How Are Armored Cars Made?

Question

Alpine Armoring · Accepted Answer

Armored cars are made by stripping a factory vehicle to its shell and rebuilding it around a sealed ballistic capsule. Alpine Armoring cuts that capsule from ballistic steel and composites based on CAD drawings for one specific make and model, then re-engineers the suspension and brakes to carry it. A build runs from 200 to more than 1,000 man-hours across 30 to 90 days.

Six phases turn a stock vehicle into an armored one:

Engineering. Alpine Armoring measures the center of gravity before and after conversion and runs stress analysis on the chassis.
Fabrication. Laser cutters, water jets, plasma cutters, and CNC machines shape each piece to its engineered drawing.
Disassembly. Technicians strip the interior, glass, and trim down to bare metal.
Capsule installation. Certified welders build the protective shell around the passenger area, including pillars and door reinforcement.
Transparent armor. No-spall ballistic glass replaces every original window.
Reassembly and dynamics. Upgraded suspension and brakes go on, then the factory interior goes back in. Opaque armor comes from ballistic steel and composites. Alpine Armoring uses certified plate in Mil-A-46100 and Mil-A-32332 grades from 3mm to 14mm thick, with AR500, AR550, and AR600 steel at roughly a quarter inch for Alpine Level A9. Lightweight composites carry the rest: laminated Dyneema, woven Kevlar, Spectra, and ceramic grades including boron and silicon carbide. Glass is built from layered polycarbonate engineered to resist delamination while staying optically clear.

Finally, Alpine Armoring proves the vehicle by shooting it. The team live-fire tests materials and complete vehicles in-house, then submits builds to independent laboratories. Certifications come from BBeschussamt München in Germany and the United States Army at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Vehicle dynamics undergo separate validation through slalom and moose tests on asphalt, gravel, snow, and wet surfaces. Across more than 30 years and thousands of vehicles, Alpine Armoring has recorded zero armor penetrations.