Born in the USA

Worldwide Auctioneers, Texas, USA 4-5 October

MORE THAN 200 cars from the Corpus Christi Old Car Museum are to be offered by Worldwide Auctioneers, without reserve, in October. Continuing a string of recent US mass collection sell-offs this year, the treasure trove of interesting cars contained in this particular museum includes a trio of Apollo sports cars.

Only 88 of the Texas-built Apollos were produced, and the museum’s crown jewel is the very first 1963 Apollo 3500 GT. This beautiful little sports car features a sleek coupé body from Italian coachbuilder Intermeccanica, combined with an all-aluminum 3.5-litre Buick V8.

It was the brainchild of Californian engineer Milt Brow, who wanted to produce an American GT to rival the bestregarded European examples. Bodies were shipped from Turin and completed in Oakland.

Also offered in the sale is the very first Apollo Spider, built in the same year – they were often exhibited together in period. This car, the only one of its kind, was shown at Pebble Beach in 1995, and appeared at the Concorso Italiano for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo GT.

Finally, there is also a 5000 GT, the last evolution of the Apollo from 1966. This car was converted from one of 12 Vetta Venturas, which had been built by Vanguard Industries, following financial difficulties in 1966. The car was ‘restored, rebadged and retitled’ as an Apollo, and features a more powerful iron-block Buick V8.

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