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The American Ferrari: Apollo GT | Jay Leno's Garage

Mar 22, 2024
right, it seems like a good size, well this has been a dream come true for me because this is a car that has always been in the back. In my mind alone for the last 40 years I always wondered what happened to him. Every once in a while they would show up at the back of the road and track down the little Apollo ad, you know, you see, one for sale, it's cool, can we drive it? I'd love to, okay, cool, so Rob, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you don't fit in the car, but it's not a two plus two, but okay, okay, I'll sit in the back, sit down.
the american ferrari apollo gt jay leno s garage
Back there we go, Kurt, let's try it, okay, the door opens nice and wide, it's very easy to get in, it's nothing. tight little Italian sports car, that's why my dad loved these cars and I love the indicators and the dashboard has a nice sound. You're the only person I'd allow to drive this. You're the only person who's actually like that. I've driven it since I finished it, you know, the thing is still true, all the fun is between 40 and 120. If the amount of sports car is what it's going to run with 120 130 amps, but you just screwed it up, yeah, like that that there's no reason I have them so low and scraping and all the other things, you know, I like them, they sit normal, I have a normal ride height, if you hit an obstacle, you don't tear off the front, you know, it's very true, it i have said a million times my favorite thing is my mclaren it has a little splitter it's about 18 inches long yes if you break a splitter you can get it you can get a new splitter or a z06 corvette they are the same price yes , you know, it feels pretty. modern, it really drives very well, Bill Brown, owned this car for a few years and remembers it, yes, as the best car he ever had.
the american ferrari apollo gt jay leno s garage

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the american ferrari apollo gt jay leno s garage...

Wow, each car was different because no car was the same, right? and he didn't know what it was. He was going to land it at his dock and then he went to work. It doesn't get more Italian than that, yes, and I love the slim steering wheel. Yes, I love a skinny ruffle. You know, I have a very old Lamborghini mirror and it came with a thin wooden wheel like this, it's so delicate, I hate these big fat wheels, I agree, I'm lucky I didn't have to get anything, the gauges, everything was there, Your father bought this in 2003, you said yes sir, now what?
the american ferrari apollo gt jay leno s garage
I would have paid then around 80 uh no no no not so much 45 50 so much no no 25 uh close wow yes, less than 25 000 yes 2003 yes, I know 2003 seems like that, but it was 20 years ago, I know, uh, I think he wore this owner down over the years because he knew every Apollo owner in the country well and he was going to visit them and I think they felt sorry for him but you know that's the kind of guy you want in your car , Yes I agree. You know someone who's gone, you know, I hear a lot of guys who want to sell me cars and it's not even the price they wanted to go for, you know, it's not the worst thing to sell a car to someone else and butcher and Then two weeks later, you see it in Bring a Trailer for Double the Money or yes, or some crazy statement.
the american ferrari apollo gt jay leno s garage
You know this was Ferrari staff or whatever. Whatever, did your mom get it or not? They broke up early, so maybe John. she didn't get it right like that story like she has memories of being in the car no she's um no because they came later came after much much later um I drove up and down Carmel Valley Road with Mill Brown one afternoon up and down, up and down, yeah, and he was just saying more, more, these are high revving engines, sure, take it to six if you want, uh, I wasn't that comfortable with that, but it was a fun day, it's funny, I mean I remember I just bought it. hot rod magazine this appeared in it I was very surprised that a guy is only a few years older than me you know it just caught my attention it's so incredible that they could go to Italy to build a sports car that's cool I know because he was a real engineer and everything else, but yeah, and he's still alive today, yeah, yeah, yeah, I talked to him almost every week.
You know, there were so many guys from that era. There was a guy called Griffin who produced the TVR with the Cobra 289 engine and compared to what was coming out of Italy and Europe this is a huge engine, yeah it's always funny when I pick up an English magazine and they tell me that It has the Ford 289 big block engine, well that's not the big one. block well but for them it's a big block because then he'll make two later, yes the jaw is really wonderful, yes my dad spent all his time rebuilding mechanicals, anything that needed help he fixed it, what does he do you to make a living?, your dad was a parking lot. a lot of striper oh oh okay, yeah, he did it by hand, it was that machine, that's a machine, yeah, yeah, so he must have been very careful not to park on the white line, but I think he put this car between the lines, yes, but I kept saying, dad, we have. to paint it, we had to paint it and, not knowing how much a paint job costs, he did it, I didn't, yes, and he said no, son of mechanics, first, yes, and then he did it, we just couldn't paint it How was it.
The original color, red, what was it? It had faded to pink the entire time he had it, so he never experienced the negative factor that people give to this car now that it has a paint job, right? Uh, he wishes he could help them sooner. that, but you got good torque in every gear, but there were other engines available, correct. Yes, they started playing with the five-liter, but it apparently triggered the weight distribution too much and they really struggled to get the car to drive that way. the 2.5 liter worked well this feels well balanced yes it's this 2.5 liter yes I guess it's the 250. sorry it's the 2.5 liter 3.5 it's the 215 3.5 liter sorry yes yes it's okay I thought so yeah, It's not good with my leader too and apparently I'm not even my American metric.
Did this ever have a radio? I think he had it in the past. It has an antenna. He must be gone. Oh yeah. It must have gone under here somewhere. Possibly it's funny. for an

