Chevrolet Corvette C3 1969 - 'Astrovette'
Some special things can be bought. And other special things can only be received.
The men involved in the early space program were not gifted such wealth as to acquire expensive things, but they were permitted to lease Chevrolet vehicles for a grand sum of $1 per year.
When you strap yourself to rockets for a living (as many of these men were test pilots), you don't lease Novas. You lease Corvettes.
Thus it has been known that 'Vettes were the standard cars of Astronauts.
In 1969 the crew of Apollo 12 - the second moon shot coordinated their leases such that they all could choose the same car. The crew had them painted the same colour, along with custom graphics - a black sail panel atop the rear fender and roof buttress, and the same mechanical package - the big-block 427 Turbo-Jet power with 390 bhp.
The crew also had a small plaque made up for the front fender. A tri-colour red, white and blue - each colour denoting each of the crew members, and the unique coloured labels they would fly to space, to let them know who's food and equipment was who's.
There are some great period publicity shots with the cars and men (Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon and Alan Bean) with the cars parked in front with a mockup of the Lunar lander module.
After their lease was up, the cars rentered normal circulation, largely to be forgotten - the Apollo 12 crew have significantly less recognition today than did their Apollo 11 buddies - the first man on the moon.
The car shown here is a Lego recreation of Alan Bean's car - bid from a GMAC lot in 1971 - recognised as an astronaut car, by Danny Reid, and lovingly preserved to this day.
You can read much more regarding this car on a MotorTrend Article:
www.motortrend.com/news/1969-chevrolet-astrovette-classic...
The Corvette has always had special editions - along with some pretty crazy standard editions - but surely one of three 'Astrovettes' as piloted by the second manned mission to the moon ranks as something a bit more special than normal.
This Lego miniland-scale Chevrolet 1969 C3 'Astrovette' - has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 106th Build Challenge, titled - 'Exclusive Edition!' - a challenge for vehicles made in a 'special edition' - for whatever reason.
Chevrolet Corvette C3 1969 - 'Astrovette'
Some special things can be bought. And other special things can only be received.
The men involved in the early space program were not gifted such wealth as to acquire expensive things, but they were permitted to lease Chevrolet vehicles for a grand sum of $1 per year.
When you strap yourself to rockets for a living (as many of these men were test pilots), you don't lease Novas. You lease Corvettes.
Thus it has been known that 'Vettes were the standard cars of Astronauts.
In 1969 the crew of Apollo 12 - the second moon shot coordinated their leases such that they all could choose the same car. The crew had them painted the same colour, along with custom graphics - a black sail panel atop the rear fender and roof buttress, and the same mechanical package - the big-block 427 Turbo-Jet power with 390 bhp.
The crew also had a small plaque made up for the front fender. A tri-colour red, white and blue - each colour denoting each of the crew members, and the unique coloured labels they would fly to space, to let them know who's food and equipment was who's.
There are some great period publicity shots with the cars and men (Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon and Alan Bean) with the cars parked in front with a mockup of the Lunar lander module.
After their lease was up, the cars rentered normal circulation, largely to be forgotten - the Apollo 12 crew have significantly less recognition today than did their Apollo 11 buddies - the first man on the moon.
The car shown here is a Lego recreation of Alan Bean's car - bid from a GMAC lot in 1971 - recognised as an astronaut car, by Danny Reid, and lovingly preserved to this day.
You can read much more regarding this car on a MotorTrend Article:
www.motortrend.com/news/1969-chevrolet-astrovette-classic...
The Corvette has always had special editions - along with some pretty crazy standard editions - but surely one of three 'Astrovettes' as piloted by the second manned mission to the moon ranks as something a bit more special than normal.
This Lego miniland-scale Chevrolet 1969 C3 'Astrovette' - has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 106th Build Challenge, titled - 'Exclusive Edition!' - a challenge for vehicles made in a 'special edition' - for whatever reason.