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From Wikipedia American Freightways

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American Freightways (AF) was a U.S. Less Than Truckload (LTL) shipping company based in Harrison, Arkansas[1].
Founded in 1982 by the late Sheridan Garrison, American Freightways was originally titled Arkansas Freightways. In 1989 Arkansas Freightways became a publicly held corporation, and developed a wide network of customer centers providing direct shipping to 40 contiguous U.S. states. The company officially changed its name to American Freightways in 1993.
American Freightways was acquired by FedEx Corporation in 2001. By combining Viking Freight and AF, FedEx Corp. created FedEx Freight to offer one-stop shopping for less than truckload customers. In June 2002, FedEx rebranded AF and Viking as FedEx Freight East and FedEx Freight West, respectively.

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Jeff said:
American Freightways (AF) was a U.S. Less Than Truckload (LTL) shipping company based in Harrison, Arkansas[1].
Founded in 1982 by the late Sheridan Garrison, American Freightways was originally titled Arkansas Freightways. In 1989 Arkansas Freightways became a publicly held corporation, and developed a wide network of customer centers providing direct shipping to 40 contiguous U.S. states. The company officially changed its name to American Freightways in 1993.
American Freightways was acquired by FedEx Corporation in 2001. By combining Viking Freight and AF, FedEx Corp. created FedEx Freight to offer one-stop shopping for less than truckload customers. In June 2002, FedEx rebranded AF and Viking as FedEx Freight East and FedEx Freight West, respectively.
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jeff...this would have been before that....gmf garrison motor freight....same family....around late 1970s.....i may have this wrong though....on the side of there trailers at the bottom it said....oldest line between st louis and little rock.....same people earlier time...see if i can find out...
 
Jeff said:
Garrison then Arkansas Freightways then American Freightways

All started by Sheridan Garrison

Read all about him here
http://www.amhistpress.com/chronicle_american_freightways.pdf
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exactly....but my question is who bought garrison out to get those rights....this was before deregulation was it smith transfer....mr garrison had a great vision to sale then and come back after deregulation....i think i know one of the reasons....
 
racehorse said:
exactly....but my question is who bought garrison out to get those rights....this was before deregulation was it smith transfer....mr garrison had a great vision to sale then and come back after deregulation....i think i know one of the reasons....
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That I do not know
 
ABF ?? Prior names/lines..

In 1955 to ? 1957 there were trucks running St. Louis down US61 to Memphis with the name Arkansas ?? lines on doors and trailers.
Also same time there were Best ?? Lines running there.
Then sometime in there the trailers would show Arkansas Best on a sign on trailer nose. All I could glimpse as we negoiated the right angle curves south beween Blytheville, AR and Osceola, AR on old US61.
Me with a double deck of fat hogs and them with low riding bulk freight.

They has some good linehaul drivers then. Ole boys could roll.
 
ABF Names

OleGuy said:
In 1955 to ? 1957 there were trucks running St. Louis down US61 to Memphis with the name Arkansas ?? lines on doors and trailers.
Also same time there were Best ?? Lines running there.
Then sometime in there the trailers would show Arkansas Best on a sign on trailer nose. All I could glimpse as we negoiated the right angle curves south beween Blytheville, AR and Osceola, AR on old US61.
Me with a double deck of fat hogs and them with low riding bulk freight.

They has some good linehaul drivers then. Ole boys could roll.[/QUOTE
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Was Arkansas Motor Freight Then in 1957 they bought Best Motor Freight and the name became Arkansas Best Motor Freight...the name stayed until they changed to ABF Freight System.
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My understanding was that Smith's acquired GMF completely. Once the waiting time (5 yr?) was up the Garrisons were free to get back in with AF. By then ST had not only folded GMF into the green but also Crestview, FL-based MR&R Trucking which ran between west Fla/south AL and Atlanta (in earlier years had acquired a small company called Perkins as I recall which was based on Milton Av. in Atlanta).
 
imported_OleGuy said:
ABF ?? Prior names/lines..

In 1955 to ? 1957 there were trucks running St. Louis down US61 to Memphis with the name Arkansas ?? lines on doors and trailers.
Also same time there were Best ?? Lines running there.
Then sometime in there the trailers would show Arkansas Best on a sign on trailer nose. All I could glimpse as we negoiated the right angle curves south beween Blytheville, AR and Osceola, AR on old US61.
Me with a double deck of fat hogs and them with low riding bulk freight.

They has some good linehaul drivers then. Ole boys could roll.
Click to expand...

Arkansas Motor Freight acquired Best Motor Freight in 57 & became Arkansas Best.
Ben F Garrison bought Pete Harp's freight line in the 50's. Garrison Motor Freight was a profitable, family run company & after Ben F. passed away in 66 the family continued to operate the company. It had an operating ratio in the mid 80's. A friend who worked at Harrison for GMF said Sheridan, one of the sons of Ben F. divorced his wife which made his mother mad & she pulled some of her share of the company. When deregulation came to the freight industry Sheridan blamed the union for the decrease in profit even though it had been a very profitable company. Garrison sold to Smith's which also closed later. Sheridan started Arkansas Freightways (after the time had lapsed for starting another company), which later became American Freightways. Arkansas Freightways bought some of the old East Texas cabover Fords. The tractors were leased to ETMF from Titanium Leasing, (which was a shell company owned by Bum Bright who owned ETMF). When ABF purchased ETMF it agreed to assume the lease. When the lease expired ABF replaced the very inefficient cabovers with new tractors.
FedEx of course later bought AMF.
I think I mentioned in a different thread that Sheridan drowned in a lake he owned while fishing.
 
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