Morgan sells retread plants to BFS

Sept. 3, 2001

Larry Morgan has sold his three Bandag retread plants to Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. (BFS).

The retread shops had been run under a separate corporation 100% owned by Morgan, who sold a majority interest in his retail business, Morgan Tire & Auto Inc., to BFS August 9. Morgan recently had purchased a plant in Tallahassee, Fla., from Commercial Tires Inc.

Modern Tire Dealer estimates the shops produce 450 medium truck tire retreads daily.

The acquisition gives BFS 20 retread plants in the United States, and increases its number of Bandag precure shops. The majority of the facilities are Oliver precure shops, and one is an Oncor mold cure plant.

BFS retreads an estimated 1,650 truck tires a day and 55 OTR tires a day, which makes it the third largest retreader in the U.S., according to MTD. The shops are run by the company's GCR Truck Tire Centers subsidiary.