Remember the Thorndyke Special from 1968’s The Love Bug? It’s actually a very real car made by Oakland, California-based car maker Apollo in the early-to-mid ‘60s.
Two versions were produced between 1962 and 1964, the 3500GT and 5000GT, with power, respectively, coming from 215- and 300-cubic-inch V8 engines. Both were sourced from Buick and backed by four-speed manual transmissions.
The one used in the …
I know a guy who has one of those.
Very pretty. Nice mix of Ferrari and E-type going on here.
It would be wrapped in yellow and black. Because you have to. 
I can't remember the last time I walked into a car dealership and the salesman poured me a scotch. Ah, the good old days. Wait, no, that never happened...
Although one time in Mexico, I visited a gift shop where the owner served us tequila prior to entering. He made a few sales that day. Lesson: converting pesos to dollars is hard when you had a few.
RadBarchetta said:I can't remember the last time I walked into a car dealership and the salesman poured me a scotch. Ah, the good old days.
I always just figured I was in the wrong kind of place. Or had the wrong shoes on. Or something.
Milt Brown - the biggest force behind Apollo lived the motorheads dream. After college he designed a successful formula car. Then, along with Ron Plescia and Ned Davis convinced Intermecanica to build aluminum bodies for the Apollo. They only made 88 of them, but they were pretty great cars for the day. Milt made a couple more cars over the years - the Verona, which was very similar to a Morgan, minus the wood chassis, and this little diddy:
As for the original car, I think that it looks best as a convertible:
This is a car that some Silicon Valley tech billionaire weenie should recreate for an upcoming car week in Monterrey
Y'know, when I was a kid, I never noticed how slow the other cars where going as Herbie passed them.
In reply to GTwannaB :
Some years ago (90's?) rumors were that Intermeccanica still had a few Apollo bodies in storage and that the bucks to make more were still extant.
Today, who knows?
In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :
Yeah, the coupe's C-pillars look either distictve or awkward. Pick one. The open car simply does away with that.
Appleseed said:It would be wrapped in yellow and black. Because you have to.
NO, because that black stripe is horrid and destroys the whole front of the car.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Yeah, Milt had a next generation design that cleaned up the original coupes lines, but they ran out of money before they could implement it.
Duke said:Appleseed said:It would be wrapped in yellow and black. Because you have to.
NO, because that black stripe is horrid and destroys the whole front of the car.
Have to agree. That colour scheme makes it look like some sort of rabid wasp (reaching for the Raid spray bomb...)
In reply to GTwannaB :
A few years back I discussed the idea of a short limited production run with Mike Gulett, the Apollo GT SanctionII the continuation series . Made just like the original cars with steel body and aluminum hood and trunk. FYI, Only the prototype was all aluminum. His thoughts were the cars would have a hard time selling if not pre- ordered Much like the ISO Rivolta AC/3 Sanction II continuation series had a hard time selling according to Mike. Your comment put this idea is back on my head again. I'll see if I can get info on the extra bodies and the buck, if they exist Paula would know.
I personally think there could be a market for Apollo GT continuation, similar to the 427 Cobra from Kirkham Motersports.
In reply to 63GTdriver :
To be clear I wish I were a billionaire tech weenie so I could do this. What you are describing would be awesome.
In reply to GTwannaB :
Oh okay, understood. I don't think you need to be one.You got me thinking, so I'm going to look into this again, Mike talked me out of it previously. The thing of it is, I currently have 2 Apollo GT coupes, #1008 3500 GT in reconstruction process (body off the frame) after an unfortunate mishap. I made a mistake and actually drove the car. (Apollo GT Drive on youtube). The other a wrecked 5000GT I picked as a parts car for 500 bucks I found off you tube no less. It's a weathered rust bucket but restorable, its a complete car less engine and trans. You can read a out the mishap here. https://mycarquest.com/2014/03/the-apollo-gt-accident-and-the-restoration.html.
You'll need to log in to post.
