1958 by CHARLIE and BILL 24 oz.

Ingredients on the 24 oz.	TRI-CITY BEVERAGE CORP

The 24 oz "by Charlie and Bill" bottle is one of the six most coveted Mountain Dew bottles and the second rarest bottle in any Mountain Dew collector's collection. In 1958 Bill Bridgforth, Manager of Tri-City Beverage, ordered the 24 oz bottles "by Charlie and Bill". This was the third bottle produced out of the Tri-City Beverage plant. Mr. Bridgforth and Tri-Cities' owner Charlie Gordon were very proud of this unique new bottle. Charlie Gordon's Tri-City Beverage (with his two managers, Bill and Jim) was the first plant anywhere in the world to commercially produce Mountain Dew. His "by Charlie - Jim and Bill" bottle (1954) was the first time the public had ever tasted Mountain Dew commercially and the first ACL Mountain Dew bottle. A year later, when Bill Kibler left Tri-City, Charlie started putting his Mountain Dew in a "by Charlie and Jim" bottle. Several years later Jim Archer left Tri-City and Bill Bridgforth replaced him as the new plant manager. Bill decided that Tri-City had enough regular sized bottles in its inventory and in 1958 decided to try a new approach - a new bottle. He ordered a refillable 24 oz. The 24 oz bottle was used exclusively in East Tennessee until around 1964 when Pepsi bought the Mountain Dew franchise. There is an interesting final chapter to this bottle, a chapter that explains its rarity. Some time after 1964, Bill Bridgforth got tired of paying the return deposit on bottles he couldn't use, but had no choice "'cause it has my name on it". So from roughly 1964 until he left Tri-City in the 80's, Bill and his route salesmen searched out and broke every 24 oz bottle they found. Today, there are very few bottles remaining, less than a dozen have been reported. (By Dick Bridgforth)