Jan ’80
The Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., bring a boon to rental businesses located 50 to 100 miles away. There were no rental businesses in Lake Placid and the immediate vicinity.
Jan. ’80
The USA Men’s Hockey team upsets the Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Feb. ’80
A-1 Rental of Fort Worth, Texas, owned by rental veteran Ray O’Neal, moves into 30,000-square-foot building with a 10,800-foot shop area, established in 1956.
Feb. ’80
United Rent-Alls president Robert Feinstein tells the Los Angeles Times his 150 franchise stores are doing about $20 million in annual revenue.
Feb. ’80
Taylor Rental Center proposes $1 million advertising campaign, which still has to be approved by the membership.
Feb. ’80
Joe Curren, former rental center owner who ran Western Iowa Tech’s rental program, creates Equipment Rental Institute in Dallas. ERI is created as a diploma-granting organization with day and evening classes in rental-related topics. Curren hopes to train hundreds to work in the industry and develop correspondence courses as well.
Feb. ’80
Mi-T-M Corp., a pressure washer manufacturer, forms pump division.
March ’80
Harold Taylor Plugge, who founded Taylor Rental Corp. in 1962, dies in Springfield, Mass., at age 70. The franchise chain has 625 locations at the time of Plugge’s death, and grossed $22.4 million in revenue in 1979.
Jan., April ’80
ARA holds seminars in Oakland and Chicago respectively called “Computers in the Rental Industry — Friend or Foe.”
May ’80
New Orleans receives 16 inches of rain in two hours. The city’s biggest rental company, American Rent-All, is besieged by requests for pumps. The company also needs the pumps at one of its 12 stores because of flooding, but the company’s new 35,000-square-foot headquarters is not damaged.
May ’80
Mt. St. Helens volcano erupts in southern Washington state, leading to a huge demand for rental equipment from nearby communities.
1980
TheEmpire Strikes Back is released in 1980 and receives mixed reviews from critics. Despite this, it brings in more than $538 million worldwide over the original run and several re-releases, making it the highest grossing film of 1980.
June ’80
RER founder Jim Gartland dies of a heart attack at age 53. Gartland recognized the potential in the rental industry, gave the industry a voice and played a major role in its development and professionalization.
June ’80
Dallas police, with rampant equipment theft in the area, initiate the “Stop and Check” program where they check any construction equipment being transported on Dallas streets and highways after sundown on weekdays, all hours on the weekends, holidays and during inclement weather. The effort contributes to a significant reduction in equipment theft.
Oct. ’80
U.S. Rentals acquires Fullerton Rentals and Ready Mix, bringing the company to 37 branches.
Oct. ’80
A rental equipment repair center opened two years before by a group of seven Taylor Rental Centers is purchased by a third party.
1980
The cordless phone is introduced in 1980.
Nov. ’80
Jim Osbourn, owner of Allied Rent-All, Houston, responds to equipment theft by painting his company’s equipment bright purple. After the four-location company lost $85,000 worth of equipment in 1979 to theft, the company has lost none since.
Nov. ’80
Rental Equipment Dealers Insurance, Lincoln, Neb., documents the deaths of 23 customers from rental equipment in the past seven years.
Dec. ’80
RER devotes its December 1980 issue to the fast-
growing rental segment of aerial work platforms.
Dec. ’80
Taylor Rental Corp. adds a computer system to its franchise program known as TOPIC (Taylor Owners Program of Information and Control). An advisory group of seven Taylor owners assisted in its design, engineered by Taylor vice president and treasurer Jack Shea.
Jan. ’81
San Jacinto College, Houston, offers an equipment rental program as part of its regular curriculum.
Feb. ’81
An RER survey reveals a trend of increasing rental rates between 10 and 15 percent in 1981, although respondents range from not raising rates in three years to a
20-plus percent increase.
Feb. ’81
With record-high interest rates being charged on commercial loans, Lincoln Contractors Supply in West Allis, Mich., borrows more than $100,000 from its employees for 12 percent, 4-percent less than what the bank offered. Owner Alfred Knief says his employees offered more than he needed. Lincoln uses the money to acquire a computerized bookkeeping system and to pay off its bank debt.
1981
World’s first oscillating axles in the industry are offered as an option for boom and scissorlifts.
