As the school bus OEM marks its 100th anniversary this year, this pictorial gives a brief overview of the company’s history, including streetcars, buses, and company leaders.
PHOTOS: 100 Years of Thomas Built Buses
Perley A. Thomas Car Works (later to become Thomas Built Buses) was founded in 1916, initially in the streetcar business.
In 1934, Perley A. Thomas Car Works built this bus for Southern Public Utilities Company.
Here’s a 1980s Mighty Mite model.
Caley Edgerly (left), current president and CEO of Thomas Built Buses, is seen here with former company leaders John Thomas II and John Thomas III.
Thomas Built’s latest alt-fuel model is the C2 CNG (compressed natural gas), with production beginning this year.
Today, Perley A. Thomas streetcars can still be seen in New Orleans. “We built the original streetcar that ran on the ‘Desire’ line of New Orleans in 1923, which the play and film [A Streetcar Named Desire] were based on,” John Thomas II says.
Perley A. Thomas launched his company after losing his job as chief engineer for Southern Car Works, which had shut down.
In 1936, the company began manufacturing school buses. Seen here is a 1940 model built for North Carolina.
Here’s a 1958 Thomas conventional model school bus.
Pictured here is a 1980 Minotour on a Ford chassis. The company was renamed Thomas Built Buses in 1972.
In 2004, Thomas launched the Saf-T-Liner C2, the first fully integrated conventional school bus. A new manufacturing facility was designed specifically to build the new bus.
The Saf-T-Liner EFX, a redesigned front-engine, transit-style school bus, was unveiled in 2011.