FROM THE SATURDAY EVENING POST (1953)
The word Ethyl was short for tetraethyl, an compound added to
gasoline to boost its octane rating. It was marketed as a way to
avoid engine knock in automobile engines as far back as the
1920s. It was also referred to as premium gasoline.
On May 11, 1947, the B.F. Goodrich Company of Akron, Ohio,
announced it had developed a tubeless tire, a technological
innovation that would make automobiles safer and more
efficient.
The culmination of more than three years of engineering,
Goodrich’s tubeless tire effectively eliminated the inner
tube, trapping the pressurized air within the tire walls
themselves.
By reinforcing those walls, the company claimed, they were
able to combine the puncture-sealing features of inner tubes
with an improved ease of riding, high resistance to bruising
and superior retention of air pressure.
On April 29, 2004, the last Oldsmobile came off the assembly
line at the Lansing Car Assembly plant in Michigan, signaling
the end of the 106-year-old automotive brand, America’s oldest.
Factory workers signed the last Oldsmobile, an Alero sedan,
before the vehicle was moved to Lansing’s R.E. Olds Trans
Museum, where it went on display.
The last 500 Aleros ever manufactured featured “Final 500″
emblems and were painted dark metallic cherry red.
In 1897, Ransom E. Olds (1864-1950), an Ohio-born engine
maker, founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Company in Lansing.
Along with Daimler and Peugeot, Oldsmobile was among the
world’s oldest auto brands.
A dealer from Florida took home the last ever Oldsmobile
built for $42,000, nearly double its original price.
Beverly Bolton looks for the signature of her son-in-law on
the hood of the last ever Oldsmobile.
DAVID MELENDY
With the world anxiously watching, Apollo 13, a U.S. lunar
spacecraft that suffered a severe malfunction on its journey
to the moon, safely returned to Earth on April 17, 1970.
On April 11, the third manned lunar landing mission was
launched from Florida, carrying astronauts James A. Lovell,
John L. Swigert and Fred W. Haise.
The mission was headed for a landing on the Fra Mauro
highlands of the moon. However, two days into the mission,
disaster struck 200,000 miles from Earth when oxygen tank
No. 2 blew up in the spacecraft.
Swigert reported to mission control on Earth, “Houston, we’ve
had a problem here,” and it was discovered that the normal
supply of oxygen, electricity, light and water had been disrupted.
