Texas Armoring chief literally stands behind his product
Mon, 17 Nov 2014There are ways to test armor plating. You test the components under laboratory conditions, install them on a vehicle, test them some more, maybe put in some dummies to make sure occupants would be safe from harm under real-world conditions. But the Texas Armoring Corporation and its CEO take a different approach.
A few years ago, we brought you footage of Trent Kimball, chief executive of the armoring firm founded by his father, taking a position behind one of the company's reinforced windshields while one of his trusted employees opened fire with an AK-47. It was a pretty impressive (if arguably foolish) way to demonstrate the integrity of the company's work, but if that wasn't enough, this time Kimball isn't just demonstrating a component... he's putting his life on the line to showcase just how impenetrable his company's finished products really are (in this case, he's sitting in a reinforced Mercedes GL). And he's not crouching behind a thick steel panel, either: he's sitting there calmly while an AK-47 fires directly at his head, with nothing but a bulletproof windshield to keep him safe.
By Noah Joseph