MOTORSPORTS EDITOR
DAYTONA BEACH — Neil Armstrong’s beloved 1967 Chevy Corvette has touched down in Daytona Beach, signaling the dawn of a lengthy mission.
The final objective: Return the vehicle to the same condition it was in when the first man to walk on the moon proudly wheeled it around two years before his historic step.
Step 1 in the preservation process was taken Thursday, when a team of experts documented every inch of the sports car, carefully handling it like a giant egg. The group, led by local automobile preservation activist Eric Gill, inspected, photographed and took video of the machine in a modest privately owned shop with a lift.
The ‘Vette previously occupied a basement in Stone Mountain, Ga., for 31 years before coming back to Florida thanks to current owner Joe Crosby, who lives in Merritt Island.
When the project is complete – which could take years – the goal is for the Corvette to look like it did in 1967 – not necessarily pristine, but true to its Chevy lineage.
“It’s a shame Mr. Armstrong is not here, because I think he would have really enjoyed seeing this again,” said Alan Scheffling, who is an expert in industrial process and its history and part of Gill’s team.
“Ultimately, this will help humanize one of America’s iconic heroes,” Gill said. “Maybe someday a schoolchild will look at the car and realize Neil Armstrong was a real guy, like his or her dad.
“While a child can aspire to a hero — larger than life – that hero is a real person, so isn’t that a better goal, to humanize this inanimate artifact?”
Armstrong, who died in August, purchased the blue Corvette in 1967 — two years before he walked on the moon, according to Crosby.
Armstrong bought the muscle car, which is powered by a by a beefy, 427-cubic inch V-8 engine, from Jim Rathmann Chevrolet for $1. He drove it most of the year before trading it back in to Rathmann for a 1968 Corvette.
Crosby said the second owner, who asked not to be identified, bought the ’67 ‘Vette from Rathmann one day after Armstrong returned it to the lot.
The second owner mothballed the car in 1981 with 38,000 miles on the odometer. He sold it to Crosby in February.
Crosby would not reveal what he paid for the faded blue American sports car but said the seller took the money and bought a new Corvette.
“It took us about four hours to get the stuff off of it,” said Crosby, who hauled the car from Georgia. “It had about 30 years worth of boxes and things on it. I brought it back to Florida and got it running and I’ve been tinkering with it.”
Crosby called the ‘Vette a “a real piece of American history.”
He reached out to renowned auto preservationist David Burroughs, who founded the “survivor class” and protocols now used at high-end car shows. Burroughs in turn recommended Gill’s group to provide assistance.
“I told (Crosby) that he had one of the best (conservationists) in his backyard,” Burroughs said in a telephone interview. “What Eric does is par with what they do at the Smithsonian. There are only three or four people I would trust with Armstrong’s car.”
Gill, who is passionate about saving automobile history, said Armstrong’s car, if prepared the right way, will inspire future generations of space travelers.
This is why videotaping the Corvette and people associated with the car is so important to the overall project.
“To do this properly, you’re talking about hundreds of hours for what is probably 12 linear feet,” Gill said. “What is the return? The payback is huge because future generations will see this as an artifact found.
“Because we are recording this digitally, we’re not doing anything to hide or fool. The digital record of the car, you’ll be able to see the before, during and end result.”
Among those at the shop Thursday examining Armstrong’s Corvette was Jack Legere, a member of the Cape Kennedy Corvette Club, who had a chance meeting with America’s celebrated moon man during his April visit to the Space Center. Crosby is also a member of that Corvette club.
“I asked Mr. Armstrong, ‘I understand you used to own a 1967 Corvette,’ ” Legere recalled. “He turned around and looked at me and said, ‘The blue one?’ I was hoping he would answer that way.
“I answered him back, ‘Yes, sir.’ He asked me if I owned it, and I told him no but I knew the guy that does own it. ‘Where’s the car,’ he asked me. I told him it was here on Merritt Island and he flashed a big smile, a big toothy smile.”
“The Corvette was in the fiber of these Gemini and Apollo guys,” he added.