Why the Credit Card Key could be a lifesaver ... if you had your wallet
You could say it was a key innovation.
Called the Credit Card Key, it was a plastic version of the typical metal key that would open your car before the innovation of keyless entry.
And you could use it when you misplaced that regular car key, which is precisely why it was being marketed to automobile owners.
By August of 1987, the product was being sold in some parts of Canada. On CBC's Midday, reporter Bob Nixon showed viewers the product in question.
"Fits in your wallet just like the things you use instead of money, but this card will open your car," Nixon said.
Nixon was filing his report in Regina, where a local company was selling them for $5.
He reported the plastic keys were then only available for North American car models. But he said there were plans to develop the same keys for foreign-made vehicles.
The Globe and Mail reported the keys had been the brainchild of Donald Almblad, a U.S. businessman who had locked himself out of his own car and then thought of a solution for that problem. His invention was mentioned in his obituary years later.
