<VV> Re: Ernie Kovacs (was: Corvair article)

[Robert Marlow, Vairtec Corp.]

At 05:15 PM 12/1/2004, vairologist@juno.com wrote:

>Ernie Kovacs was reported to be not only drunk but also trying to light a 
>cigar when he caused his accident.

I am a Corvair enthusiast and an enthusastic Ernie Kovacs fan.  At the time 
of his death, at the wheel of the '61 Lakewood that he had purchased for 
his wife, Edie Adams, Ernie had been awake for 36+ hours, carousing, 
gambling, drinking.  It was raining at the time.  The car slammed 
driver's-door-first into a telephone pole.  Ernie survived the crash for 
less than a minute.  An unlit cigar was in his hand.  Was he trying to 
light it?  No one knows.

A biographer hinted that the car's design was to blame, after laying out 
all the mitigating details I just recounted.  But a decade or more ago, 
Edie Adams appeared on a talk show, and the subject of Ernie's death came 
up.  Clearly, she loved Ernie and still did -- but when the interviewer 
tried to bring up the subject of the "unsafe Corvair," Edie cut him off and 
explained again those mitigating points.  It wasn't the car, she said -- it 
was Ernie.

Ernie Kovacs was obviously the highest-profile Corvair death, and so the 
tragedy is often cited as "evidence" against the car. Wrongly.

Don't forget to brush with Schnitzel-Dent!

--Bob

Robert W. Marlow
Vairtec@optonline.net  
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.799 / Virus Database: 543 - Release Date: 11/19/2004