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1973

GMC Motorhome was manufactured as the only complete motorhome built by a major auto/truck manufacturer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMC_Motorhome - External_links

Manufactured in 23 and 26 foot lengths, the design was noted for its front-wheel drive and its low profile, fully integrated body.

In contrast to most motorhomes which were manufactured on drivetrain-equipped frames supplied by a chassis manufacturer; GMC designed, engineered, and built the entire vehicle, and in most cases the interiors, completely in-house.

The motorhome had a front-wheel-drive transaxle, which GM called the Unitized Power Package, originally used in the Oldsmobile Toronado and Cadillac Eldorado with an Oldsmobile 455 cu in V8 from the Toronado.

In mid-1977 the engine was downsized to a 403 cu in V8. It used the GM-designated Turbo-Hydramatic 425 automatic transmission, with a wide roller chain drive to connect the output of the longitudinally-oriented engine to the transmission. The final drive was connected directly to the transmission, and power was fed to the front wheels using half-shafts, one of which ran under the front portion of the engine. The engine was fueled with regular gasoline stored in two 25-US-gallon (95 L) tanks.

The GMC was equipped with front disc brakes and drums on all four rear wheels. The front-drive configuration eliminated the driveshaft and rear differential and the solid axle found on most front-engined motorhomes. As a result, the floor could be built with about 14 inches (36 cm) clearance above the roadway. The floor was too low for a rear cross axle, and GM designed the rear suspension as a tandem pair of wheels, mounted on bogies that rode on pins attached to the sides of the low-profile frame. With the exception of the wheel wells, the rear suspension does not intrude into the living space. The rear bogies are suspended using a double-ended reversible sleeve airbag that is pressurized by an automatic leveling system to maintain the designed ride height. The leveling system can also be manually controlled to level the coach at a campsite. The overall chassis design, from the use of an existing GM E platform powertrain and a modified rear suspension, has been considered an early ancestor of the crossover.

The motorhomes were built in either 23-foot or 26-foot length, with about 90% of the total production being the latter. The wheelbase from the front wheels to the centerline of the rear tandem pairs is 140 inches for the 23-foot coach and 160 inches for the 26-foot coach. All GMC Motorhomes are 96 inches wide and about 9 feet tall including the usually-installed roof air conditioner. Interior head room is 76 inches.

Gross vehicle weight rating for the 23-foot coach was 10,500 pounds and 12,500 pounds for the 26-foot coach. Most GMCs with factory interiors have a 40 US gallons freshwater tank and a 40 US gallons.

Body construction consisted of a rigid frame made of welded aluminum extrusions. The body frame was mounted on the chassis steel ladder frame using body isolators. The floor was marine plywood, except where it sloped up at the extremities, where they were plate aluminum.

The body panels are fiber-reinforced plastic (fiberglass) below the waistline frame extrusion and at the ends. The upper side body and roof panels between the ends are sheet aluminum. All of the body panels are bonded to the frame using adhesive. GMCs are notable for their large expanse of windows, which redefined the RV industry at the time.

They often had luxury features common on upper models of GM brands, such as cruise control, air conditioning, AM/FM/8-track sound systems, an aluminum/fiberglass body, as well as air suspension.

Rear lower compartments provide space for generators and propane tanks. GMCs were optionally supplied with generators from Onan in 4,000 Watts and 6,000 Watts, many of which are still in service.

There were no driver's or passenger's doors at the front of the vehicle. A single door amidships on the passenger side provided access to the main passenger compartment. At the back of the vehicle, the entire rear body panel could be removed by loosening the bolts around its edges. This allowed beds, appliances, and other bulky items to be installed or removed.

A total of 12,921 GMC Motorhomes were produced from model years 1973 to 1978. The interior of the motorhome was constructed at the Gemini Corporation plant in Mt. Clemens, Michigan in 1973 and 1974 before being brought in house at GM for the remainder of production. Peter R. Fink, the owner of Travco motor homes, was the CEO of Gemini. The Gemini operation featured a progressive team concept with teams of workers constructing rooms of the motor homes in full, rather than performing repetitive tasks on an assembly line. Beginning operation in 1972, the plant featured state-of-the-art equipment including one of the first programmable routers.

