(FORTUNE Magazine) – Ever since Bill Simon withdrew from active management of the leveraged-buyout firm Wesray in 1985, Chairman Ray Chambers has been trying harder. With Wesray's sale of Avis to an employee stock ownership plan for $1.75 billion, Chambers has shown he can do just fine, thank you, even without his old sidekick's celebrated investing acumen. He sold the car rental company for a little more than he paid for it, and made $674 million on other Avis assets. Total profit: an astonishing $740 million on a capital outlay of only $10 million 14 months earlier, possibly the best return on capital of any LBO. The employees will be the car rental company's 12th owner since its founding by Warren Avis in 1946 (see table). Has the perpetual No. 2 finally found a permanent driver? Says Joseph V. Vittoria, who has been president under the last three owners and has just been named chief executive: ''Most of our employees are standing about six inches off the ground.'' The deal saddled Avis with some $600 million in new debt on top of the $1 billion it owes on its cars. National, the industry's third-largest company, is also debt heavy following its purchase by an investor group led by Paine Webber in December. When Allegis sells industry leader Hertz, Ford and Hertz senior managers will surely finance the expected $2.3-billion price with lots of new borrowing. (Fourth-ranked Budget went public in May.) It all adds up to bad news for car renters, who are already paying higher rates than last year. Says Fred Mudgett, a longtime industry consultant recently named president of Rent-A-Wreck: ''All those interest payments are going to put pressure on rates. That money's eventually got to come from the customer.''

CHART: AN ODYSSEY OF OWNERS FOR AVIS

DATE TRANSACTION PRICE 1954 Richard S. Robie buys Avis from founder. $8 million*

1956 A group of Boston investors acquires Avis. N.A.

1962 Investment bank Lazard Freres buys Avis. $7 million

1965 ITT purchases the car rental company. $40 million

1973 ITT spins off 48% of Avis to the public. $123.7 million

1977 Norton Simon Inc. purchases Avis. $174 million

1983 Esmark buys Avis as part of Norton Simon. N.A.

1984 Beatrice Cos. acquires Avis when it buys Esmark. N.A.

1986 Kohlberg Kravis Roberts buys the car rental N.A. company as part of Beatrice.

1986 Wesray purchases Avis. $1.6 billion

1987 Employee stock ownership plan buys Avis / $1.75 billion after Wesray sells other assets.

*Estimate. N.A. Not available.

CREDIT:NO CREDIT CAPTION:NO CAPTION DESCRIPTION: See above.