Apollo
GT
Apollo
na salonie w Turynie.
- The
Apollo was a sleek, fastback GT launched by Newt Davis and Milt
Brown. The aluminum body, designed by Ron Plescia and Franco
Scaglione, was built in Italy by Frank Reisner's Carrozzeria
Intermecannica. Final assembly took place in California using a
specially designed ladder-type tubular steel frame. The
car, powered by Buick's then-new aluminum V-8 and equipped with
Buick Special suspension parts, was a critical success, meeting
universal praise.
It failed, several times in fact, as a result of financial and marketing naivete, although 88 cars total: 76 coupes, 11 convertibles, and a 2+2 coupe prototype—having been built marks it as more successful than many. With the larger engine fitted, top speed was claimed to be 150mph/240kmh (0-60mph in 7.5 seconds) but the company was not sufficiently strong to advertise nationally, or establish a dealer network. To make matters worse, nobody thought very highly of the power unit—the Buick engine (which lives on as the Rover V8) was notorious for giving trouble—the bodies' were expensive, and production ceased in 1964. Intermeccanica then supplied the bodies to a firm in Texas, which used them to make a car called the Vetta Ventura.
Production of the Apollo was resumed in 1964 but this venture was dead by the following year. In all 88 Apollos (II of which were convertibles) were made, together with 19 Vetta Venturas, but not all Apollos were delivered and some were quietly scrapped.