Consolidated Freightways, Inc. - Specimen Stock Certificate
Inv# SE1737 Specimen Stock
Specimen Stock printed by American Bank Note Company. Consolidated Freightways (CF), was an American multinational LTL (Less Than Truckload) freight service and logistics company founded on April 1, 1929, in Portland, Oregon, and later relocated to Vancouver, Washington. Affectionately known as "CornFlakes", Consolidated Freightways was also the founder of the Freightliner line of heavy trucks, now owned by Daimler-Benz. At its height, the company possessed over 350 terminals, employing more than 15,000 truck drivers, dock workers, dispatchers and management. Consolidated Freightways was once the nation's number one long-haul trucking company and the 3rd largest-ever U.S. bankruptcy filing, ceasing business in 2002.
On April 1, 1929, Consolidated Freightways was founded by Leland James as a single truck LTL operation in Portland, Oregon. The company realized expanded growth rather quickly. James was an innovator, and purchased his custom power units from Freightways Manufacturing Company. Always striving to haul more product on a truck/trailer combination, James helped design the first C.O.E. (Cab Over Engine) power units the United States had ever seen. The power units were lightweight and short, allowing for an additional freight box mounted on the frame of the truck behind the cab (single trailer units). With the short cab-overs, short trailers (hitched as doubles) could be lengthened, allowing for more freight as well. Length laws were stringent in the 1930s, so if a company were to survive they had to be innovative. In Nov. 1951, Consolidated Freightways went public, opening on the New York Stock Exchange at $1.80. The stock was valued at $38.00/share in 1981. In 1981, CF won a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Kassel v. Consolidated Freightways Corp.. The court found that Iowa's length restriction on tractor-trailers violated the Dormant Commerce Clause. In 1980, CF organized CF Arrowhead, a union owner / operator company, based in Menlo Park CA with specialized trailers, such as flat beds, drop decks and heavy haul, to service their existing customers with freight that just couldn't be transported in van trailers. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_Freightways
Stock and Bond Specimens are made and usually retained by a printer as a record of the contract with a client, generally with manuscript contract notes such as the quantity printed. Specimens are sometimes produced for use by the printing company's sales team as examples of the firm’s products. These are usually marked "Specimen" and have no serial numbers.
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