After making the IMP-Intermeccanica’s ideal sportcar-Paula and Jack Reisner went on the manufacture this Coupe for an upcoming company in Oakland, California known as Apollo. The Reisner’s first met Milt Brown and Apollo in Monte Carlo at the F1 race and agreed to keep in touch regarding a new Italian-built coupe with an American V8.

Eventually plans were made to produce an initial prototype that would shape all the cars that followed it. A fiberglass plug in miniature was made by Franco Scaglione that approximated the desired shape. This was sent to Corna, a subcontractor that specialized in Aluminum panels that later produced all the Abarth Record Monzas.

A tubular chassis was first supplied to Corna from America and a thin metal cage was built up over the car. These supported the hand-made aluminum body. Intermeccanica finished the car and shipped it directly to Oakland.

Fortunately, the first car was good enough for Apollo to continue on with the project. They secured financing and a production model was then developed. Unlike the prototype, a chassis and steel body complete with interior was made in Italy then it was shipped to Oakland for fittiment of the engine and suspension.

Because the prototype was completely finished in Italy and had a body from Corna it was unique in several ways. The first and most important of these was a supperleggra body finished in aluminum. It was quite different from production, having no ¾ windows and a squashed front air intake. Furthermore, it was finished to high degree to impress Apollo and motivate production of the final version.
Story by Richard Owen

In Detail