March ’81
Hertz Equipment Rental & Leasing plans a franchise system, with a goal of 28 franchised rental centers by the end of the year.
March ’81
Laconia, N.H., rental uses solar heating system to heat 8,000-square-foot rental center. $300 pays for heating for the entire New England winter.
1981
In 1981, Walter Cronkite retires as CBS anchor and is replaced by Dan Rather.
June ’81
W.R. Grace acquires multi-branch North Carolina rental company Contractors Service & Rentals for $9 million in Grace common stock from owner Angus Mercer, giving Grace 30 branches. (Grace Equipment president Dugan Hill is pictured.)
June ’81
United Rent-Alls chairman Robert Feinstein resigns. The company’s creditor committee reaches a settlement with creditors, a problem previously described as “a cloud under which everyone was operating.”
July ’81
On July 29, 1981, Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer, while 750 million people watch worldwide.
July ’81
Taylor Rental Corp. lists scaffolding as its most profitable rental item for 1980 and ’81, followed by folding chairs, small tillers, airless paint sprayers and engine lifts.
Aug. ’81
Rand-Air Co., division of Ingersoll Rand names 25-year equipment industry veteran Bob Guiney president.
Sept. ’81
In less than six months, Hertz signs 72 contractor/industrial rental franchises.
Sept. ’81
United Rent-Alls files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, two months after its creditor committee reached agreement on a debt-repayment schedule.
Sept. ’81
Sam’s U-Drive owner Sam Greenberg is elected president of the Los Angeles Department of Airports.
1981
Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first woman Supreme Court Justice in 1981.
Feb. ’82
The coldest winter of the century stops construction in many areas, but has a stimulating effect on rental of heaters, pumps and drain-cleaning equipment.
Feb. ’82
Former RER editor Richard Steffen is named press secretary for California Gov. Jerry Brown. He continues a monthly column in the magazine.
Feb. ’82
Hertz parent company RCA announces plans to attempt to sell its car rental and equipment rental division.
March ’82
Taylor Rental Corp. suspends its $1 million advertising campaign because of a lack of consensus on how the funds should be spent.
March ’82
An RER survey reveals the majority of general equipment rental centers did between $100,000 and $250,000 in rentals in 1981 and less than $50,000 in sales. However, the survey shows at least 47 rental centers had rental volume of more than $5 million in 1981, and 188 had more than $5 million in sales volume. The survey estimates total rental center volume at about $8 billion, including sales and rentals.
April ’82
One of the industry’s largest independent rental companies, Elmen Rent-All, opens eight new branches and closes four others.
May ’82
Hertz opens the first of its planned franchise rental locations, in Little Rock, Ark. However, high interest rates as well as other issues, make it unlikely the franchise effort will continue.
May ’82
Roger Euliss is named district manager of Florida and southern Georgia for Multiquip.
Aug. ’82
Rental industry software pioneer Jack Shea resigns from Taylor Rental Corp
Sept. ’82
In a disclosure statement to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, United Rent-Alls proposes becoming a publicly held company continuing to operate as a franchiser of rental centers. URA’s member stores dropped from 100 to 65 during the period leading up to its bankruptcy filing.
Oct. ’82
Hertz Equipment Rental-Leasing names Dan Kaplan vice president and general manager.
Jan. ’83
In response to growing interest and involvement in rental on the part of equipment distributors, AED publishes Let’s Talk About Rentals: A Handbook for Sales Representatives.
Jan. ’83
Jack Shea forms Solutions by Computer to offer turnkey software systems for the rental industry. Shea’s partner is another former Taylor Rental Corp. official Thomas VanZandt.
Jan. ’83
Briggs & Stratton Corp. and Lombardini sign a letter of intent to pursue joint marketing of diesel engines in the United States.
Feb. ’83
After years of leadership changes and company re-structuring, the industry’s largest rental company — Hertz Equipment Rental Corp. — now run by new president Dan Kaplan, institutes measures to improve performance. Facilities improvement, analysis of equipment profitability, rate stabilization, redistributed equipment on a national basis, standardized and automated preventive maintenance programs, radio-dispatched service trucks, formal training for mechanics, a national sales effort to reach larger corporations, and the development of a reliable customer contact cycle are just some of Kaplan’s measures.
