Even Lucy Can Drive It!

An excerpt from "New Again: The Hideaway Hardtop" from The New York Times:

Built on the Fairlane chassis, with a 118-inch wheelbase, the Skyliner looked conventional in a 1950s domestic-car way. The only giveaway that the car was not ordinary was the rear deck. The space required to stow the top gave the Skyliner the proportions of a pickup truck.

Ford persuaded Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz to pitch the car on television. With the requisite amount of sexism for the period, Desi warned Lucy when she asked to try out the top, “An automobile is complicated machinery; women just don’t understand.”

Not true, the announcer says, explaining the process is so simple anyone can do it.