World's Fair Accident
An accident at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair damaged the first prototype badly, killing the driver, and seriously injuring the two passengers, one of whom was William Sempill, aviation pioneer and Japanese spy. The Dymaxion had rolled over, and although the driver was wearing a seatbelt, the prototype's canvas roof had not offered sufficient crash protection. The cause of the accident was not determined, although Buckminster Fuller reported that the accident was due to the actions of another vehicle that had been following the Dymaxion closely. The crash prompted investors to abandon the project, blaming the accident on deficiencies of the vehicle's steering.
In his 1988 book The Age of Heretics, author Art Kleiner maintained the real reason Chrysler refused to produce the car was because bankers had threatened to recall their loans, feeling the car would destroy sales for vehicles already in the distribution channels and second-hand cars.
Read more about this topic: Dymaxion Car
Famous quotes containing the words world, fair and/or accident:
“You can’t put fourteen hundred people out of work because the world has a stomach ache.”
—Fredric M. Frank (1911–1977)
“It is at a fair that man can be drunk forever on liquor, love, or fights; at a fair that your front pocket can be picked by a trotting horse looking for sugar, and your hind pocket by a thief looking for his fortune.”
—E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)
“A President Roosevelt comes only once in a century. I believe God knew and does know of the need of the world at this moment. I don’t believe President Roosevelt is an accident in time, or that it is an accident that he is President for a third time. I believe that Franklin D. Roosevelt truly is the voice of liberty in the world.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)