Feb. ’83
Peter Wacker, leader of the worldwide group of Wacker companies, who founded Wacker in the United States in 1957, dies in Munich at the age of 68. His son Klaus continues to run the U.S. division.
1983
Michael Jackson wins a Grammy for Album of the Year with Thriller in 1983.
March ’83
The Stanley Works, a New Britain, Conn.-based manufacturer of tools and products for the DIY and construction markets acquires Taylor Rental Corp., the rental industry’s largest franchiser. The products of TSW’s Stanley Hydraulic Tool division are widely used in the rental market, but Stanley officials deny buying TRC as a distribution outlet for its product, but to be a profitable business on its own. TRC chairman Harold Plugge Jr. resigns from the board.
May ’83
HERC initiates frequent-renter program by offering car-rental discounts to equipment renters, in some cases offering a week’s free car rental for rental of larger items.
May ’83
Taylor Rental Center in Fitchburg, Mass., develops video rental business, renting game “cartridges” and consoles made by Atari and other manufacturers.
May ’83
John Deere, founder of Deere & Co. as a blacksmith, and five other business leaders are inducted into the Business Hall of Fame.
July ’83
RER publishes Special Events Magazine as an insert, covering the party rental industry. SEM would later become an independent magazine, as RER would focus exclusively on the tool and equipment side of the rental business.
July ’83
Multiquip Inc. forms a subsidiary MQ Power Corp. to market portable welders to construction equipment and welding supply dealers. Multiquip president Irv Levine says the company’s new WhisperWeld line of portable generators “has proven to be the most successful new product ever produced by Multiquip.”
Aug. ’83
Briggs & Stratton creates Industrial Engine division to better serve the growing market for industrial and commercial gasoline engines internationally.
Aug. ’83
Solutions by Computer unveils its new rental counter software system CounterPro, introducing the system at the Texas Rental Association convention, CRA, ARA regionals, with plans to present it at the national ARA convention in 1984.
Sept. ’83
RER visits one of about 700 U-Haul moving centers becoming involved with equipment rentals. Although U-Haul would add more tool and equipment rental locations, the program would never become a widespread success and would eventually be mostly abandoned.
Sept. ’83
RCA says it has backed off from its intention to sell Hertz.
Dec. ’83
David Beatty, credited as co-inventor of frame scaffolding, dies at age 80. He helped begin the scaffolding industry in 1936 and founded Safway Steel Products.
1983
By the end of 1983, almost 3 million of the Cabbage Patch Kids Toys have been adopted but demand has not been met. The Cabbage Patch Kids Toys go on record as the most successful new doll introduction in the history of the toy industry. In December, they are featured on the cover of Newsweek.
Jan. ’84
Hertz president Kaplan articulates a four-part plan to revitalize HERC, covering maintenance, inventory, customer relations and corporate communications. The maintenance program includes factory training, troubleshooting training for managers, a video training library and onsite training, and keeping maintenance as well as revenue records on each piece of equipment. HERC upgrades facilities and spends more than $17 million on fleet in the fourth quarter of ’83.
Jan. ’84
A venture capitalist firm specializing in computer-oriented industries invests $1 million in the development of Solutions by Computer’s CounterPro and OfficePro systems.
Feb.’84
RER co-founder Francis Frank, father-in-law of original publisher Jim Gartland, dies of cancer.
Feb. ’84
Dick Hill, executive director of CRA for 27 years, announces plans to retire at end of 1984.
Feb.’84
Industry pioneer Mitch Hoxie, who started Aero Rentals in Tucson, Ariz., in the early 1940s, dies at age 71.
Feb. ’84
Deere & Co. begins issuing Manufacturers’ Certificates of Origin to guard against theft. Deere encourages other manufacturers to adopt the form, considered impossible to duplicate and is endorsed by the Construction Industry Manufacturers’ Association.
Feb. ’84
United Rent-Alls emerges from bankruptcy proceedings. The franchiser once had more than 500 branches, now has less than 50.
April ’84
An RER study shows 25 percent of responding rental centers use an in-house computer, while an additional 29 percent plan to add one within three years.
June ’84
The mayor of Panama City Beach, Fla., opens A-1 Rent-All Center.
