On this day in 1955, William G. Cobb of the General Motors Corp
demonstrates his 15-inch-long “Sunmobile,” the world’s first solar-powered automobile, at the General Motors Powerama auto show
held in Chicago, Illinois.
Today, more than a half-century after Cobb debuted the Sunmobile,
a mass-produced solar car has yet to hit the market anywhere in the world.
William G. Cobb
Workers at a Chevrolet plant in Flint, Michigan, assemble the
first Corvette, a two-seater sports car that would become an
American icon. The first completed production car rolled off
the assembly line two days later (below), one of just 300
Corvettes made that year.
(History) – The last Packard–the classic American luxury car with the
famously enigmatic slogan “Ask the Man Who Owns One”–rolls off
the production line at Packard’s plant in Detroit, Michigan on this
day in 1956.
Mechanical engineer James Ward Packard and his brother, William
Dowd Packard, built their first automobile, a buggy-type vehicle with
a single cylinder engine, in Warren, Ohio in 1899 (below).
(AP) – On January 15, 1967, Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr
completed 16 of 23 passes for 250 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception as the Packers rolled over the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in
the first AFL-NFL World Championship game (which would later become
known as Super Bowl I). For his efforts, Starr was named the game’s
MVP and was awarded a shiny new 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray
convertible (above). That Corvette is now going up for auction.
The car is documented with a tank sticker that says "Courtesy Delivery –
B. Starr." It presents with its original and patinated Goodwood Green
paint, which was chosen to match the Packers’ home jerseys and is
only slightly touched up. Just 48,000 miles show on the odometer
and the listing says they are believed to be original.
DAVID MELENDY
On this day in 1961, approximately 1,400 U.S.-supported Cuban
exiles invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow
Fidel Castro. It was an unsuccessful attack.
On this day in 1970, Apollo 13 returned to Earth safely after an on-
board accident with an oxygen tank.
The crew members of Apollo 13—Fred Haise (left), Jim Lovell
(center), and Jack Swigert—step aboard the “USS Iwo Jima”
following splashdown and recovery operations in the south
Pacific Ocean.
Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790)
Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He
was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason,
postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, and
diplomat.
Franklin suffered from obesity throughout his middle-aged and later years,
which resulted in multiple health problems, particularly gout, which became
worse as he aged. In poor health during the signing of the US Constitution
in 1787, he was rarely seen in public from then until his death. Franklin
died from pleuritic attack at his home in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790,
at age 84.
An Illustration of Benjamin Franklin on His Death Bed.
John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913)
J.P. Morgan was an American financier and banker who dominated
corporate finance and industrial consolidation in the United States
of America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Ford Motor Company unveiled its new Mustang model on this
day in 1964 at the New York World’s Fair. Ford anticipated they
would sell around 100,000 units a year, and were somewhat
unprepared when they received 22,000 orders in the first day
alone!
