IT ALL STARTED WITH ALAN SHEPARD. He bought his first Chevrolet Corvette, a used 1953 model, from his father-in-law for $1,500 in 1954. Five years later, when he became one of seven men chosen for NASA's Mercury program, Shepard bought another used Corvette-this time a 1957 model. Shepard bragged to Life photographer Ralph Morse that the car went "like a bat out of hell," and even wrangled clearance from the tower at Langley Air Force Base to charge down the runway at over 100 miles an hour to show what the car could do. After Shepard joined NASA, he struck up a friendship with General Motors engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov, and soon after Shepard became a sensation as the first American in space, Arkus-Duntov persuaded the carmaker to give him a brand new 1962 Corvette. GM ordinarily didn't give away cars, but in the case of Shepard, the company recognized a terrific publicity opportunity.
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