american

car to have water benzene now leo, have you rebuilt this engine to original specs, original specs? Well, my dad did all that and this was the time when I didn't care that much about the car, so I'm not very involved and I have a lot of questions for him now that unfortunately he can't answer, but he left me all the detailed information.
It's so funny because when he was a kid he would have given anything to be a dad. car guy yeah like my dad knew cars and he worked on it cause you had to and you grew up in that area yeah my dad would go in his place once you get an automatic it trades for you why Would you like to change that makes noise? It didn't make sense to him, to him, the sign of a rich man, well you had a car with an automatic and air conditioning, right, my God, that was amazing, yeah, I just couldn't appreciate it from the beginning and I loved cars, but this car. reduced him to a childish father, yes, yes, and now I'm a father and I'm fighting for that not to reduce me to a child like a child and I guess you felt that dad spent more time in the car than he did. with you, well, all our conversations around the table always focused on Apollo, did he get married again?
No, he never remarried, so my mom didn't understand the Apollo thing, they divorced early, yeah, that's a car guy, yeah, yeah, this is the The chassis of the only sports car he ever owned seems stiff. , not now, I don't see the hood, you know, sometimes if these quote special offers, although this is not the best, you know, they tend to flex and all that kind of nuts, I mean. a real car, yes, so many silly cars have been built, you know, Excaliburs and climates and all that nonsense, yes, this Milt creation has been so unfortunate that they couldn't make it last longer, well, you know, it's hard to do a Live selling two-seater sports cars, I mean, Porsche almost went under, they weren't for, you know, the SUV and all those others, that's where they made money, yeah, I mean, Ford didn't make much money on Thunderbird until which turned it into a four. -I nod, yes, and suddenly, oh, you know, would you put on an auxiliary fan?, yes, sir, yes, not thermostatic, you know, do you ever walk away and leave it on and then it doesn't, uh, I think it turns off, oh yes, it adjusts itself.
Imagine you get pretty reasonable fuel consumption, you actually get great fuel, yes it's light, I want to, I haven't checked in a while but I think it's over 20. Well a big engine running slowly uses less fuel in a hard working small engine, yes. I always loved these bullet mirrors. He loved them and they were far away from the fender. Yes, some of the Apollos had them there. Yes Yes. I imagine it has a heating box. real car so many people, yeah, they forget about the heater radio, you know the things that do, it's amazing how many guys that build a car come here and go, where's the horn?
Oh, I didn't blow a horn, yeah, just for whatever reason they seem. losing interest you think that's the only thing that's going to save you, you know, yeah, I use the horn quite often, in fact, in this car people tend to drive straight at you, well, the worst thing is when you're motoring in the old days, I could always do it. make contact now people come out head down on the phone yeah but it drives wonderfully it drives well yeah i'm very lucky jay yeah you know when they build these things they set them up that way for a reason like a lot of people I don't like the tall skinny tires but that's what makes it handle so well yeah how long has it been done? uh we finished in 2018.
Uh oh it's been quite a while yeah I took it to the Italian concorso the first year it ended. I guess that would qualify, would you throw it in there? Yes, or I didn't drive it. Me or a friend of mine took it out. You had a good reception. I did it. I obtained. I got a third prize. Oh, that's great. Yes, sometimes. Get a little snobby about that stuff, yeah, now, though, the next year I was at the Quail, that was fun and then uh, I just won best in show at the Auto Metsy All Italian Show in Colorado, oh, that's cool, yes, sponsored by Ferrari.
I wasn't expecting that, yeah, yeah, how do you like the seats? The seats are good, I mean the seats are pretty much what I remember, nice elevated feeling, so that's my dilemma. Should I do the interior? Should I leave it as is? I think you leave the way, yeah, you know, at some point it's good to enjoy it, keep throwing money and you'll always have it. I like the original. I'll look better in the new thing, so you'll lose half the people. Okay, I'd just drive it and use it and enjoy it, yes sir, and it's your car, and the good thing about being original is that you have a reason to do it, yes, well, it's original, oh, a reason not to do it, yes, a reason, yes. that's a good reason not to do it yes I would like to say it's only original once and yes you know you can remake it and keep redoing it 50 times but you can never make it original again well thank you very much this is a my dream from childhood I've been thinking about this car since I was 14, so it's a pleasure for me and it's the exact car, it's the prototype, it's the one I saw in the magazine, so wait long enough and good things happen.
That's right, thank you very much, I appreciate it my friend, it's my pleasure and thanks to Rob, he did a great job. Okay, Rob, I'm sorry, I would have been at the scene. We would have taken it, but pick up the book, folks. a good read, I really enjoyed it, it's quite easy to read but if you dream of building a car it will inspire you, see you next week, thanks.

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