Cementing A Vacation Plan

Lehigh Cement was founded in 1897 by six Pennsylvania businessmen who funded the construction of a cement plant in Ormrod, Pennsylvania. Then a second and third. Since the company’s cement was being shipped as far west as Kansas City, another plant was built in Mitchell, Indiana in 1902. By 1920 Lehigh Cement was the nation’s biggest cement company in terms of number of plants, with annual production of more than twelve million barrels of Portland cement. Lehigh’s profits reached a zenith after 1958, climbing to $75.8 million. Net income of $12.1 million on sales of $100.6 million in 1959 was far higher than Lehigh would again earn, at least as an independent company. About the time the illustration above was conceived.

Pictured is the one-year-only styling of a 1960 Ford Galaxie. The model introduced numerous styling trends that set the automotive industry on notice. Yet some Ford customers were not fans of the styling shock. It was devoid of recent Ford trends, most notably the round taillights and seemingly no hint of fins. Coupled with this was the fact the car was larger: it violated vehicle width regulations in many states. Garages got smaller. 

Speaking of fins, I find the 1960 model unique for its sleek "stealth" fins that begin up front as a vertically chromed arch defining the front fenders. The accent chrome magically transforms horizontally into flat fins, the "bottom" of which folds inward, stopping at the trunk lid. A beautiful execution that made the 1959-60 Chevrolets decidedly awkward. The 1960 Ford has since garnered many fins...er...fans in more modern times, especially the elegant Ford Galaxie Starliner. 

Something Else Altogether

Upon its introduction in 1958, the futuristic Philco Predicta was the world's first swivel-screen television. It was designed by Catherine Winkler, Severin Jonnaffen and Richard Whipple. The picture tube (CRT) could be separated from the rest of the cabinet. There were several cabinet or pedestal model options. The Philco Predicta Princess model cost around $180. However, the Philco Predicta Pedestal version (above), sold for a whopping $460. Needless to say, only the wealthy could afford one. The Pedestal cabinet was created by Winkler and Whipple. The sets could be had as 17" or 21" screens. Ford Motor Company purchased Philco at the end of 1961. Philco is now the Philips brand.

Danger Man

Francis Gary Powers entered United States Air Force in 1950, trained as a pilot and was commissioned in 1952. In 1956, 1st Lieutenant Powers was released from the U.S.A.F. to participate in the Central Intelligence Agency’s Project Aquatone. His CIA position soon made Powers world famous when his Lockheed U-2A was shot down over Russia, in 1960. Powers was captured and held prisoner at the notorious Lubyanka Prison where he underwent sixty-two days of interrogation. 

But it gets worse.

On this day in 1977, Powers was killed, along with his photographer for KNBC, while piloting a Bell Ranger "Telecopter." Powers had 7,193 total flight hours, with 381 hours in the Bell 206. Unfortunately, Powers did not stop at two airports for refueling opportunities. Starved of fuel, the copter nose-dived into the ground, killing both instantly.

Big Yellow Brick

 

The Checker is an automobile produced by the Checker Motors Corporation of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Its Marathon/Superba models began production in 1960 and were advertised to individual customers in upscale publications. The ads emphasized the durability of the Checker and the attention to quality improvements. Marathons were produced in both four-door sedan and four-door station wagon forms. The eight-door, 12-seater "Aerobus" wagon was typically spotted shuttling airline passengers to and from a major airport. They remained largely unchanged to keep costs down and its late 50s design held its ground until 1982, the Marathon's final production year. 

Long before the Marathon, the Checker Motor Company manufactured taxicabs aimed at fleet buyers, famously used by Checker Taxi, a privately owned cab company in Chicago. Morris Markin established the Kalamazoo business in 1922. In its early years, he not only produced the vehicles but also ran Checker Cab, a taxi company that was in direct competition with John D. Hertz, owner of Yellow Cab. The Checker Motor Company ceased to exist with the sale of its Kalamazoo headquarters in 2010.

The Silver Streak

The Pioneer Zephyr aka Burlington Zephyr is a diesel-powered trainset built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, commonly known as the Burlington Route. It set a speed record in 1934 between Denver and Chicago, making a non-stop "Dawn-to-Dusk" dash in 13 hours 5 minutes at an average speed of almost 78 mph over the 1,015-mile route. This event inspired the 1934 RKO film, The Silver Streak, starring Sally Blane and Charles Starrett. On the same day in 1960, the train's  26th anniversary of the "Dawn-to-Dusk" dash, the original Pioneer Zephyr made its last run along the train's regular revenue route from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Kansas City, Missouri, finishing in Chicago, Illinois where it was donated to Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry.

Cement by Moonlight

 

To honor Cleveland's WWII veterans, a stretch of highway was first known as the Memorial Shoreway, the first east-west freeway in Greater Cleveland. Known officially as the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway (a section of I-90), it closely follows the shore of Lake Erie and connects the east and west sides of Cleveland via the Main Avenue Bridge over the Cuyahoga River. The 1960 illustration is by Peter Helck (1893-1988). Best known for his automobile paintings, note his inclusion of a current model Buick and Ford Falcon. But the Ford Thunderbird, center, is not brand new as a 1960 model has six taillights. You may note the red 1960 Chevrolet left of center and the burgundy Chrysler product at the far left going in the opposite direction.

Founded in 1916, Portland Cement Association is the premier policy, research, education, and market intelligence organization serving America’s cement manufacturers. Headquartered in Skokie, Illinois, and Washington, DC., they have facilities in all fifty states. 

Mark Twain Expressway

 

A section of Interstate 70 in St. Louis, Missouri is designated the Mark Twain Expressway. Interstate 70 traverses nearly the width of the US, serving major metropolitan areas such as Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus and Baltimore. The west end connects with Interstate 15 at Cove Fort, Utah with no plans to extend I-70 west beyond that point. Bill Fleming's illustration for the Portland Cement Association captures the highway's original, simple course near Lambert-St. Louis Airport in 1960. 

Cementing a Vacation Plan

 

When this 1960 Ford convertible was new, the Lehigh Cement Company had fourteen plants in eleven states producing cements for the use in paving applications, concrete pipe, masonry products, oil and gas drilling, precast concrete structures, soil stabilization, and farm silos. While the terms concrete and cement are often used interchangeably, they are not the same. Cement is an ingredient of concrete. It’s the fine grey powder that, when mixed with water, sand and gravel or crushed stone, forms the rock-like mass known as concrete. Cement is a small percentage of a concrete mixture, acting as the binding agent or glue in concrete.

Lehigh began as a single-mill operation in 1897 in Ormrod, Pennsylvania, producing Portland cement. By the mid-Seventies, Heidelberg Cement, one of the world’s leading producers of cement and ready-mixed concrete, acquired Lehigh to become today's Lehigh Heidelberg Cement Company. 

Danger Man Begets Secret Agent

Drake, John Drake. Patrick McGoohan's distinct, clipped delivery, intensity, charm, coolness and physicality was a winning combination for his American television debut in 1960. Drake utilizes intelligence and quick thinking instead of a gun. Series strove for realism with inventive plots and exotic locales during the Cold War. Edwin Astley's jazz themes add era coolness. The short-lived but popular thirty-nine-episode series set the stage for the longer-running US revival as Secret Agent. My full assessment at FORGOTTEN CINEMA.