For the New Year, RM Sotheby's will offering up a lot of great cars during its Arizona sale in Phoenix on 27 January, including this rare and beautiful 1963 Apollo 3500 GT.

Always interesting to see new models or a little less known to the general public (I define myself as the general public, I didn't know this car brand two years ago) to dive into the automotive history with Apollo and International Motor Cars.

History of Apollo 3500 GT

A little history to start 😀... Apollo was founded early 60's in Oakland (California) by three friends, Milt Brown the engineer, Ron Plescia the designer, and Ned Davis. They wanted to build a reliable sport car with an European design able to compete against Aston Martin DB4 or Ferrari 250 GT. It seems to be the obsession of American sport car enthusiasts in those years to mix European body with American engine, we just have to think of Carroll Shelby. European styling with American muscle...

We can see the influence with this mix of Ferrari 250 GT for the front, Jaguar E-Type for the rear-end, and MGB GT for the style. No ?

In 1961, during the Monaco Grand Prix, they met Frank Reisner, founder of Carrozzeria Intermeccanica, in order to build a finished boy for the new car. Frank Reisner was an International man, born in Hungary, raised in Canada and educated in US with a diploma in chemistry. The first prototype design penned by Rone Plescia had some flaws. So Milt Brown hired Franco Scaglione, designer from Bertone to revise it. In 1963, the first bodies built by Intermeccanica in Turin were sent to Oakland...

The Apollo 3500 GT was produced in only 41 examples at the International Motor Cars factory in Oakland. This example (chassis n° 1005) is the fifth of the series. The car was very well received by the specialized press :

"The Apollo handles as well or better than a 2+2 Ferrari, an Aston DB4, and a Sting Ray Corvette.” - Denise McCluggage for Science and Mechanics.

But in 1965, the company closed due to serious financial problems. That's a shame that the company ran out of cash so quickly, it would have been interesting to see other models.

Specification

The Apollo 3500 GT is equipped with a Buick aluminium 5.0 litre V-8 engine mated with a two-speed automatic transmission.

In 2009, this model was completely restored both the engine and the bodywork. Great work rewarded by the first prize during the 2011 Dana Point Concours d’Elegance.