Ernie’s 1962 Chevrolet Corvair.

On January 13, 1962, Ernie Kovacs, a comedian who hosted his own
television shows during the 1950s and is said to have influenced such
TV hosts as Johnny Carson and David Letterman, died at the age of 42
after crashing his Chevrolet Corvair into a telephone pole in Los Angeles, California, while driving in a rainstorm. Kovacs, who often appeared on
camera with his trademark cigar, was found by police with an unlit cigar,
leading to speculation that he had been reaching for the cigar and lost
control of his vehicle. The Corvair was later made infamous by Ralph
Nader’s groundbreaking 1965 book “Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-
In Dangers of the American Automobile,” about unsafe practices in the
auto industry.

Ernest Edward Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962)

   
Kovacs as Poet Laureate Percy Dovetonsils.