OMFG I have a Defender prototype!

[extremepong]

Copylaw.com has a good discussion. With a measure of  irony I present some text from their site:

Using Works Created on or After January 1, 1978:

Newer works, created after January 1, 1978, which were previously protected for the life of the author plus 50-years, are now are protected for the life of the author plus 70 years -- with no renewal term. Copyright in works created by two or more authors, now expires 70 years after the death of the last surviving author. And, if the work is a work for hire, or anonymous or pseudonymous, the term of protection is the shorter of 95 years from first publication, or 120 years from the date of creation. Consequently, no post-1978 works are scheduled to fall into the public domain until the middle of the 21st Century1.

But perhaps vectorizing is permitted under "fair use" as being  scholarly and with limited commercial impact, as you pointed out.  And that would cover your refrigerator too, provided you briefly contemplated the history of cartooning every now and again and did not merely smile at the drawing.

[RayB]

Vectorizing is fair use if you keep it for your own personal use. Uploading it for others would be a no-no. Selling prints on Ebay would be a no-no. etc...