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Jay Leno Drives the American Ferrari, a 1964 Apollo GT, His Dream Car as a 14-Year Old

Everyone wants to own a Ferrari so much that the car community has developed synonyms to achieving its greatness. You’ve probably heard of a poor man’s Ferrari, the MK II Toyota MR2, or the Pontiac Fiero kit cars, but did you know there’s an American Ferrari?
Jay Leno 1964 Apollo GT 17 photos
Photo: YouTube Screenshot/Jay Leno's Garage
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On a recent episode, Jay Leno of Jay Leno’s Garage got the chance to drive a neatly preserved 1964 Apollo GT, aka the American Ferrari. He first saw this classic in a magazine as a kid and instantly fell in love.

The Apollo GT has quite a fascinating story. It was born in the '60s, the birth era of some of the most revolutionizing sports cars of all time, including the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, Lamborghini Miura, Ferrari 250 GTO, and the Aston Martin DB5.

Leno invited Kurt Brakhage, the owner of a 1964 Apollo GT, and Robb Northru, an author who’s written a book about the classic American grand tourer: Apollo GT: The American Ferrari.

Believe it or not, the Apollo GT classic, like the Lamborghini Muira, was developed by a group of 20-year-old college kids back in the '60s.

The whole idea was to try and build a European-type GT, but with American mechanicals, so they could take it anywhere to be serviced,” Northru revealed.

It all began when Frank Reisner, a Hungarian-born chemical engineer from Canada, met Milt Brown, a young American engineer, during the 1960 Monaco Grand Prix. While they wanted to develop their own version of an American grand tourer, they also wanted it to compete with top contenders of the era, including Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, and Ferrari.

Jay Leno 1964 Apollo GT
Photo: YouTube Screenshot/Jay Leno's Garage
Milt Brown might have been young but had extensive experience working on race cars. According to Northru, Brown had a degree in engineering from the University of California Berkeley and had spent some time working for a race car company in the UK.

The duo first produced two prototypes. Later, they developed, 76 coupes and 11 convertibles. The base price for the Apollo GT was around $6,500 for the coupe and about $7,400 for the convertible. Brakhage’s dad got his 1964 Apollo GT for less than $25,000 in 2003.

Like most young developers, they had funding problems. The duo started the company with $21,000 ($190,000 in today’s money) they had sourced from friends and family.

The Apollo GT might have looked European but was based on American underpinnings. It had a Buick suspension system and ran on a GM 3.5-liter V8 engine paired to a Borg-Warner T10 4-speed manual transmission, making 250 hp (253 ps).

Leno couldn’t wait to get his hands on the 1964 classic grand tourer. “ You’re about the only person I would allow to drive this. You are the only person that’s kind of driven it since I finished it,” Brakhage confessed to Leno.

Leno thinks the Apollo GT’s chassis seems rigid and drives modern for a 1964 sports car. Unlike most classic sports cars, it gets very reasonable fuel mileage.

This is a childhood dream of mine. I’ve been thinking about this car since I was 14 years old,” Leno confessed.

Leno and Brakhage shared a lot of history on the Apollo during the drive. We recommend you catch the conversation in the video below.

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About the author: Humphrey Bwayo
Humphrey Bwayo profile photo

Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life.
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