Never Stand Still

Alright everyone were back sorry for the four month delay time to get this thread cooking again,because by popular demand it was asked what happened to CF and why did they go down the tubes?

 

Anyhow in the CF time line we are currently in the year 1983 which was a big year for CF and kind of set the pace for the next 15 years of the company.

Lets do a quick update:
In the early 1980's CF sold Freightliner to Daimler after starting a bidding war between Volvo and Daimler to see which one would take Freightliner after White Motor Company disbanded and went down the tubes and CF management decided that they were going to be squarely in the trucking/transportation business.


In 1983 you had, two men running for CEO of CF because Mr.O'Brian was ready to retire you had Don Moffit and Larry Scott both from the midwest and both people who had been in trucking management for many years.

CF ended up making Moffit and Scott compete for leader of it's companies which were CF and CF International which was the air freight division of the company which I think went under in 2001.

Anyhow, the air freight part of the company also got cooking in 1982-1983 CF's air freight business was booming and CF wanted to be internationally known so they started looking for an international air freight forwarding company to purchase. The reason for this was because the CF trucking business was flat as a pancake because of the bad economy in the early 1980's.

I wasn't alive in 1982 but I guess people stopped buying stuff and interest rates were really high and everyone was standing in front of Cleveland Browns Municipal Stadium pan handling or something.

Anyhow CF tried to buy an Air Freight Company known as Air Express International, but the stock price ended up becoming to high and the board and SEC and the rest of them shot the deal down, so CF had to go back to the drawing board on an air freight company to buy.

CF actually had a prosperous little domestic air freight business going and they wanted to take it big time, however the people who ran CF's trucking business said that they were not going to be outdone, buy the "air freight" business. Similar to that line in the 1980's film End of the Line
Where the old man who was the Chairman of the board says "Air freight, Air Planes I hate those darn things! Never liked them!"




Anyhow the trucking operations people at CF thought the same way "Air planes! Air freight! We hate those darn things!" So with the recession being lifted and people buying things again and not standing in front of Cleveland Browns Municipal Stadium asking for money the trucking operation started go to vertical again and that's when CF trucking management started what was known is those days as "The Regional's" Dun Dun Dahhh!

 

No I couldn't they would be like an Anochromite or whatever. For what ever reason the company was a 20th century master, but when it came to the 21st century they just didn't have it. They were an old school business in an old school time and I guess time just passed them by.

I don't know how they would have fared now a days, I don't know what do you think?

 

So why did the regional carriers exist and come about?
I'll tell you, while CF's management was all hot for air freight, CF's trucking management was hot for keeping there jobs and staying #1.

I was going to say Old Dominion was just some 3 truck operation in the booneys of North Carolina back then and Saia was just running around down south they weren't much of anything either and alot of the legacy carriers have gone belly up or went away Preston is gone, Yellow is Gone and Roadway is gone and Overnite too. Will get to Overnite, because they are in the post I am working on right now. They are mentioned.