Sales are booming at Texas Armoring Corporation and the company is expanding to meet the demand.
The San Antonio company transforms cars and trucks into nearly indestructible machines that are bulletproof.
"One of our vehicles was hit by an IED. He got hit by this blast and walked away to tell a tale," said Lawrence Kosub, a manager at Texas Armoring Corporation.
In the last year, Kosub says there's been a boom in demand for bulletproof vehicles- not just in Mexico and global hotspots, but in the U.S. too.
"Domestic sales used to be about 5 percent, but we've seen that increase significantly- probably about 15 percent overall for the U.S. market," Kosub said.
Clients include potential targets like CEOs, politicians and people whose safety has been jeopardized.
"A lot of our clients they’re concerned about kidnapping for ransom, sometimes they are worried about getting in the crossfire of a gang related violence," Kosub said.
A fear that puts a price on the priceless.
With more people on edge about their safety, the company is expanding to Honduras to slash the wait time in half and put more clients at ease.
"There is a lot at stake, we don't want any bullets to be able to get through, we take our time" employee Erik Chaparro said.
Chaparro is a former military mechanic but he's now on a new mission.
"I want to make sure that I do everything I can by the book to make sure that we have a quality product because somebody's life is going to depend on it," Chaparro said.
The upgraded safety comes with a hefty price tag.
Armoring packages start at around $45,000 and run upwards to more than $100,000. Clients have a variety of James Bond-like features to choose from, including electric shocking door handles, deadbolt locks, a siren PA and more.
Nearly every feature on the vehicle is customizable from top to bottom.
"Once you go down on those run flat inserts you can usually drive around 40 to 50 miles to get you out of that kill zone," Kosub said.
The standard windows installed in vehicles are 44 mm and can withstand deadly rifle fire from an AK-47 and M16.
In a demonstration Kosub fired off six rounds at a windshield from an AK-47 and while the front cracked and shattered the inside of the window stayed in one piece, smooth on the inside.
Transforming the vehicle into a bulletproof machine is no easy task.
"Part of armoring the vehicles requires us to completely strip down the interior," Kosub said.
Once the vehicle is stripped down, the major jigsaw puzzle begins. Works spend hours meticulously lining the vehicle with about 1,500 pounds of light ballistic armor.
"Throughout the armoring process we have to fabricate each part, each job is custom," Chaparro said.
A custom job with a custom time frame averaging about four months for the complete transformation.
"People's lives they do depend on what we are doing here and our goal is to protect,” Chaparro said.
