posted 06-23-2009 08:51 PM                    

(I miss "Drive-In Theatre Mfg. Company" ...)

SPECO

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Incorporated in March of 1948 in Kansas City, SPECO was originally known as the Drive-In Theatre Manufacturing Company. The name was fitting - at the time we manufactured everything for drive-in theatres including the steel screen towers, the kids' playgrounds known as the 'Streamliner', the classic RCA & Circlite speakers & junction boxes, roadway lighting, marquee signage and in-car heaters.

However, it was not the Drive-In Theatre industry that fueled our early successes. The company started research and development on electronic test equipment. The electronics testing equipment division grew into dominance in the field of testing circuitry. In 1954, the company's name was changed to DIT-MCO, Inc. This was derived from the initials of Drive-In Theatre Mfg. Co. and began our affinity for acronymns.

In 1962, the Drive-In Theatre Mfg. division was sold to the four employees who ran this division, and the name Drive-In Theatre Mfg. Co. was used once again. It was also around this time that we began to design and manufacture our own projection room equipment, most notably our first platter system, the venerated LP 270.

This new company tack proved to once again be beneficial, as the drive-in theatre industry began to wane. In approximately 1967, many drive-in theatre owners started selling their land to developers and drive-ins started on their decline. What had once been wonderful family attractions that brought people out on the weekends were now seen as large, leveled plots of multiple acres for prime land development locations. Following the paydirt trail, drive-ins started to succumb and their properties were developed into many things, such as Walmarts, strip malls, and sometimes indoor movie theatres.

In December of 1983, the name of the company was changed the final time to Systems & Products Engineering Company, our current acronymn of SPECO (pronounced SPEE-co). By this time, SPECO had developed an entire selection of products for indoor theatres, and the old name of Drive-In Theatre Mfg. Co. was misleading. While we continued to provide equipment for drive-ins, our emphasis had changed to engineering, developing, and manufacturing equipment for indoor theatre projection booths, including our signature LP 270-3 red platter system, our automation systems, dimmers, cue sensors, film cleaners, and a multitude of industry-leading film roller and interlocking assemblies.

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