Summer – 1981

During the summer of 1981 I worked for the Hertz Rent-a-Car agency in their Aspen office.  I had worked there over the years and always enjoyed the job.  Over time the branch had resided at different locations including Monarch Aviation’s “On Field” location, the lobby of the old Holiday Inn at the base of Buttermilk and finally in the main terminal building.  For executives and private aircraft owners we provided a service to drop them off at their aircraft after returning their cars.  I made many trips that summer out onto the airport ramp to deliver passengers to their aircraft or pick them up.  In mid-June while delivering an executive of Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) to his Gulfstream II, I observed two Lockheed Jetstars (N530G and N540G) as well as a Gulfstream II (N830G) parked at the far end of the ramp.  There was also an additional Gulfstream II parked nearby.  It caught my attention as one of the Jetstars had been in on numerous occasions over the years.  I knew it belonged to Continental Oil (Conoco).  Since the other Jetstar as well as the Gulfstream II had the same paint scheme and similar registration numbers it was safe to assume they belonged to Conoco as well.  I did not recognize the other Gulfstream and did not think I had seen it on the ramp in the past.

I gave it little thought, assuming it was just another oil company retreat.  Aspen had hosted many such retreats for Atlantic Richfield, Standard Oil of Ohio (Amoco) and other large oil companies.  Later that day I found out it belonged to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company.  Even that did not cause me to give it much more thought.

At the time I was unaware that Conoco was the object of a rather hostile bidding war between Dome Petroleum, Joseph E. Seagram & Sons Inc. and other lesser known entities.  These companies were attempting to take over Conoco and none of the suitors were of great interest to Conoco’s board.  They were hoping to be acquired by a financially stable, strong company that would not acquire Conoco only to dismantle it out of existence.

Although I have never been able to confirm the nature of the meeting in Aspen between the two companies, it is a fact that Conoco’s board did approach duPont in an attempt to be acquired by them.  The meeting in Aspen must have been one of the earliest of their merger talks as Aspen provided a good airport for executive jets, excellent meeting facilities and it was an “out of the way” location where their meeting would not attract much attention.

Less than three months later, on Sept. 30, 1981, Conoco became a wholly owned DuPont subsidiary.

There is some speculation that ARCO’s ultimate fate to be acquired by British Petroleum (BP) may have been decided in Aspen as well.  Back then aircraft ownership was not a very well kept secret; it was easy to figure out who the owners or operators were.  In today’s security conscious world, aircraft ownership is usually hidden within a series of entities that do not point back to the actual owner or operator of the aircraft.