On January 13, 1962, groundbreaking comedian Ernie Kovacs died at the age of 42 in a car crash. His Chevrolet Covair crashed into a telephone pole in Los Angeles, California.
Some authorities surmised that he was lighting one of his trademark cigars when he lost control of his vehicle. His tombstone at Forest Lawn Cemetery is inscribed, “Ernie Kovacs 1919 – 1962 — Nothing In Moderation.”
20 comments:
That's the issue.
I knew I wasn't crazy (at least on that score).
Now I know why Joe Stilwell said, "I claim we got a hell of a beating. We got run out of Lem's and it is as humiliating as hell. I think we ought to find out what caused it, go back and retake it".
Ernie Kovacs, a name from a long time ago.
Corvair. My father was a bit of a fan. Don't know why. But we owned a couple of dozen at one time, in various states of repair. I did drive a 66 convertible to HS.
My father bought and drove Corvairs, too. I found them sad and ill-handling. I only drove one once and that was enough. He drove them from about '62 through 1970 or so. He liked the 4 speed convertibles - I guess he thought they were sporty, which they were, right up until the back end snapped around and hurled you off the road ass-end first.
I knew a couple guys who had one. They had a wacky fan belt design that made it too easy for the belt to fly off while driving, but if you like lots of leg room they had that going for them. In an era of muscle cars and long cars with huge fins a lot of people must have been ready for the compact Corvair.
I saw the post of course, but I thought Trooper put it up...was it you Sixty, or was I just assuming?
Ernie Kovacs is a name I've heard a lot, but never knew he was a comedian. I guess I confused hie with Sandy Kovacs. Just looked at some of his stuff. He's a Poet Laureate just like ricpic!
My brother inherited a number of Corvairs and parts cars as my father moved on to newer ones and to this day he claims that he could reinstall the fan belt on one, in the dark, with his eyes closed. Nasty little cars, in my opinion, but that's mainly based on seeing an early one that had been in a front end collision - the steering column, which was a solid piece of metal, had been jammed into the headliner just above where the driver would normally sit. No wimpy collapsible steering columns for Corvair men, nope, that would be too safe!
Now hand me that pack of unfiltered Camels out of the glove box, okay?
Troop had posted the Nairobi trio clip, not me - I am no Roseanne, just sayin'. Perhaps it is Sandy Koufax you are thinking of, the baseball player extraordinaire - he would not pitch on Saturday. Ernie Kovacs was a visual artist who worked in television and learned only too late how swing axles and snap oversteer are a deadly combination.
I was born too late to ever consider them sporty. A Civic CRX was quicker and better handling. On the other hand, as I was driving as school one day, a teacher backed her Accord into my Corvair. The emblem on the right quarter panel was damaged, her bumper was a wreck.
I think Dad was just into rear engine cars. We owned a DeLorean when they still sold them new off the lot. It suffered the same problem as the Corvair when driving any distance, they never really figured out how to cool those engines in the back. The DeLorean also had the sporty looks of the Corvair, while lacking any real character to go with the looks.
The comment on 4 speed reminds me of a relatively new thing, that isn't. I see lots of luxury cars going to push button automatics, as if this is a revolutionary and good idea. It's been done before, and it is not a good idea.
Thanks, Sixty, just checking my reading comprehension and memory. The old brain ain't what it used to be.
Thanks, Koufax, yeah, that's the ticket.
I befriended a kid in middle school who looked and acted like a miniature Kasey Kasem. He was obsessed with Ralph Nadir, but he also had a personal vendetta against McDonalds. He thought their food was unsafe. I absorbed what I could from him and then moved on.
deborah remembered him as the bad guy in North To Alaska, no doubt.
He-man or not, you couldn't get a collapsible steering column on any American car until after 1968. I don't know about imports. The Corvair was designed to use a stabilizer bar, the accountants that ran GM nixed it to save money. They eventually fixed it after initial problems but not before their reputation was shot to hell.
The Czech Tatras used rear mounted engines on their cars in the 30s. They were an inspiration for the VW Bug and the Porsche. When the Nazis took over Czechoslovakia enough German officers were killed driving Tatras that they were eventually forbidden to drive them.
I put it up and it was deleted. Not by me.
Several points - to be successful swing axles need to have a U-joint at each end - one near the differential, the other out by the wheel. GM decided that it cost too much to install the latter, therefore the car was subject to axle jacking, which see.
Second, all cars in those days had a spear pointed right at the driver's chest. What Corvairs didn't have was an engine in the front end to keep the entire structure from collapsing. These were the days before crumple zones and whatnot, so a front impact drove the front axle all the way back to the passenger compartment with nothing stopping it.
Engineering has come a long way since then, and Nader, or Nadir, depending, kind of pushed some of that into happening. But as with most things, he was more wrong than right. Or left. Who knows.
Ernie had it all, including Edie Adams, a poor man's Marilyn. Only 42 at his death? That surprised me because Kovacs had one of those perpetually middle aged faces, even in his twenties. What I know about cars you could put in a thimble. But I change the oil religiously. And drive a boring reliable Subaru. Me and all the other lesbians.
North to Alaska...not familiar.
I’ve noticed an uptick in deletions aroun$ here.
Is google driving this?
Comments seem safe, for now. Posts, not so much.
I know not - but whoever is doing it is not talking about it.
Besides the Nairobi trio what else has been deleted?
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