The 1964 Apollo GT was one among quite a few small-batch sports activities vehicles that rapidly pale into obscurity. However this newest episode of “Jay Leno’s Storage” offers the total story, with commentary from Kurt Brakhage, proprietor of the automobile proven within the video, and Robb Northrup, creator of the ebook “Apollo GT: The American Ferrari.”

The Apollo GT was the brainchild of Milton Brown who, regardless of being solely in his early 20s, determined to start out a automobile firm. An investor initially recommended that the corporate construct a commuter automobile, however after touring Italian automobile factories on his honeymoon, Brown declared that he would construct “the American Ferrari,” Northup explains within the video. Maybe that is why the Apollo GT has a robust resemblance to interval Ferraris.

Brown mixed a 225-hp aluminum 215-cubic inch Buick V-8 with coachbuilt bodywork, giving the Apollo GT European type with the benefit of upkeep of an American powertrain. It was just like the method used for the Shelby Cobra, and a few European-built vehicles just like the Monteverdi Excessive Velocity 375S and Bizzarrini 5300 GT.

Brown, who had an engineering diploma and labored briefly as a draftsmen and take a look at driver for race automobile builder Emeryson, designed the body himself. He used some off-the-shelf components along with the engine, together with Buick finned drum brakes and a Borg-Warner 4-speed handbook transmission.

Our bodies had been inbuilt Italy by way of a convoluted enterprise association. Apollo contracted with Intermeccanica, which subcontracted the job to a coachbuilder, which in flip distributed the work to particular person craftspeople. 

Two aluminum-bodied prototypes—one two-seater and one 2+2—had been constructed, adopted by a manufacturing run of 76 coupes and 11 convertibles. Pricing began at about $6,500 for the coupe and $7,400 for the convertible. These had been appreciable sums on the time, however not sufficient to make the Apollo GT worthwhile. That, mixed with Apollo’s lack of preliminary funding, meant the corporate did not final lengthy. About 55 vehicles are thought to outlive right this moment.

Which means you are unlikely to see an Apollo GT on the highway right this moment. So it is undoubtedly value watching the total video to see this instance on the streets of Los Angeles, and listen to the Buick V-8 doing its finest Ferrari V-12 impression.