Apologies in advance for posting this...

[Anschauer]

...but what the hell:

The four Goldberg Brothers

>

>

> The four Goldberg brothers, Lowell, Norman, Hiram, and Max, invented and developed

> the first automobile air-conditioner. On July 17, 1946, the temperature in Detroit

was

> 97 degrees..

>

> The four brothers walked into old man Henry Ford's office and sweet-talked his

> secretary into telling him that four gentlemen were there with the most exciting

> innovation in the auto industry since the electric starter.

>

> Henry was curious and invited them into his office. They refused and instead asked

that

> he come out to the parking lot to their car.

>

> They persuaded him to get into the car, which was about 130 degrees, turned on the

> air conditioner, and cooled the car off

immediately.

>

> The old man got very excited and invited them back to the office, where he offered

> them $3 million for the patent.

>

> The brothers refused, saying they would settle for $2 million, but they wanted the

> recognition by having a label, 'The Goldberg Air-Conditioner,' on the dashboard of

> each car in which it was installed.

>

> Now old man Ford was more than just a little anti-Semitic, and there was no way he

> was going to put the Goldberg's name on two million Fords.

>

> They haggled back and forth for about two hours and finally agreed on $4 million and

> that just their first names would be shown.

>

> And so to this day, all Ford air conditioners show -- Lo, Norm, Hi, and Max -- on the

> controls.

>