Who Bought the First Ford Mustang Sold in the US? --Part 2: It Cost $3,447

No convertible was available on the floor, but the salesman did have something of interest in back.  There was a Ford Mustang covered with a tarp and not supposed to be for sale until two more days until Henry Ford II unveiled the car at the New York World's Fair.

But, Cleadis Brown had $3,447 sale price cash (as a loan to his daughter) plus a 1958 Chevy Impala worth $400 in a trade-in as incentives, so the salesman opted to jump the gun with Gail so long as she did not take the car for a test drive.  He could have cost the Johnson Ford dealership dearly.

"If Ford had found out he had sold the car early, they might have taken the dealership away," said Tom Wise.

No American could have missed the publicity over the Mustang in the spring of 1964. The car was fodder for news magazine cover stories.  As the then Gail Brown drove the car from her teaching job in west-suburban Berkeley to her Northwest Side home, bystanders gawked at her and the car.

--DaCoot

Wayne Huizenga-- Part 5: Back to Waste Management and Then to Car Rentals and Sales

Wayne Huizenga sold Blockbuster to Viacom in 1994 for about $8 billion.

Still not satisfied to retire and live on all that money, in 1995, he got back into the trash hauling business by buying Republic Waste Industries Inc. for $27 million.Mergers and acquisitions soon followed.  He renamed the company Republic Industries as it branched out, buying Alamo Rent-A-Car and National Car Rental.

Republic, under Huizenga's leadership, then started AutoNation, a national chain of auto dealerships.  At its peak, it had 375 dealerships in 17 states.

Republic Services was spun off in 1998 to control the waste management portion of its portfolio, a sector that had grown to about $1 billion in annual sales.  he remained its chairman until 2002.

Quite a Man.  A Real American Success Story.  --Cooter

Arthur Taylor, Nash Dealer in DeKalb and Sycamore, Illinois

From HavrKost Nash Dealerships in Illinois and Indiana.

Continuing with more research on one of the previous entries on today's earlier post.

Shows three Nash dealerships in DeKalb, Illinois:

1940--  Felton Motor Sales
1941--  Taylor Motor Sales
1952--  Wagenseller Motors, Inc.

Sycamore, Illinois:

1939-1941--  Art's Garage at 124 W. State Street  (Probably Arthur Taylor
1948-1956--  Taylor Nash Sales at the same address.

--DaCoot