Hertz

The US auto manufacturer Hertz had its roots in the Yellow Cab Company of Chicago, founded by Hungarian immigrant John Daniel Hertz Snr., in 1915. Operating since 1907 and utilising trade-ins acquired from his former position selling new cars, Yellow Cabs successfully serviced the budget end of the market. By 1920 the company, now as the Yellow Cab Manufacturing Company, was manufacturing its own taxicabs as well as selling them to other cab company operators.

Across town the Shaw Livery Company was also building and operating cabs, also beginning manufacture in 1920 with a wide range of other bodies including coupes, roadsters and limousines. After a brief name change to Colonial, the Shaw company was bought out by Hertz and its remaining cars were sold by its new owner under the Ambassador name.

In 1924 Hertz acquired a rental car business and renamed it the Hertz Drive-Ur-Self Corporation. He redesigned the Ambassador car and relaunched it in 1925 as the Ambassador D-1 model. For the 1926 model year the D-1 was renamed the Hertz in a new line-up which included both the existing sedan and a new touring car model. These were similar in style to the Buick being produced at the time.

Majority shares in both the Yellow Cab Company and its subsidiary Hertz Drive-Ur-Self were sold in 1926 to General Motors, though John Hertz remained a minority shareholder until 1929, by which time the Hertz D-1 had been withdrawn from the market. Hertz died in 1961, aged 82 years.