<VV> Scrapping the Astro I show car

[peter koehler]

When I was working for Chevrolet Engineering at the GM 
Milford Proving Ground in the mid-80's I was alerted that 
Chevrolet had plans to scrap the Astro I. The Monza SS and 
GT were not mentioned - but those two were drive-able 
vehicles and were not parked in the same dusty warehouse 
off Livernois Blvd in Detroit as the Astro I was relegated 
to. Seems that somewhere along the line the Astro I and 
some other special vehicles - like the very first Cosworth 
Vega were transferred to Chevrolet Fleet "on the books". 
Since Chevy Fleet saw no value in the Astro I it was 
tagged for demolition. That meant it would get hauled out 
to Milford and fed into the on-site car crusher. Once 
flattened its remains would be recycled.

Of course we in the Corvair club didn't want that to 
happen. But we in the Corvair club had no "pull" with 
Chevrolet Fleet. That is when I got involved. It was 
fellow Corvair enthusiast Stu Shuster who notified me of 
the Astro I's plight. Since I worked for Chevrolet and I 
had become friendly with the guys in Milford responsible 
for moving cars around for my job at the time, Stu and I 
concocted a plan to save the Astro I. We used a simple 
shipper form (GSD-38?) to arrange for the moving of the 
Astro I out of the Detroit warehouse and into my care. I 
"borrowed" a driver and a flatbed truck from Milford and 
off we went to Detroit.

The story has a happy ending. The Astro I was delivered to 
my residence in Farmington Hills and stayed there for less 
than a week. This is where Stu Shuster took over. He let 
it be known at Design Staff (where he was employed by GM 
as a designer) that we (the Corvair Club) had their (Chuck 
Jordon is very possessive of his creations) show car! 
Somehow Stu got Chuck Jordon to approve some funds ($25k?) 
to repaint and repair the aging beauty. I delivered the 
car to the GM Tech Center in Warren with my old 1977 
Caprice station wagon and a borrowed trailer. The next 
time we all saw the Astro I it was beautiful again.

Stu should get all of the credit for saving the Astro I. 
It seems amazing to me now that we actually pulled this 
stunt off! - Pete K