Your Rental Needs May Vary

Avis Airlines Rent-A-Car System was founded in 1946 by Warren Avis (1915-2007), an owner of an automobile dealership in Detroit. He had the idea of providing car-rental services at airports, astutely believing air travel would quickly become more popular than rail travel. They were the first car rental business to be located at an airport, opening two locations at Willow Run Airport near Detroit and at Miami Airport in Florida. He established branch operations across the United States over the next few years and became the second-largest car rental company in the country by 1953. 

In 1962, their corporate slogan, "We're only No. 2. We try harder," was a positive campaign to compete with the number one competitor, Hertz. Today, Avis is a provider to the commercial segment, serving business travelers at major airports internationally, and to leisure travelers at off-airport locations. Avis featured General Motors vehicles during the late 1970s, but Ford vehicles were showcased prior, as the above 1958 advertisement proves. Other popular brands comprise their fleet today. Avis has been owned by a number of other companies, along with several periods of being a public company.

Executive Leasing Company and its fleet of seven vehicles were founded eleven years after Avis by Jack Crawford Taylor (1922-2016) in St. Louis, Missouri.   Taylor was a naval aviator during World War II, serving on the USS Enterprise. In 1969, he would rename the company Enterprise Rent-A-Car to honor the aircraft carrier and reflect his personal values and leadership philosophy. The company focused on city-based rentals rather than competing with airport-centric rental firms for persons needing a rental while their own was being repaired. A wise strategy that helped the business grow steadily.

Their iconic "e" highway logo was introduced early on, but went through a few color and design changes before settling on their classic green and black color scheme. In the early 1970s, the "We'll pick you up" tagline was introduced, a unique service that became a trademark of their customer-centric approach. This service, along with partnerships with auto repair shops, helped Enterprise build a strong city-based "neighborhood" network. The leadership has been passed down through generations of the Taylor family. Enterprise eventually embraced Avis's airport innovation in the early years of the twenty-first century after acquiring the Vanguard Car Rental Group, National Car Rental, and Alamo Rent-A-Car brands to its portfolio. 

Short Hoppers

Ozark Air Lines began public operation in the US in 1950, operating from their headquarters located at Lambert–St. Louis Municipal Airport. Ozark purchased Douglas DC-3s from the defunct Parks Airline with regular flights between St. Louis and Chicago, including short hops along the way, and to Tulsa and Memphis. By 1955, the airline used its thirteen DC-3s to serve thirty-five cities between Sioux City, Indianapolis, Wichita, and Nashville. By 1960, turboprop Fairchild F-27s (above) replaced the aging DC-3s with its first Douglas DC-9-10 jets introduced in 1966. Ozark Airlines was unable to compete in the airline price wars and in 1986 was purchased by Trans World Airlines, itself unable to sustain profitability and was purchased by American Airlines in 2001. 

Note: The three swallows in Ozark's logo represented on-time flights, referring to the legend of the swallows that return to the Mission San Juan Capistrano, in California each year. 

The Cloverleaf Interchange

A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange in which all turns are handled by slip roads. This makes them well-suited for the intersection of two freeways. The cloverleaf possesses advantages such as linking ramps safely in order to accommodate left turns. Many cloverleafs today have been highly modified into a complex maze of overpasses in some sprawling cities. 

Though the first cloverleaf interchange was patented in the United States in 1916 by Arthur Hale, a Maryland civil engineer, the first, Woodbridge Cloverleaf, did not open until 1929 at the intersection of the Lincoln Highway, Route 25 and Amboy, Route 4 in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. Those highway routes have long since been renumbered. The first cloverleaf west of the Mississippi River opened in 1931 at Watson Road and Lindbergh Boulevard near St. Louis, Missouri, as part of an upgrade of Route 66, which utilizes the bridge in the above photo.

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. 

Seven-Month Lifespan of a Phantom II

 

On this date in 1967, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, St. Louis, Missouri, delivered the 2,000th F-4 Phantom II to the United States Air Force. It was assigned to the 40th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing, at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. 

By mid-September, the Phantom II was being flown by Major Lloyd Warren Boothby and 1st Lieutenant George H. McKinney, Jr., of the 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron. Following a Rolling Thunder attack on railroad sidings at Trung Quang, the plane's wing was hit by anti-aircraft cannon shell. Boothby fought to keep it under control for as long as possible, but ultimately both pilots were forced to eject some 35 miles from their base. For their airmanship in trying to save their airplane, Boothby and McKinney were each presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross in a pre-dawn ceremony at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base by President Johnson.

A Mississippi River Icon

 

The SS Admiral was a famous excursion steamboat operating on the Mississippi River from the Port of St. Louis, Missouri until 1978. From 1938 to 1940 Steamers Service Company rebuilt the metal hulled SS Albatross into five decks, two of which were air-conditioned---an unheard-of luxury at the time. The exterior and its interior furnishings and decorations were designed in the Art Deco style. The futuristic outward "casing" hid the side paddles and "gingerbread" details of traditional steamers under sleek steel designed and fabricated by Banner Iron Works. The largest passenger vessel on US inland waterways at the time, the 374' Admiral departed on her first excursion cruise from the St. Louis waterfront in June 1940. The steamer could carry as many as 4,400 passengers. Among the ship's many amenities included food service, a large ballroom, and a lido deck. Steam power gave way to diesel power by the early Seventies. The ship was briefly re-purposed as an amusement center in 1987, then converted to a casino in 1990. The boat was dismantled for scrap metal in 2011.

Timken Keeps America Going

 

"Roller Freight" rolls out the red carpet for goods the way the 20th Century rolls it out for people in this 1954 advertisement. The Timken Company, an American manufacturer of bearings and related components and assemblies, was incorporated in 1899 as The Timken Roller Bearing Axle Company by Henry Timken after he obtained a patent for an improved tapered roller bearing. By 1901 the company moved to Canton, Ohio, as the automobile industry began to overtake the carriage industry. Production increased dramatically during the 1940s to keep up with wartime demand. Jeep alone used 24 Timken bearings. Timken expanded into new global markets throughout the 1970s and 1980s, establishing a sales operation in Japan in 1974 and opening sales offices in Italy, Korea, Singapore and Venezuela in 1988. By the late 1990s, Timken also had a sales presence in Spain, Hong Kong, China and Singapore. Engineered bearing products continue to be core to their business and reflect a long-standing innovative power in moving global industries forward.