Franklin Mint 1969 Corvette Apollo 12 Coupe Ind. Re. Nbr Ltd Ed of 427 RARE

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Franklin Mint 1969 Corvette Apollo 12 Coupe Ind. Re. Nbr Ltd Ed of 427 RARE:
$485.00

This Golden Grille, Franklin Mint 1/24 scale, 1969 Apollo 12 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe - Independent Retailer Nbr Ltd Ed of 427 is better in person than in pictures. This Vette is 198 out of 427. Boxes and Papers included.
During the glory years of the space program, NASA did not permit its astronauts to be spokespersons for monetary gain. Former Indy 500 winner (1960) Jim Rathman, a prominent Chevrolet dealer during the hey day of our space exploration travel and fully admired the astronauts contribution. He decided to offer his own sort of reward to our USA space men. He conferred with Chevrolet\'s Ed Cole and set up an \"Executive Lease Program\" administered exclusively for astronauts. The Apollo 12 crew was the first and only such group to drive matching cars, thanks to the lease program. Apollo 12 was the second lunar exploration. Launched 11/14/69, its crew of Charles \"PETE\" Conrad, Jr., Commander; Alan L Bean, Lunar Module Pilot and Richard F Gordon, Jr Command Module Pilot. They returned to earth and landed in the Pacific Ocean on 11/24/1969. The three space explorers were good friends. When offered the matching Corvette by Rathman, They opted to add black \"wings\" to the paint scheme, a chosen Riverside Gold.
In a rectangular addition to the front fenders, red, white and blue squares held specific lettering for each of the flyers. Letters were applied in the blue fields of each vehicle. \"CDR\"was used on \'Commander\' \"Pete\" Conrad\'s car, \"LMP\" was on Alan Bean\'s car for \'Lunar Module Pilot\' and on Dick Gordan\'s Vette was \"CMP\" for \'Command Module Pilot\'. Jim Rathman enhanced the black wing with a separating white pinstripe between it and the gold paint The cars all boasted 427/390- horse motors with a 4 speed transmissions. They had AM/FM radios, Special Wheels Covers, Head Restraints and 4 season A/C.