With all of the attention around John Glenn's and Carl Sagan's celebrity Corvairs, I'm surprised not to have heard about Buzz Aldrin's until very recently.

There have been a couple of threads here that mentioned it in passing, but that's about it. I always thought that the astronauts, except for John Glenn, had chosen Corvettes.

Recently, I was corresponding with the second owner of my Marina Blue 66 turbo convertible, who purchased the car from the first owner in 1968. He recalled that the first owner told him that there were two turbo convertibles on the lot at Hick's Chevrolet, Washington DC, in May 1966 when he purchased my blue car. He was told that the second one, a red car, was purchased by Buzz Aldrin.

Any photos or stories around this car?

Here's mine:





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/25/2021 06:26PM by flat_six.

I like the black top. It blends really well with the interior and gives it a nice flowing blended look.

Northern CA
66 Monza Coupe 4-spd 140

Phil Dally Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not sure who the pilot climbing in is but it's a Caveman car for sure.


Some random Model from the GM studio pool.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
WA. state, 1 mile south of the Canadian border, I am not at the end of the world, but you can see it from here.

I believe the King family owned both cars later, but Buzz’ car was in poor shape. It was later (20 years ago) advertised for sale by another owner, but had been rebodied onto a ‘65 chassis and was clearly no longer the same car. They had hung the bumpers with the base entry stickers on the new shell, hoping that was all the proof needed to verify the car. Sad.

Mike
YS-117

Mike Stillwell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I believe the King family owned both cars later, but Buzz’ car was in poor shape. It was later (20 years ago) advertised for sale by another owner, but had been rebodied onto a ‘65 chassis and was clearly no longer the same car. They had hung the bumpers with the base entry stickers on the new shell, hoping that was all the proof needed to verify the car. Sad.
>
> Mike
> YS-117


Interesting. To my knowledge, nobody named King owned my car, unless that was the (unknown) original owner. So maybe the second one you mention was another car from the same time frame/location. Craig Woodward had mine in storage for a bunch of years and had several others too. Perhaps he also owned the mysterious Aldrin red car at one time.

Understand that cars in wetter/colder climates don't last forever. But it's always a shame when someone tries to cash in on value by transferring parts etc. and represent a car as something that it isn't.

Either way, it would seem like there would be some photos from the day showing Buzz with the car. Or maybe not.

There were several collections near or associated with the Flying Circus in Bealeton. I thought that’s where Greg bought your car. It might have been one of their friends. Been a while...

Mike
YS-117

Mike Stillwell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There were several collections near or associated with the Flying Circus in Bealeton. I thought that’s where Greg bought your car. It might have been one of their friends. Been a while...
>
> Mike
> YS-117

Collecting Corvairs must have been a "thing" in northern VA back in the day. Greg C. bought the blue turbo car (that I now have) from Craig Woodward Sr, in 1990, and his current gold turbo car from Craig Woodward Jr. in 2018.

Cheers, Mike

There were indeed lots of collectors in the DC area. 3 of my cars came from John Moody. He didn’t have a lot, but they were interesting cars. In the 70’s early 80’s, Virginia was still “the country” and there was plenty of open space and barns to pile them up. Your car was from Bowling Green. Now I remember. I saw the cars in 1992. It was an incredible collection. Most of them (50 cars?) were inside. It was an old dealership complex.

Mike
YS-117

I spoke with Greg. He recalls going to see the car and verifying it's authenticity (via protect-o-plate)?

He agreed that the body was in poor condition and that both tags had been removed.

So I suppose that the car is still sitting in a field or barn somewhere in VA, but possibly without its body and VIN plates, and probably without its bumpers.

There was a post in 2006/2007 “buzz aldrins corvair for sale”. Last year I bought that car. I bought it from a guy here in the LA area. He bought it from a guy in South Carolina for the 140 engine and transaxle. Perfect for the project I’m doing. After I paid for it he pulled out a folder about it being Buzz Aldrins car. The guy in SC bought it from a guy in Virginia. The guy in VA certified it was Buzz Aldrins car. No Proof. Both bumpers still have post decals. It is a 66 Corsa convertible (hidden vin,I did run it if it was stolen). Had a 65 vin no body tag. The turbo exhaust cut out was original sheet metal. The whole bottom of the car was rust. Floors, rockers, lower fenders. All covered up with thin sheet metal and Bondo. Still perfect for my project

Would be interested in any info.

WELCOME!!!

LA has about 5 Corsa chapters to choose from.

Contact your closest club and attend a meeting.

[www.corvair.org]

gnbldr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Would be interested in any info.


We would be interested in photos!

Belong to south coast corsa

Hey Mike, does the blue convertible from Greg have the start of an AC install? That is the blue convertible I remember.

I’m starting to think I am becoming a Northern Virginia Corvair yard. . But I and another person have rusty ones down in southern VA.

Frank DuVal

Fredericksburg, VA

Frank DuVal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey Mike, does the blue convertible from Greg have the start of an AC install? That is the blue convertible I remember.
>


Not this one. My blue vert sat in an old Chevy dealership warehouse in Bowling Green VA for 15 years before Greg bought it in 1990.

Right, I know the dealership. I still drive by it several times a year. Maybe Greg bought two blue convertibles from there. He had cut the cowl to fit the AC evaporator assembly on the one I remember. But I do not remember the Buzz Aldrin story on that particular car.

Frank DuVal

Fredericksburg, VA

Frank DuVal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Right, I know the dealership. I still drive by it several times a year. Maybe Greg bought two blue convertibles from there. He had cut the cowl to fit the AC evaporator assembly on the one I remember. But I do not remember the Buzz Aldrin story on that particular car.

The Aldrin car was red. Greg went up to look at it when it was for sale years ago (not sure where in VA) and declined to buy it due to its poor structural state.

If the true “Buzz Aldrin Car” was red mine isn’t it. Mine is blue. Just stripped it, no red. Just met a guy at a Bible study that’s a good friend of Buzz and said he’ll ask. The car I have is that same car in the 2006 post.