Our History

Cimarron Trailers ® grew out the vision of two men to build the best aluminum trailer in the industry. In 2000, Ronald Jackson and Michael Terry started Cimarron Trailers ® located in Chickasha, Oklahoma. Its purpose was to expand of the CM line of trailers into the aluminum trailer market.

Start Up
The key elements to Cimarron’s start-up and eventual success was skilled employees and an affordable facility of adequate size. With the availability of skilled aluminum trailer employees of utmost concern, it was a natural tendency to look for a plant facility in the proximity of the largest concentration of these potential workers. At the time of start-up it was estimated that there were approximately 3500 aluminum trailer employees within a 40-mile radius, well within a commutable distance. In late January of 2000, the present Cimarron Manufacturing plant was purchased. The plant includes 17 acres of land, 65,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 3,700 square feet of office space. The Chickasha location offers us close proximity to supply lines of raw materials with I-44, US 81, & US 62 nearby, and is centrally located for distribution of trailers throughout the US and Canada. The first aluminum trailer rolled out the door on May 2, 2000.

By June 2000, trailers shipped out and more orders came in, but we knew that we still had a major obstacle ahead. The XLT trailer design from Madill launched, but Cimarron knew it was not the product that would excel them into the future. We had to have a design that set Cimarron Trailers ® apart from the competition, and would offer greater value to our customers, could be custom built on an assembly line, and offer eye appeal while increasing the ease of manufacturing.

Every spare moment was devoted to the creation of what is now known as the Norstar design. Twenty-eight custom aluminum extrusions had to be designed, approved, and dies made. Each of these designs were worked on at night and discussed with employees during the following day. This team approach, and use of the best idea WINS, regardless of where it came from, created a new trailer design second to none. By cleaning the slate and starting over from scratch every aspect of the trailer design was questioned and assessed, bringing about a truly fresh new product to introduce into the market place. This new Norstar design was not only a great value to the customer, it incorporated new design features that facilitated the ease of manufacturing as well. On September 15, 2000 the first Norstar all aluminum trailer was completed.

Reaching the Market
With the initial Norstar design complete, it was now time to get the new trailer design to market. With Cimarron’s future at stake, it was top priority to get Norstar models ready to be on display at the up coming 2000 World Quarter Horse Show in November. As an added promotional campaign, we decided to host the First Annual Cimarron Dealer Conference in conjunction with unveiling the Norstar Design at the 2000 World Quarter Horse Show. The dealer approval of the new Norstar product line was overwhelming. By the close of Cimarron’s first year-end, 157 total trailers had been manufactured and sold after eight months of production. Cimarron had 38 full time employees producing an average of 5 trailers per week.

2001 Production Year
With the Norstar now in production 2001 brought about a new set of challenges. Increasing production levels was our first priority. We set a goal to have an existing 7,000 square foot building remodeled and upgraded to move our trim department into by April 15. Moving the trim department out of the main plant building made room for us to start laying track for the first phase of our production line. By July of 2001 weekly production had increased to 7 trailers per week.

Cimarron’s second priority for 2001 was product exposure to the market place. This was achieved through an aggressive magazine ad campaign and trade show displays. Acceptance of the Norstar trailer line into the market place was beyond our wildest expectations.

Cimarron now had 80 full time employees producing and average of 10 trailers per week. A production increase of 124% over 2000.

2002 Production Year
Increasing production was still our primary goal. Cimarron set up and equipped their own steel fabrication shop and modified an existing concrete cooling tower into a paint shop. This addition allowed for streamlining of production and solved many scheduling problems. Throughout the year the assembly line continued to evolve and by year end all 400’ of the line was in place.

Cimarron closed the year with 101 full time employees, 15 trailers per week. 76% increase over 2001.

2003 Production Year
2003 proved to be a year of maturity for Cimarron Trailers ®. As sales continued to be strong, we focused on product improvements, production efficiencies, purchasing and material turn over rates.

The business side of Cimarron also completed major transitions by year-end. All facets of back office operations were totally turned over to the control of Cimarron personnel, completing a four year long transition process. By year’s end, total employment increased to 116 full time positions. An increase of 27% over 2002.

Ownership Change
The year 2004, Michael and Lynn Terry became the sole owners of Cimarron Trailers ®, buying out their partners Ronald and Kay Jackson. The Jacksons will always remain a major influence behind our initial success. The Terrys have run the daily operations of the manufacturing facility since it opened in 2000. The management and employees of Cimarron have created an amazing company in a very short time frame. This same team looks forward to continued success and long-term profitability. Cimarron has enjoyed an ever-growing demand for their custom-built trailers since opening in February 2000. The company offers trailers with superior engineering, unsurpassed construction, and competitive prices. Therefore, Cimarron has been extremely successful in carving out a niche in the aluminum trailer market in a very short amount of time. Cimarron currently offers 60 different variations on 4 different trailer models, making it very versatile and able to adapt to individual consumer’s needs. With a strong dealer base, we are able to easily promote the trailers in different sectors of the equine and livestock markets.

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