Tibotrac

Tibotrac Inc. was a fire apparatus company located in Terrebonne, Québec.
==History==
The company was formed in 1979 by Guy Thibault, the youngest of Pierre Thibault's sons. In 1980, the company bought a 13,000 square foot plant at 2900, Côte de Terrebonne in Terrebonne, Québec. At that time, the company was producing parts for trailers and built 8 to 16HP garden tractors. The "trac" at the end of Tibotrac stands for tractor.
Due to declining demand in the garden tractor market, the company transitioned to production of truck bodies and laboratory cabinets in approximately 1981. Hydro-Québec and Bell Canada were major customers. The company built several trailers and service trucks for Hydro-Québec, some of which ended up as rescue trucks for smaller fire departments in Québec.
In 1985, Robin Thibault, Guy's son, joined the company as the finance director. His brother, Christian, joined the next year as communication and marketing director.
In 1986, Tibotrac began to produce rescue trucks. The first pumper was actually a walk-in rescue/pumper combination for Verdun, Québec. In 1990, Tibotrac introduced computer-aided design (CAD) to their production line and signed an agreement with R.K. Aerials to provide aerial ladders. The company also doubleed the size of the original plant in 1991.
In the early 1990s, Tibotrac signed another agreement with Échelles C.-E. Thibault from Pierreville, Québec. This company owned by other members of the Thibault family, provided new and refurbished aerial ladders and telescopic booms for Tibotrac. In 1994, Tibotrac and Échelles C.-E. Thibault signed a $10.5 millions contract with the Canadian Department of National Defence to provide 24 pumpers with telescopic booms. The booms were produced by Échelles C.-E. Thibault in Pierreville, while the aluminium bodies were installed on Pemfab custom chassis by Tibotrac in Terrebonne. 
In August 1994, construction started on a new 14,150 square foot plant at 1865, Rue Jean-Monnet in Terrebonne. This second facility would complement the original plant. In 1996, Tibotrac built two crash trucks for the Kenya Airports Authority for $1.2 million. These trucks were completely custom made by Tibotrac and are the only two Tibotrac GT-Life Saver known to have been built. In the later years, the company built a small number of custom chassis for pumpers and rescues. Only a handful of those were made for each model.
In December 1998, the company declared bankruptcy. On April 20th and 21st 1999, the assets were sold via public auction.
==Production==
Tibotrac built pumpers, mini-pumpers and rescues, as well as rigs equipped with aerial devices. Most units were delivered to municipal fire departments in Québec, with a few others in other provinces. The company also delivered several boom-equipped pumpers to the Department of National Defence for use in military bases across Canada. Contracts were also fulfilled for customers from Mexico, Colombia and Kenya.
==Custom Trucks==
*Tibotrac GT-Life Saver (1996)
*Tibotrac T50 (1988-1998)
*Tibotrac T160 (1998)
*Tibotrac T200 (1998)
*Tibotrac T320 (1997-1998)
*Tibotrac T340 (1997)
==Factories==
City 	Address 	In Service 	Notes
Terrebonne, Québec	1865, Rue Jean-Monnet 	1994 - 1998	
Terrebonne, Québec	2900, Côte de Terrebonne	1980 - 1998	
==External Links==
Camions Tibotrac at the Camions Thibault history page.
Category:Defunct Canadian fire apparatus manufacturers
Category:Tibotrac
Category:Thibault