1984
John McEnroe wins his third Wimbledon Champion-ship in 1984, defeating Jimmy Connors.
Oct. ’84
HERC opens its 50th branch, in Shreveport, La.
Nov. ’84
J.I. Case’s parent company reaches agreement to acquire International Harvester for $430 million.
Jan. ’85
American Hardware Supply Co. looks for independent rental businesses to join its cooperative buying group and adopt its Grand Rental Station brand. It initially launched program to help member hardware stores get into rental, but has changed strategy. Numerous manufacturers reach agreements for special pricing for members.
Feb. ’85
Ira Mendelsohn resigns as president of U.S. Rentals.
Feb. ’85
Some Taylor Rental Center owners reject terms of new franchise agreement as owners plan to establish 50 corporate-owned stores.
Feb.’85
HERC president Dan Kaplan (pictured with then RER publisher Tim Novoselski, at left) says company’s revenues increased 30 percent in 1984 compared to the previous year as the result of the standardization program
he launched in 1982.
March ’85
Popular Ken Putnam appointed president of MQ Power Corp., a subsidiary of Multiquip. Putnam will oversee the operations of the fast-growing company, which markets portable construction equipment including diesel-powered generators, welders and air compressors, a product mix that would grow significantly during his tenure. Putnam is a seven-year veteran of the Carson, Calif.-based supplier.
March ’85
Briggs & Stratton establishes a permanent testing site on the grounds of its Fort Pierce, Fla., facility.
April ’85
Angus Mercer’s Contractors Service & Rental, Charlotte, N.C., named top 1984 dealer for aerial work platform company Economy Engineering, owner of the Wildcat brand of scissorlifts.
May ’85
A study conducted by HERC reveals rental customers value service above all else and prefer dealing with small companies, believing them more flexible and responsive to their needs.
May ’85
American Hardware Supply Corp. openly courts Taylor Rental Corp. licensees, the majority of whom have yet to sign Taylor’s new agreement, objecting to its shortened franchise terms, the ability of corporate to set store hours, and the way the company figures advertising allowances.
July ’85
HERC continues expansion with new stores completed or almost completed in Memphis, Tenn.; Durham, N.C.; Forest Park, Ga.; and Ventura, Calif., and recently opened branches in San Diego and Winston-Salem, N.C.
Sept. ’85
Construction machinery sales increase 14 percent worldwide in 1984 according to CIMA, and 27 percent in the U.S.
Sept. ’85
Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb’s Major League baseball record for career hits on Sept. 12, 1985 with a single to reach 4,191 hits. Rose goes on to play one more year, through 1986, and ends with 4,256 career hits, a record that still stands.
Nov. ’85
Hertz plans to revive franchise program, naming Graham Hood director of franchise operations.
Dec. ’85
An RER feature tells of an insurance squeeze in the rental industry, with rising premium rates and diminishing availability, with premiums eating up 5 percent of the average rental business that gets a new policy, compared with 3 percent a year ago and 1 percent earlier in the decade.
Dec. ’85
Wacker Corp. treats 67 dealers and their spouses from the U.S. and Canada to an eight-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein. Highlights included tours of Wacker factories in Munich and Reichertshofen and a visit to Oktoberfest.
Jan. ’86
Diesel engine manufacturers Lister Diesels Inc. and Petter Diesels Inc., subsidiaries of United Kingd0m-based Hawker Siddely Group, merge to form Lister-Petter Inc.
Jan. ’86
Boston-based Action Equipment Co., run by Frank Rich, ranked No. 18 on Inc. magazine’s list of fastest-growing private companies, grosses $12 million in volume five years after Rich leaves his father’s business.
Jan. ’86
Rich Lanoha, owner of Denver-based Rent-It Center (which he shortly before passed along to his children), dies at age 62.
1986
$1.1 million is paid for a one-minute TV ad during the Super Bowl in 1986.
Feb. ’86
Grasse family sells five-location Acme Rents to former U.S. Rentals president Ira Mendelsohn and a group of investors. RER columnist Bill Grasse continues with Acme as its “goodwill ambassador.”
Feb. ’86
HERC’s Dan Kaplan says his company spent $70 million on rental inventory in 1985, with plans to spend at least $50 million on equipment in 1986.
