This Day in Auto History 4.10.1879 Sandor Herz, who would later be known as John Hertz, the man behind what will one day be the world’s largest car-rental company, was born in present-day Slovakia. Hertz immigrated to America with his family as a child and grew up in Chicago. In 1915, he founded the Yellow Cab Company in Chicago as a means of providing affordable transportation to average citizens. Yellow Cab franchises soon opened across the country. In 1923, Hertz bought a rental-car company from Walter Jacobs, who had founded the Chicago-based business in 1918 with a fleet of Ford Model Ts. Hertz renamed the business Hertz Drive-Ur-Self Corporation which was acquired by General Motors in 1926. John Hertz became a member of the board of directors of GM.In 1932, the Hertz company opened its first car rental shop, at Chicago’s Midway Airport. Within five years after that, Hertz became the first rent-a-car business to open 1,000 locations throughout the world. John Hertz, who was also a philanthropist and raised thoroughbred horses, died at the age of 82 on October 8, 1961.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 19:17:31 +0000