Specialty-vehicle maker founded in 1962 in a very different place.

Justin Leighty

jleighty@etruth.com

NEW PARIS — From lightning rods to high-end shuttle buses, the Cripe family’s efforts have grown in Goshen and New Paris over the decades, with this year marking the 50th anniversary of the launch of Turtle Top.

Now known as a specialty bus manufacturer that serves customers like airports, health care, correctional facilities and limousine services, it started in a very different place, said Rob Cripe, a member of the fourth generation of the family.

Ernest Cripe, the founder of the company, had a heart condition and had to use an electric cart to be out in the shop as his company, Independent Protection Company, made lightning-protection equipment, Rob Cripe said.

Ernie Cripe liked to spend time in Florida, so “he developed a pop-up-type top” for vehicles that allowed his cart in there.

“Bob and Dick kind of took that idea and started putting that top on pickup trucks,” Cripe said.



The company started offering the top to its installation contractors as a way to help handle more equipment. When Ernie died, his family decided to branch out. Since the top resembled a turtle shell, the Turtle Top name was born in 1962.

They started out converting Dodge vans into motor homes, said Phil Tom, also a member of the family’s fourth generation.

The recession of the 1970s led to major changes, Tom said. “They had a bunch of chassis out there and nothing was getting sold. Motor homes were going nowhere,” he said, so the family decided to switch to the shuttle bus market, which only had a couple of manufacturers at the time, he said.

Their long-standing relationship with Ford continues to this day, and they also convert Chevrolet and Freightliner chassis into buses that sell for anywhere from $55,000 to more than $200,000, depending on the customer’s specific needs and equipment.

When the recession hit in 2008, “we were off over 40 percent,” Tom said. For them, 2009 “was the bloodiest year.”

He and Rob Cripe took pay cuts and sat down with their employees. There were some layoffs, he said, but for the most part the employees chose to take pay cuts of their own to try to keep as many people working as possible.

They saw a little benefit from the stimulus package, but Tom said it irritated him because it was wasteful, with cities buying new buses with stimulus funds and parking perfectly good buses that didn’t need replaced.

Eventually the economy picked up again, and now roughly 280 employees of Turtle Top and Independent Protection Systems are working.

There are people who’ve worked there since before Tom arrived, and he credits the committed group of workers for the company’s success.

That team focuses on safe vehicles, customer needs, and as a group they try to make a positive impact.

They put together buyers groups to buy animals at the auction at the Elkhart County 4-H Fair. They use environmentally friendly paints and recycle those as much as possible, Tom said.

They continue to grow, too. “When I started here in ’83, we were turning out three buses a week,” Tom said. “Today that’s 25.

“For a business to still be in business four or five generations later, that’s unheard-of,” Tom said. We’re one of the very few. We’ve been very blessed. We put God first, and the rest is after that: Take care of our people. That typically comes back around full circle. We’re very fortunate.”