I know a guy who has one of those.
Photography Courtesy Fantasy Junction
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 film looks to be a 3500GT, though an example of the more powerful 5000GT recently became available for purchase, which you can read more about over on Classic Motorsports.
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.
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