A day or so ago, I mentioned buying a Corvette with my American Express card. While I\u2019m on the subject of Corvettes, it turns out that a Corvette isn\u2019t only the car of the Williamsons, it\u2019s also the car of the astronauts \u2014 at least the car of the Mercury astronauts.<\/p>\n
Alan Shepard not only was the first American in space (sub-orbital flight) but he was also the first of the astronauts to own a Corvette. He bought a used 1953 model Corvette from his father-in-law in 1954. In 1959, after he was chosen as a member of the original astronaut class, he bought another (used) Corvette\u2026 a 1957 model.<\/p>\n
After he joined NASA, he became friends with a General Motors engineer, Zora Arkus-Duntov. After his flight that made him the first American in space, Arkus-Duntov convinced GM to give Shepard a brand new 1962 Corvette. (General Motors usually didn\u2019t give away cars, but in this case, the company saw a once in a lifetime publicity opportunity.)<\/p>\n
After Shepard received his Corvette, the owner of a Chevrolet\/Cadillac dealership (Jim Rathmann) in Melbourne, Florida decided to take things further. Rathmann was a former Indianapolis 500 winner and savvy businessman. In coordination with GM, he offered all the Mercury astronauts a top of the line Corvette at a very affordable lease price \u2014 $1 a year. After the lease was up, the astronauts could buy the car outright if they chose \u2014 also at a very<\/em> good price. If they didn\u2019t purchase the car, the dealership had absolutely no trouble selling\u00a0 a Corvette formerly owned by an astronaut.<\/p>\n Only four of the seven Mercury astronauts took Rathmann up on his offer of a Corvette for a dollar a year. NASA cancelled the one dollar car program in 1971 over concerns of a backlash from the public.<\/p>\n I spent some amount of time in and around Melbourne, Florida and I\u2019ve been to the Chevrolet\/Cadillac dealership that provided the Corvettes to the astronauts \u2014 but, alas, I never owned a Corvette driven by an astronaut\u2026.. we do, however, have George Foreman\u2019s grill. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A day or so ago, I mentioned buying a Corvette with my American Express card. While I\u2019m on the subject of Corvettes, it turns out that a Corvette isn\u2019t only the car of the Williamsons, it\u2019s also the car of … Continue reading
\n\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n