1974 🌍 4.0 billion

President Nixon resigns, a political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. The affair began on June 17, 1972, when members of a group associated with Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign were caught burglarizing and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at Washington, D.C.'s Watergate complex. Nixon's efforts to conceal his administration's involvement led to an impeachment process and his resignation in August 1974.

Following the burglars' arrest, media and the Department of Justice traced money to the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), the fundraising arm of Nixon's campaign. The Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward pursued leads from a source named "Deep Throat" (later identified as Mark Felt, FBI Associate Director) and uncovered a campaign of political espionage directed by White House officials and illegally funded by donor contributions.

Nixon dismissed the accusations and won the election in a landslide. Further investigation and revelations from the burglars' trial led the Senate to establish a special Watergate Committee and the House of Representatives to grant its Judiciary Committee expanded authority in February 1973. The burglars received lengthy prison sentences, with the promise of reduced terms if they cooperated—prompting a flood of witness testimony. In April, Nixon denied wrongdoing and announced the resignation of his aides. After it was revealed that Nixon had installed a voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office, his administration refused to grant investigators access to the tapes, leading to a constitutional crisis.

Attorney General Elliot Richardson appointed Archibald Cox as a special prosecutor for Watergate in May. Cox obtained a subpoena for the tapes, but Nixon continued to resist. In the "Saturday Night Massacre" in October, Nixon ordered Richardson to fire Cox, after which Richardson resigned, as did his deputy William Ruckelshaus; Solicitor General Robert Bork carried out the order.

The incident bolstered a growing public belief that Nixon had something to hide, but he continued to defend his innocence. In April 1974, Cox's replacement Leon Jaworski reissued a subpoena for the tapes, but Nixon only released redacted transcripts. In July, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to release the tapes, and the House Judiciary Committee recommended that he be impeached for obstructing justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. In one of the tapes, known as "the smoking gun," he ordered aides to tell the FBI to halt its investigation.

On the verge of being impeached, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, becoming the only U.S. president to do so. In all, 48 people were found guilty of Watergate-related crimes, but Nixon was pardoned by his vice president and successor Gerald Ford on September 8.

Rubik’s cube invented by Ernő Rubik born in Budapest, Hungary, on 13 July 1944, during World War II, and has lived all of his life in Hungary.

From 1971 to 1979, Rubik was a professor of architecture at the Budapest College of Applied Arts (Iparművészeti Főiskola). It was during his time there that he built designs for a three-dimensional puzzle and completed the first working prototype of the Rubik's Cube in 1974, applying for a patent on the puzzle in 1975. In an interview with CNN, Rubik stated that he was "searching to find a good task for my students."

Rubik’s Cube

Rubik showed his prototype to his class and his students liked it very much. Rubik realized that because of the cube's simple structure, it could be manufactured relatively easily and might have appeal to a larger audience. Rubik then set out to find a manufacturer in Hungary, but had great difficulty due to the rigid planned economy of communist Hungary at the time. Eventually, Rubik was able to find a small company that worked with plastic and made chess pieces. The cube was originally known in Hungary as the Magic Cube.

Rubik licensed the Magic Cube to Ideal Toys, a U.S. company, in 1979. Ideal rebranded The Magic Cube to the Rubik's Cube before it was introduced to an international audience in 1980. The process from early prototype to mass production of the Cube had taken over six years. The Rubik's Cube became an instant success worldwide, won several Toy of the Year awards, and became a staple of 1980s popular culture. To date, over 350 million Rubik's Cubes have been sold, making it one of the best selling toys of all time.

There are many approaches on how to solve the Rubik's Cube. All these methods have different levels of difficulties, for speedcubers or beginners, even for solving the cube blindfolded. With practice and the right techniques, many speedcubers can solve a Rubik's Cube in under 30 seconds, while world record holders have achieved times as low as 3.05 seconds.

Beginners' Solution Tutorial:

https://ruwix.com/the-rubiks-cube/how-to-solve-the-rubiks-cube-beginners-method/

There are 43 quintillion possible configurations of the original cube.