Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania

It was the early 1950s and like most young men starting a family, E. David Haddad, was working multiple jobs to make ends meet. He held a part-time shift at his brother-in-law’s Amoco Station, worked graveyard a nearby Chrysler Garage and daylight as a welder.

It was during this time, Amoco was expanding their presence in the region. David and his wife, Virginia, were given the opportunity to acquire an Amoco Station. They would need to raise $3000 (the purchase price for the 8000-gallon tank of gas) to open their shop. With both sets of parents giving them $1000 each, Dave and his new bride managed to save the final $1000 and on July 29, 1954, they opened Amoco Gas Station in Pleasant Hills. They soon expanded their services with a car wash and truck rental.

As a boy, David Haddad would help at his parent’s station. At twelve years old he was enlisted to pump fuel for customers. When David Jr passed his driver’s exam, his dad taught him how to drive a manual transmission tow truck with no power steering.

After graduating from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) David went back to Haddad’s to help his father run the family business.

In the spring of 1982, a Los Angeles Transportation Coordinator came to Haddad’s in order to rent a pickup truck in preparation for the film, “Flashdance.” He offered to install a hitch on the truck for free so that he could pull the production trailers around. Initially, David declined to rent the truck. After two days of negotiation between David and the Transportation Coordinator, Haddad’s agreed to rent the truck and allowed the hitch to be installed. Following the deal, David saw an opportunity – Haddad’s could enter into a whole new field: production rentals.

In 1988, Haddad’s purchased three cast trailers and a hair & makeup trailer from a Los Angeles production equipment vendor. David used the new additions to the fleet to rent to the movie production, “Dead Poets Society.” This was the official beginning of Haddad’s involvement as an equipment vendor in the film industry.

David was the transportation coordinator on the 18-day shoot of the $10 Million Getaway.

David was a transportation coordinator on the film, Hard Rain (Indiana Location)

David was a transportation coordinator on the film, Legally Blonde 2 (Illinois Location)

Today, with 4,400+ television and film productions to our name, Haddad’s is still headquartered in the building where it all began outside of Pittsburgh with offices and fleet hubs in Brooklyn, New York – Kearny, New Jersey – Dallas, Georgia – Savannah, Georgia – Detroit, Michigan and Boston Massachusetts. Haddad’s rents worldwide and is the leader in production rental equipment. With a team of over 100 members and a “Can-Do” attitude, Haddad’s continues to set the standard for exceptional service and quality.