Interstate Eng history
In 1937, Interstate Engineering began to make airplane parts for the infant airline industry. They were known as Interstate Precision Products Corporation. One of the new metals, magnesium, was being touted as the 'wonder metal' – 1/3 lighter than aluminum and 3 times as strong. Perfect for airplanes.
Howard Hughes, the motion picture director, owned a fleet of aircraft and approached Interstate Engineering about designing a vacuum cleaner that would fit between the seats and not lose suction as it filled with the fine dust the cleaner would be picking up. Airplane dust is quite different than the dirt found in homes.
Interstate Aircraft and Engineering Corporation was a small American aircraft manufacturer from April 1937 to 1945, based in El Segundo, California. In 1940 they developed the Cadet, a 2-seat monoplane. The Model S-1B was developed into the XO-63, later redesignated to the XL-6. Two hundred fifty-nine of the XO-63/L-6/L-8 series were built for the USAAF. Assets of the company were sold to the Harlow Aircraft Company in 1945.
Interstate Engineering, a vacuum cleaner maker with 140 employees and $25 million in annual sales, has been sold. March 1996 a management-led buyout, company President Lee Zobel said.
The nearly all-cash sale by parent Figgie International Inc. to an investment group sponsored by Engles Urso Capital Corp. of Dallas won't affect employment, Zobel said.
"Frankly, we're delighted. Management participated in this and we're very excited. Figgie has been a troubled company for some time, and it affected our business," he said.
Ohio-based Figgie, a diversified manufacturer with $360 million in sales last year, said the deal wraps up a yearlong corporate reorganization. Figgie still owns Interstate Electronics, an Anaheim defense and commercial electronics company with about 750 employees.
Interstate Engineering manufactures residential vacuum cleaners that are sold by independent distributors through a direct sales organization. The company, founded in Los Angeles in 1937, moved to Anaheim in the mid-1950s and was acquired by Figgie in 1967.
Zobel said about 40% of Interstate's revenue comes from sales in Japan.
Thats what news reported however the truth and what really was on the mind of the new owner was entirely different. If IEC was doing as Interstate Electronics Im sure Figgie never would of sold it. Enginnering was still one of the largest die-cast plants on the west coast and the company had recieved the Presidental E Award for exporting. Japan Loved the Tri-Star!
