Corvettes

Neil Armstrong's Stingray is on display at the Kennedy Space Center.

If you didn't know that he had a Corvette, it still shouldn't be a surprise that he had a fast car. The Right Stuff documents how pilots in general, and test pilots in particular, enjoyed going fast - metaphorically and literally, air and ground. "Flying & Drinking and Drinking & Driving" is how Mr. Wolfe put it. While also mentioning that more fighter pilots died in crashes of automobiles than of aircraft.

Jim Lovell's Corvette

Jim Lovell had a Corvette as well. As did Gus Grissom...suddenly it's becoming clear why so many of these guys ended up as auto salesmen after they left the service. They liked cars. Oh, and according to Buzz Aldrin, GM was offering a "financially attractive arrangement" to astronauts, which appears to explain why almost everyone (including him) had a Corvette. (John Glenn used the promotion to get a station wagon.)

The Apollo 12 crew and their matching Corvettes.

Still, there's something iconic about the idea of the first man on the moon - and the second, and the next two (three if you count their command module pilot), and the first ones near the moon for that matter  - having a car that was representative of a new era Which was certainly's General Motor's plan, as well.

Most of the men mentioned here are Silent Generation  (John Glenn (born 1921) is the only GI.) Silents are a generation of the Artist archetype, and being able to move ground, air, or spacecraft well requires a particular artistry of its own.

(Although it may not do to read too much into that - the Mercury Seven were chosen for similar reasons, and their birth years are all a-straddle the GI/Silent boundary.)