O Apollo GT é um esportivo de pequena série, que foi fabricado entre 1962 e 1965 pela International Motor Cars, em Oakland, California.
A carroceria era fabricada na Itália em alumínio pela Intermeccanica e tinha uma motorização V8 do Buick, com 3500cc ou 5000cc,
Apollo was a
United States-built
sports car/personal
automobile manufactured from 1962 to 1964 in Oakland, California.
Engineered by Milt Brown and designed by Ron Plescia, it featured
Italian handmade aluminum bodywork with a choice between two-seater
convertible or
fastback styles. Power came from a 215 cu in (3.5 l) or 300 cu in (4.9 l)
Buick[2]
engine to a 4-speed manual. The company, International Motor Cars,
built 42 cars before suspending production while seeking new financing.
IMC allowed the sale of body/chassis units to Vanguard Motors in Dallas,
Texas to produce cars under the
Vetta Ventura name and these were made until 1966 by Vanguard Inc of
Dallas, Texas. This was a stop-gap measure to keep the carrozzeria (body producer) Intermeccanica in business until new backers were found.
History
Frank Reisner, a former chemical engineer born in Hungary, raised in Canada and educated in America,
[3]
established a company that later produced the Apollo (and the
Texas-built Vetta Ventura). Reisner, on holiday in Italy in 1959,
decided that he loved Turin and set up shop there as
Intermeccanica producing tuning kits for
Renaults,
Peugeots, and
Simcas.
The Apollo project was the dream of a young California engineer, Milt
Brown, who desired to build an American answer to European GTs, such as
the
Aston Martin DB4 and
Ferrari coupes. Brown, who was looking for a coachbuilder, met Reisner at the
Monaco Grand Prix in 1960. A deal was made and the first Apollos were built by early 1963 by
Intermeccanica. Intermeccanica made and trimmed the steel bodies in
Turin, Italy and then sent them to
Oakland, California,
where the drive train was installed. The prototype's design was by Milt
Brown's friend, Ron Plescia, but the nose was too long and the rear
vision limited, so Reisner commissioned former
Bertone stylist
Franco Scaglione to revise it.
The finished car, sold by Brown's International Motorcars of Oakland, was well received and had famous owners such as
Pat Boone. The base price was $6000 and the top speed was claimed to be 150 mph (240 km/h).
A prototype 2 + 2 was shown in New York in 1965. It was shown again in 1966 as the Griffth GT.
[3]
International Motor Cars sold 42 cars (40 coupes and one spyder,
including the prototype) before production stopped in mid-1964 due to
lack of financing. IMC then made a contract with Reisner (to keep his
operation going) allowing Intermeccanica to supply body/chassis units to
Fred Ricketts, owner of Vanguard Industries, an aftermarket supplier of
auto air conditioners in Dallas, Texas. Vanguard sold it as the Vetta
Ventura. The intent was to give IMC time to find new financing as well
as keep Intermeccanica alive.
Vanguard built only 11 cars, with shop foreman Tom Johnson purchasing
the leftover 11 body/chassis units and completing them as late as 1971.
A third attempt to produce the Apollo was by attorney Robert Stevens.
His Apollo International company of Pasadena, California completed only
14 cars, with foreman Otto Becker finishing another six. Four body
chassis/units were never claimed by Apollo International and were sold
by US Customs to Ken Dumiere.
The Apollo was featured in
The Love Bug, a 1969
Disney movie.
[4]
Reisner later developed projects such as the Griffith, the Murena GT,
and the Italia by Intermeccanica. Intermeccanica went on to produce the
Veltro 1500, the Griffin (which was a version of the prototype Apollo
2+2), the Phoenix, and the Omega among others.
Nas fotografias abaixo confiram as belas linhas do esportivo projetado por Ron Plescia e Franco Scaglione:
Motorização Buick V8 de 3500cc e 4900cc
Texto em inglês reprodução de Wikipedia.
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