Auto ID #63 FINISHED!

[Harry P.]

Remember-don't post answers or hints here.

PM me with specific year, make and model!

The answer: 1965 Apollo 5000 GY

[sjordan2]

Looks like a Palmer kit of a Ferrari 275 GTB.

[mikemodeler]

Looks like a Palmer kit of a Ferrari 275 GTB.

I do believe Harry said no hints or answers posted here!

[Pete J.]

But Harry wouldn't stoop to posting a kit car would you Harry?

[Guest G Holding]

Looks like a Palmer kit of a Ferrari 275 GTB.

This doesn't count

[Harry P.]

It's not a kit car, it's a real car that was in production.

[dimaxion]

I dunno ...again ... Thanx ..

[CorvairJim]

I think I knw the design firm/body manufacturer that did this beauty, and I have a pretty good idea whose name is on the badge, but darned if I can find any reference to it!

[Harry P.]

This one was hard... only 7 of you came up with the right answer.

The car is a 1965 Apollo 5000 GT.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_(1962_automobile)

Who got it right:

trogfor

ChrisR

G Holding

Kenny

Badluck 13

wisdonm

Lunajammer

[Badluck 13]

AKA Thorndyke Special..........for us Herbie fans

[CorvairJim]

I remember the "Thorndyke Special" well. The car was bright yellow with a broad black stripe in the film.first appeared in Peter Thorndyke's showroom, and Thorndyke himself later used the car in the epic race. It I looked at the Wikipedia article and found that I was at least partially right in my assumptin that it was styled by Bertone, in that ex-Bertone stylist Franco Scaglione did the final styling revisions ont he car.

[wisdonm]

The body of the Apollo was actually styled by Ron Plescia, a childhood friend of Brown's and graduate of the prestigious Art Center Scholl of Design in Los Angeles.The design by Plescia was influenced greatly by the recently introduced Jaguar E-Type and several Ferrari models. Scaglione made a few minor improvements, which included adding rear quarter windows and enlarging the rear window.

Milt Brown conceived the project and designed the square-tube, ladder-type frame. Most of the major mechanicals were sourced from the new 1961 Buick Special.

The funding for this project was provided by Newton Davis, another one of Browns friends. The finished and painted bodies were mounted on the chassis, both made by Intermeccanica of Turin, Italy, as well as having the interior trimmed before they were shipped to California. In California Davis's International Motor Cars Cars, Inc fitted the powertrain, suspension and other components.

These guys were barely out of college and didn't know they weren't supposed build a stunning, high performance sports car. It's a Milestone Car. The reviews and road tests were favorable. The performance was similar to the Jag and Ferrari. There was nothing wrong with the car, it could be produced, as is often the case, money problems killed it.

PS. My avatar is the "dancing Bull" of Intermeccanica.

Edited September 7, 2012 by wisdonm

[sjordan2]

Whoever designed it, it's a total rip-off with a rear half that doesn't go with the front at all. Amazing that such a piece of junk could have had such great designers behind it.

[Harry P.]

If the design of that car was heavily influenced by the Jaguar E-Type, I'd say that the E looks about ten times better!

[W-409]

Umm... I had absolutely no idea on this one... I was just looking Ferraris and Maseratis.