NSU Prinz: the coolest car for an astronaut (10 photos + 1 video)

The first American astronauts rode Corvettes, but one of them chose another car to be seen. This astronaut was John Glenn.





Americans considered astronauts to be their greatest heroes in 50s and 60s. In another time, such a title would have gone to an actor, an athlete or even a popular politician, but during the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union fought for dominance in space, one could hardly find greater heroes such as the Nile Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin.



John Glenn's name may not be as widely known, despite the fact that he made history in 1962. Namely, he became only the fifth person in space, but the first American to fly around the planet Earth. Such the feat brought him great fame, but at the moment it’s not about him merit. Most interested in the automotive world associated with it.





Namely, a year earlier, astronaut Alan Shepard received for his feat new Chevrolet Corvette. The Americans actually "stole" such idea from the Soviets after the famous Yuri Gagarin was presented French model Matra Jet.



Chevrolet liked the idea of ​​giving their cars to great people. AT in the late 60s there were even special versions of the Corvette in honor of astronauts. But when it was Glenn's turn, believe it or not no, he chose NSU Prinz instead of American.



Many of course have heard of NSU Motorenwerke thanks to its revolutionary models with rotary engines. First of all, this applies to Ro80, but NSU had a much richer history and was founded in 1873. To unfortunately, the mentioned Ro80 turned out to be very problematic with the mechanical side, so that eventually led the company to bankruptcy. Although more later models were more reliable, by then Volkswagen had already bought NSU and merged it with Auto Union to create the modern Audi.



The Prinz model was produced from 1958 to 1973. It was only available in two-door version and in many details resembled another Chevrolet Corvair, differing in size.



The first generation was powered by a two-cylinder engine, borrowed from a motorcycle that developed only 20 hp. with volume 583 cc While NSU has primarily focused on the European market, a number of copies came to North America thanks to a man named Max Hoffman.



Glenn bought Prinz in Vancouver in the Canadian province of British Colombia. By that time, the baby received an increase in power up to 30 hp, which was enough to accelerate from 0 to 100 km / h in 35.7 seconds and maximum speed 113 km/h.



In an interview with the media, Glen says that this did not bother him and on the day he could drive up to 300 km. He also did not complain about tightness, as he was used to such an arrangement in spacecraft, and when asked why he chose "Prince", said that he likes uniqueness so much, and not all these Corvettes. The astronaut owned NSU until the early 70s, after which he sold it.



There are many people who are not like everyone else and who want to be different. John Glenn was one of them, and for a short time at least time, every American who followed the automotive world knew that is NSU Prince. And all thanks to the astronaut, who did not want to have Chevrolet Corvette.