


On December 3, 1979, the last Pacer rolled off the assembly
line at the American Motors Corporation (AMC) factory in
Kenosha, Wisconsin.
When the car first came on the market in 1975, it was a
sensation, hailed as the car of the future. “When you buy
any other car,” ads said, “all you end up with is today’s car.
When you get a Pacer, you get a piece of tomorrow.” By
1979, however, sales had faded considerably. Today, polls
and experts agree: The Pacer was one of the worst cars of
all time.

On December 3, 1967, 53-year-old Louis Washkansky received
the first human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in
Cape Town, South Africa.
Washkansky, a South African grocer dying from chronic heart
disease, received the transplant from Denise Darvall, a 25-year-
old woman who was fatally injured in a car accident.
The new heart recipient died eighteen days later of pneumonia,
largely brought on by the anti-rejection drugs that suppressed
his immune system.
Surgeon Christiaan Barnard, who trained at the University of Cape
Town and in the United States, performed the revolutionary medical
operation.
Christiaan Neethling Barnard (1922 – 2001)