Jack Benny (the FAMOUS mid-20th century comedian, for all you young whippersnappers) was famous in part for limiting his age to being 39. Today the Straight Dope, born 02-Feb-1973, celebrates the 39th anniversary of its own creation.
Jack Benny would go on to celebrate his 39th birthday 41 more times before shuffling off this mortal coil. He also drove a Maxwell automobile – maybe Uncle Cecil could do that too. Sort of as a publicity stunt – gets the media interested.