50 years ago in Expo history: The ‘speculative nature’ of Ford’s rise to power after Nixon meant pricy commemorative swag was off-limits at the fair

Expo officials ordered the fair’s stamp concessionaire to stop selling commemorative envelopes featuring the resignation of Richard Nixon and inauguration of Gerald Ford.

Some envelopes were selling for as much as $10.

Officials said the “speculative nature of the product makes its sale on the Expo site inappropriate.”

In other Expo news, two shows featuring the Mills Brothers with George Gobel in September were sold out, and a third show was added. The Irish Rovers show on Aug. 30 was also sold out, and a second show was added.

From 100 years ago: A North Side man bought an old streetcar from the Spokane United Railways and hauled it to his lot on Princeton Avenue.

He and his family planned to live in it – at least for a while.

“We’re going to use the car as a residence until we build a home in front of it,” he said. “Then we shall convert it into an open air kitchen, probably.”

The streetcar had been stripped of “seats, running gear and trolley.”

Yet it had an attractive amenity: 28 windows.

Also on this date

(From onthisday.com)

1908: Ford Motor Company builds its first Model T car, which Henry Ford himself first tests on a hunting trip to Wisconsin and northern Michigan.

1991: Heavy metal band Metallica releases its fifth album “Metallica,” which debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.