SOCONY MOBIL
This exhibition, located in a low, red-roofed pavilion, is devoted to a game. On a large map of the United States is marked the route of the most recent Mobil Economy Run - a grueling cross-country test in which experts try to get the most efficient gasoline consumption out of new cars. Contestants seated at automobile controls "drive" this route, attempting to hold down fuel consumption.
Although the company's formal name was Socony Mobil, it was best known to the public as just Mobil. (CD #9 Set 48 #37)
Test for Good Drivers. Eighteen players, who must be licensed motorists, compete in each game (two games go on simultaneously). They "drive" from the Pacific to the Atlantic Coast, compensating for road conditions they see flashed on closed-circuit television screens in front of them. As each driver steers, brakes and accelerates, an electronic device keeps a running total of the amount of gasoline he would be burning if he were driving a real car. At the end of the ride, the driver with the best miles-per-gallon record of the 18 entrants receives a certificate.
A young driver attempts his luck at the game, which used video monitors to display the course. He doesn't look to be old enough to have a license, but the requirement to have one was probably only there to help limit players to those most likely to buy Mobil gas. Perhaps it was a slow day and he got lucky in being picked to play. (CD #9 Set 48 #38)