Brief History About Apollo
Apollo started building cars in 1963 and was founded by Milt Brown in Oakland, California as International Motor Cars in 1962. The cars were engineered by Milt Brown, designed by Ron Plescia and Franco Scaglione, while the bodies were supplied by Frank Reisner through his Italian company Construzione Automobili Intermeccanica. Business and finance was dealt with by Ned Davis.
Despite the car being praised and welcomed by the motoring press, the cars price was set too low and with minimal financial backing meant International Motor Cars could not afford to carry on. This led to alternative builders being found just to keep the coach builder Frank Reisner in business so that International Motor Cars could then return once the finance side of things was sorted. However the financial help never arrived and with poor marketing resulted in very few cars ever being built.
The total number of cars that were built was between 88 and 90. 42 cars (including one prototype) was built by International Motor Cars before it hit financial difficulties. 11 more were then built by Fred Ricketts of Vanguard Motors in Dallas, Texas as the Vetta Ventura GT. A further 11 by Tom Johnson (the Vanguard shop foreman), then 14 more by Robert Stevens (Apollo International company of Pasadena) and another 6 by his foreman Otto Becker. Also 4+ various others?
