1965 Apollo GT

300ci OHV Buick V-8 Engine
250bhp at 4,800rpm
Single 4-Barrel Carburetor
4-Speed Manual Transmission
Front Disc-Rear Drum Brakes
4-Wheel Independent Suspension

* One of two original 'Thorndyke Special' cars from 1968 The Love Bug movie
* Modified and prepped for screen by Max Balchowsky – Hollywood Motors
* Extensively researched and ground up restored in current ownership
* A world of possibilities from tours to shows
* A prominent movie car

THE CAR OFFERED

Disney's Herbie series is one of the most famous and much-loved motoring themed movie series ever to be on screen, and that chain began with the 1968 picture, The Love Bug. In that, Peter Thorndyke is a classical nemesis character and foil to our hero Jim Douglas and his giant slaying racing car the VW Beetle 'Herbie'. Masquerading as the archetypal sophisticated English gentleman, the owner and purveyor of European Imported Car Inc., he is in fact a classical stereotype rogue of a car dealer, played by the famous UK actor David Tomlinson, who had a habit of being the unapproachable male that would mellow through a plot, as he does as Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins in 1964 and later in Bedknobs & Broomsticks as Professor Emelius Browne in 1971. If anything, in The Love Bug we begin perhaps by trusting him only to realize progressively how untrustworthy he is as he tries to unhinge and destroy 'Herbie' only to consistently lose out.

We meet Mr. Thorndyke in his dealership trying to sell the light yellow Thorndyke Special to Jim Douglas, his silky-smooth salesman pitch swiftly offering a glass of sherry. When the modest budget of $75 or 80 is mentioned by Douglas, the cocktail cabinet immediately vanishes and the sherry is hastily poured back into the decanter! For a car guy, the scene stealers though are the cars, ultra rare Rolls-Royce surround the turntable on which The Thorndyke Special rotates in all its shimmering glory. After spells challenging Herbie at 'Jack Rabbit Springs' (Willow Springs) and the old Riverside circuit, in a E-Type and then a 14 louvre 250 GT TDF (0585GT), for the majority of the movie on the road race Peter drives his Thorndyke Special, which was actually an Apollo GT.

The Apollo story has enough plot to be its own movie. Conceived and developed by engineer and entrepreneur Milt Brown and his partner Newt Davis, together these bold automobile enthusiasts envisioned an American sports car with proven mechanicals and Italian inspired design. The Apollo GT took shape as Frank Reisner, founder of "Intermeccanica", was enlisted to be the coachbuilder, crafting the design originally penned by Ron Plescia. The prototype, a handmade aluminum shell, was formed over a Milt Brown designed steel chassis with the first series concepts revised when Reisner called upon former Bertone designer Franco Scaglione to refine the design, adding side quarter glass, and refining the body lines. The first production Apollos, the 1963 3500GT were hand-formed in steel and shipped to Oakland, California where the American V8 drivetrains and four-speed manual gearboxes were installed and prepared for display at Brown's dealership, International Motorcars of Oakland.

With a claimed top speed of 130mph and a starting price of $6,000, the Apollo 3500GT was well-received by the automotive press. The lightweight Buick aluminum V8 engine suited Brown's original design and offered GM reliability with top performance capabilities. Although the company eventually released a convertible and upgraded the engine selection to the five-liter 5000GT, by mid-1965 the company faced too many financial challenges and had to shut down production. International Motorcars sold 76 Apollo GT coupes, very few of which were the desirable 5000GT models, built later in the production run.

The Apollo was highly influenced by contemporary Italian designs of the 1960s with curvaceous front fenders, long hood, and engine placement nested deep into the cowl. Brown insisted on this mid-engine layout, with most of the weight sitting toward the middle of the car, similar in layout to the Cobra, with the driver's seat being very closely positioned to the rear axle. The fastback roof and sweeping glass delivered a unique visual signature that conveyed a dynamic and elegant profile – a uniquely American car with stunning execution, being among the last to be constructed within the master traditions of great Italian coachbuilding.

But, back to the plot... The tale goes that there were many Herbies for the huge variety of scenes that and scenarios that the Beetle is placed in, but for the protagonist, it is understood that a mere two cars were used, and even then it is only careful and forensic viewing of the movie that reveals this as there are plainly two different license plates among other details. It seems likely that one was more orientated towards the stunts and the other for the uncompromised, panning scenes. As it happens, it is the complicated stunts that enabled the owner to establish its direct connection to this car.

Acquired in 2004 as a project that had been begun but not completed, the rolling chassis and bodywork was in grey primer at that point. The current owner, an Apollo enthusiast began to get curious as to its origins when he found a lot of yellow paint as the original color beneath the primer. Just two Apollos had been delivered in this scheme. The car was also in particularly poor condition and showed various signs of damage on it. Progressively more and more clues emerged.

His research showed that the Apollos had been prepared and provided for Disney by Max Balchowsky, owner of Hollywood Motors and noted supremo for race prep not least for his own 'Ol Yellar' racecars. He was also noted for assisting on a variety of movie car projects. In this regard he must have enjoyed a bumper year for 1968, having provided cars for both The Love Bug and Bullitt. For the dicing and crashing scenes, the car would have to have been modified extensively by Hollywood Motors, and evidence of these things as well as matching the areas of the damage from many hours of slow-mo replays of the movie confirmed it to have been one of the cars. The seller was also able to retrieve copies of invoices for work on the cars by Hollywood Motors. When it emerged from outtakes on a DVD supplement that the other Apollo had been cut up for filming different angles, it was clear that this was the only one that could have survived and its restoration in this direction began in earnest.
An exhaustive process continued through its restoration of bodywork, running gear, interior, the whole car literally had to be rebuilt from the ground up and all told that was some 9 years work. It culminated in debut at the Concorso Italiano in 2013, where on a special day for the car and marque its owner was introduced to Milt Brown, Ron Plescia and original Apollo salesman, George Finley as well as Frank Reisner's widow. Since that time it has been shown occasionally and routinely exercised.

So often one finds that a car with a movie provenance has a 'blink and you'll miss it' moment, in this case the cars really were the stars and Thorndyke's Apollos were truly prominent features. Believed to be the sole survivor of the pair, and restored to its movie guise, this Apollo offers many possibilities from museum or concours display to active road tour use, these cars being relatively affordable and not over costly to maintain either. Whatever you choose to do with the car, as long as you don't challenge a VW with the number '53' on it you should have a lot of fun...