Neil Armstrong died on August 25th of this year and the nation mourned, doubly so. First for the man, and second for what he stood for: hero, explorer, icon of a time when all that was best in America rose up on a pillar of smoke and flame to dance among the heavens.
The astronauts, of course, all drove Corvettes. GM gave a white ’62 to first-flyer Alan Shepard upon his return to Earth, then a Florida dealership provided subsequent one-year leasing deals to put astronauts behind the wheel of the latest models – clever PR for sure, and yet it seemed a perfect fit. While the very first ‘Vettes were more Piper Cub than Bell X-1, those that would be piloted by the likes of Gus Grissom and Alan Bean had the Right Stuff; the fastest and best machines America could produce.
Sixty years after GM built the first Corvette (and about fifty-six since they got the recipe right), here we are with an explorer on Mars, and it’s a robot with a sarcastic twitter feed. Heroes are scarce; the cult of celebrity now shines a spotlight on the kind of people you’d cross the street to avoid. And as for the Corvette? (Read More…)
Tagged as 427, america, Convertible, Corvette, Manual, Rocketman, vette
Recent Comments
dastanley - Hey don’t be embarrassed. If you like it, you like it. When I was growing up, my parents owned a ’69 Olds 442 and then owned a...
28-Cars-Later - Excellent points J.Emerson. I’m no expert on Europe, but I don’t fall in with the Eurocrats or the...
28-Cars-Later - I agree with your point, Daimler never had any interest in making quality cars, just access to the US distribution...
Scoutdude - Yup the Civic was over twice as likely to result in firey death as the Pinto on a per capita basis. Of course the Pinto outsold the Civic about 10 to 1....
28-Cars-Later - “But Al Gore bought indulgences, er, carbon credits” …as the centuries go by, the more things...
mikey - HDC…I’m not going to disagree. I don’t have a problem with management perks, and compensation. Higher education should have its...
28-Cars-Later - 150,000? Psft I was waiting for 175 :)
28-Cars-Later - I’ll argue 90% of the plebs will be too stoned/drunk/stupid to pick up on the lego-block nature of their new purchases.
canddmeyer - Marchionne is making a giant mistake if the DGC goes away.
HerrKaLeun - who did complain exactly? the same people who complain about the lack of manual transmission diesel wagons that they intend to buy as 10-year old...