March ’86
Reli Financial Corp., a leading provider of equipment financing to the rental industry, is acquired by LeaseAmerica Corp.
March ’86
Bill Bourque, manager of American Hardware’s Grand Rental Station program, says the company signed 40 licensees in 1985 and expects 75 more this year.
April ’86
Jartran Inc., the nation’s third-largest truck and trailer rental company, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
May ’86
RER publishes its first RER 50 listing of the 50 largest rental companies based on rental volume. The feature would become annual, eventually becoming the RER 100, as it is still known today. The first No. 1, with an estimated $100 million in rental volume, is HERC, which would hold its No. 1 ranking until 1999.
1986
Larry Bird wins his third consecutive NBA MVP award with the Boston Celtics in 1986.
July ’86
Rohnert Park, Calif.-based Big 4 Rents opens its new headquarters covering five acres.
Aug. ’86
Taylor Rental Corp. “pulls plug” on its CompuRents software system, thus cutting off rental center customers that are not Taylor franchises. Some rental companies claim they purchased the system, spending up to $40,000 or more, without any mention of an eventual license, with Taylor allowing them to use the system without a formal contract. Rental companies threaten legal action.
Aug. ’86
Employees of Honeoye, N.Y.-based Stone Construction Equipment with the Employee Stock Ownership Trust established by management purchase 98 percent of outstanding stock. CEO Bob Fien says the new corporate structure will strengthen the company because of employees’ investment in the company’s fortunes.
Aug. ’86
Pavement breakers and skid-steer loaders top AED’s list of sales increases for distributors in the first half of 1986.
Aug. ’86
Deere & Co. and General Motors, the nation’s largest automobile manufacturer, sign an agreement to design, manufacture and distribute diesel engines on a worldwide basis.
Oct. ’86
ARA names Jim Irish as new executive director, replacing retiring Ziggy Siegfried.
Nov. ’86
The rental industry has matured into an $11.2 million business, according to a study compiled by the RER research division and the Simmons Market Research Bureau. The number of rental centers has increased to 13,000, with average annual rental income per store of $930,000, up from $450,000 in 1980, with 28.7 percent topping $1 million in revenue.
Nov. ’86
Honda Power Equipment Manufacturing announces a $15 million expansion of its North Carolina plant to begin producing lawnmower engines in early 1988.
Dec. ’86
John Hagens, a cornerstone of RER since joining the staff as associate editor in 1958, dies of cancer at age 67. Hagens became editor-in-chief in April 1959 and a few years later sales and general manager. A popular figure with manufacturers as well as rental personnel, Hagens worked in both editorial and sales capacities until his death.
death.
Jan. ’87
Whiteman Manufacturing Co., a leading producer of concrete power trowels and power buggies grants exclusive U.S., Mexican, and Caribbean distribution and marketing rights for its entire product line to Multiquip Inc., whose president calls it a “revolutionary step, the first time in the history of the U.S. construction industry that a leading manufacturer has contracted with a second party to do all its marketing and distribution.”
Jan. ’87
HERC purchases Richmond, Va.-based Atlantic Contractor Equipment & Supply, the company’s first major acquisition, having previously expanded through Greenfield startups. HERC says more acquisitions are planned.
Jan. ’87
Taylor Rental Corp. says it added 47 company stores in 1986, giving it 90 to go with 290 franchise locations.
Feb. ’87
Acme Rental Centers, led by Ira Mendelsohn, acquires C&W Action Rentals, giving it nine locations in Southern California, and bringing it into the top 10 in the United States. In May, Acme is ranked No. 7 on the RER 50.
Feb. ’87
Australian rental company Wreckair acquires El Monte, Calif.-based A-1 Lou’s, giving it 13 U.S. branches.
March ’87
Bob Serr and Donald Charbonnet, with more than 40 years of combined experience in the rental industry, form Serr, Charbonnet & Associates, a consulting service to help rental companies with financial management and strategies, organizational management, multi-location operations and expansion, leadership training and advertising and marketing.
March ’87
Dave Lanoha’s Rent-It Center acquires two-location All Quip Rental in Denver.
March ’87
RER establishes John T. Hagens Memorial Fund to grant scholarships to students attending higher education courses in rental at various institutions, named after RER’s former general manager.
