergonomics. Thomas expanded to manufacture a smaller conventional school bus, the Minotour, and later entered the commercial transit market in the 1980s.

Thomas Joins Freightliner Family

In 1998, Thomas Built Buses became a wholly owned subsidiary of Freightliner LLC, a DaimlerChrysler company. The strength of Freightliner helps Thomas continue to grow and adapt to the changes in the transportation industry. In late 1999, the company opened a new plant in High Point to build its popular Minotour bus. It also formed a joint venture with European bus maker, the Mayflower Corporation, to build a super low floor transit bus for the North American market. In early 2000, Thomas built a new facility in Jamestown, N.C., to build the SLF 200 super low floor bus. The SLF 200 is currently manufactured and distributed by DaimlerChrysler Commercial Buses N.A.

Today, Thomas Built Buses operates manufacturing plants in North Carolina and its dealers provide sales and service support throughout the world. The company employs over 1,600 people worldwide.

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Since the first Thomas Built bus rolled off the assembly line in 1936, we've focused entirely on delivering the smartest, most innovative buses in North America.

Today, we manufacture a full line of Thomas Built Buses for the commercial transit, school bus and specialty vehicle markets. And, we back these products with exceptional customer support from some of the most knowledgeable, responsive, and friendly employees anywhere.

Thomas Built Buses, Inc., is a member of the Freightliner LLC group. Freightliner LLC is a DaimlerChrysler company. Headquartered in High Point, N.C., USA, the company supports several manufacturing operations in the United States.

Thomas Built Buses is a member of the Freightliner Group. Freightliner is a DaimlerChrysler company.

For more information please read:

www.thomasbus.com

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Denis Miller - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trucks and Buses

Susan Meikle Mandell - A Historical Survey of Transit Buses in the United States

David Jacobs - American Buses, Greyhound, Trailways and Urban Transportation

William A. Luke & Linda L. Metler - Highway Buses of the 20th Century: A Photo Gallery

William A. Luke & Brian Grams - Buses of Motorcoach Industries 1932-2000 Photo Archive