May ’87
Palmer Grasse, father of Bill Grasse, and an industry pioneer, dies at age 93. Grasse founded Acme Rents in 1937. After selling the company to his children, he opened Palmer Scaffold & Equipment Co. in the early 1950s, developing the respected Palmer floor stripper.
May ’87
Grace Equipment Co. enters the Southern California rental market with the acquisition of W.K. Equipment Co., giving the company 52 locations. Grace moves into second place in the new RER 50.
May ’87
After primarily manufacturing equipment in Japan for years, Multiquip prepares to construct a 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at its Carson, Calif., headquarters. President Irv Levine tells RER the company was already planning it, but was pushed to do it faster by the threat of trade sanctions.
Oct. ’87
Black Monday is the name given to Monday, Oct. 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 508 points. Similar enormous drops occur across the world.
Dec. ’87
Figgie International, owner of lift manufacturers Hunterlift and Snorkel, agrees to acquire Economy Engineering, a Bensenville, Ill.-based aerial manufacturer.
Feb. ’88
CRA names Chuck Maltese executive director.
April ’88
Jim Grasse, Bill’s son, sells 75 percent of his interest in Suburban Equipment Rentals, Cypress, Calif., to Pat Daly, general manager of Jim’s other rental business, Always Rentals in nearby Bellflower.
May ’88
Australian-owned Wreckair buys three-location Rentaland, based in Bellflower, Calif. The rental centers will be merged with the 6-location A-1 Lou’s. Dale Peterson, founder of the two U.S. companies will retain partial ownership and is named vice-president of Wreckair’s Southern California operations.
May ’88
On the third RER 50, eight companies top $20 million in rental revenue — Hertz, Grace, U.S. Rentals, U-Haul, Taylor, Clementina Ltd., Acme Rents and John Doran’s Rental Tools & Equipment. On the 2007 RER 100, 76 companies topped $20 million in rental revenue.
July ’88
Multiquip acquires the assets of concrete equipment maker Whiteman Manufacturing Co., which granted it distribution rights two years before. The new company is headed by Marvin Whiteman, who retains 30 percent interest.
July ’88
Gehl Co. reaches agreement with the Peoples’ Republic of China to produce the first Chinese-built skid-steer loaders.
July ’88
The Charles Machine Works’ Ditch Witch is named one of the “100 Products America Makes Best,” by Fortune magazine.
Aug. ’88
Werner Enterprises buys Aggregate Equipment; HERC hits 70 branches; Sunstate Equipment buys Phoenix competitor Apache Rental & Sales.
Sept. ’88
Resco, No. 14 on the RER 50, expands to Dayton, Ohio; Jerry Losey’s Zuni Rentals, No. 48, based in Albuquerque, N.M., moves into Texas with a branch in El Paso.
Jan. ’89
Fast-growing Acme Rents, No. 6 on the RER 50, acquires DTR Rentals, Oakland, Calif., giving it 13 branches.
1989
Driving Miss Daisy wins the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1989 beating out other nominees Field of Dreams, Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets’ Society, and My Left Foot.
April ’89
The Virginia legislature passes a bill to reduce or eliminate personal property tax on rental equipment in the state. Wayne Broadwater, owner of Rental Depot, Manassas, Va., struggled 15 years for the passage of the legislation.
May ’89
W.R. Grace announces plans to sell the country’s third-largest rental company, Houston-based Grace Equipment, to raise working cash for its specialty chemical operations.
May ’89
Rental pioneer George Gartner, of F.W. Gartner Co., dies of cancer.
Aug. ’89
BET plc, parent company of BET Plant Services, No. 2 on the RER 50, announces plans to issue a new class of preferred stock to finance further expansion in the U.S.
Aug. ’89
Paris-based Compagnie Francaise de l’Afrique Occidentale, France’s largest rental company, acquires Grace Equipment for $305 million, outbidding Hertz, BET and U.S. Rentals.
Sept. ’89
BET buys 7-location Richmond, Va.-based Able Equipment Co.
Sept. ’89
Fresno, Calif.-based aerial work platform maker UpRight Inc. buys aerial rental specialist Horizon High Reach, based in Fullerton, Calif.
1989
An earthquake hits the San Francisco Bay Area just minutes before Game 3 of the 1989 World Series.
