(first posted 3/5/2018) This is one of my very favorite curbside classics in Eugene. Why? Because I actually know its whole story, having met its original owner; that’s not often the case. And it’s a sole daily driver again for the past five years or so, in the hands of its current young second owner after the original owner passed away. And I see it in traffic regularly. Given what great shape it’s in, that does worry me just a wee bit. But why not? If it were tucked away in someone’s garage or warehouse, I’d really miss seeing it dicing it up with traffic on 7th Avenue. It never fails to cheer me up every time.
This picture above was taken way back in 2009, not long after I started curbsiding. Back then the pristine Apollo normally sat in the driveway of this house, but I was hot to shoot it. I knocked on the door and a very elderly woman with a heavy French accent opened it. When I explained my mission, she went…bonkers. “The internet? My car on the internet! Never! Go away!!”
When I mentioned my encounter to Stephanie, she chuckled, and said “I know her; she’s a Meals On Wheels client of mine. And she’s …ah…eccentric. Not really working with a full deck anymore. And she can be very gruff”. Yes.
Well, a couple of weeks later as we walked by, the Apollo was out on the street! So I started shooting. And out the door she came, like a crazed witch, yelling at me: No!! No!! You can’t do that!! But I already had. And as I told her, it’s in the street, so it was fair game. It was as though I had just deflowered her virgin daughter that she kept locked in the tower.
But the odd thing is that I ended up honoring her demand, because I never wrote it up, until now, years later. Stephanie told me about a year after that incident that she had died rather suddenly. And a month or so later, the Apollo was gone.
But not very far. I started seeing it all over the downtown area, driven by a young man. A relative? Or was it sold? I’d like to think it was her nephew, or great-nephew. And he’s been driving it ever since. These shots were taken a little while back, but I saw it in traffic just the other day, which reminded me I have to write it up.
Needless to say, this Apollo is a badge-engineered Chevy Nova. It appeared in 1973, along with its stablemate, the Olds Omega.
They followed the 1971 Pontiac Ventura’s pioneering badge-engineering footsteps by two years. I called the Ventura a GM Deadly Sin, as it marked the beginning of a very long era when this became rampant, before GM realized that they needed to at least differentiate their platform-mates a bit more than a different grille and tail lights. This was totally new territory for GM.
Needless to say, the cover of the 1973 Apollo’s brochure makes it clear that Buick was a bit defensive about the subject. It tries (way too hard) to make it appear that this is a genuine Buick through-and-through, and not just a badge-engineered Nova.
There’s a lot of talk about sound insulation and such in the brochure, but the only significant difference is in the optional V8, which is a genuine Buick engine, unlike the standard Chevy 250 six. This kind of language would soon fall away too, as GM started intermixing engines across its brands.
A plusher Custom interior was available, but not surprisingly, this car’s original thrifty owner would have none of that. Which means it looks an awful lot like a Nova. Just don’t ask me about that strap for pulling the door closed. Hmm.
And no, this Thrush mufflers logo decal was not on it when she owned it. It’s the only visible change on the car, along with blackwall tires.
The Thrush decal does not signify an actual Thrush muffler, as I’ve heard it in traffic all-too often. And its distinctive gentle in-line six moan confirms that there’s no genuine Buick engine under its hood.
We haven’t answered the question as to why Buick decided it needed (or wanted) a Nova clone for 1973, as that was a year before the energy crisis. Prescience? No; the demand for small cars had been growing for some years, and Buick’s own Century (née Skylark) had of course become morbidly obese for 1973. What had been a trim 2,600 lb compact in 1961 was now a 4,000 lb Colonnade heavyweight. GM realized the error of its ways with its 1971 mega-full-sized cars and the 1973 Colonnades even before they arrived. But it was too late, so pinch-hitting, in the form of pinching the Nova from Chevy, was the solution.
Not that it was very convincing or effective, initially. Some 33k were sold in 1973, but the energy crisis upped that to a rip-roaring 57k in 1974.
A complete restyle for all of the NOVA cars (Nova, Omega, Ventura, Apollo) arrived in 1975, and the Buick transitioned back to the Skylark name. Sales trended upwards, and topped 100k for the 1976-1978 years, before it was replaced by the X-Car Skylark midway through 1979. That became a serious hit for Buick.
Meanwhile, this Apollo soldiers on; the only representative of its breed in probably quite some area. Is there another Apollo of this vintage being used as a sole daily driver? Inquiring minds would like to know.
Reminds me of the B210 from the other day; not a shape I’m a fan of, but would rather see this in the traffic than almost any modern vehicle. Great condition and great colour. Congrats to the owner
The badge-engineering may be a sin but those 70s Novas, under any name, were GOOD cars. A couple of them are still smoothly and quietly driving around my neighborhood.
+1
My mother had a ’69 (I think) Nova with 307 she traded in on a B210 in 1975.
There are a couple ways to differentiate Chevy Nova’s model years, of course, if you can remember those details after 43 years (that would require you to have been born at least 10 years earlier…:) )
’68: Only year for that body style which had the ignition switch on the dashboard, and had “CHEVY II” nameplates, one in the hood, the hother on the trunklid, with a small “BY CHEVROLET” underneath (as had other Chevy Models).
Nova badging appeared above the rear side markers.
Front side markers were amber colored.
’69: ignition swith migrated to steering column, moving clockwise the emergency blinkers switch
Heater and fan control panel migrated upwards and rotated 90 degrees, in space formerly occupied by starting switch (in ’68)
CHEVY II badging replaced by NOVA
Side NOVA badging migrated to front fenders.
’70
Square front turn indicators in amber
Longer side markers
Engine size (for V8s) above front side marker instead of besides it.
Different rear lights, with back-up lights within larger red lanterns.
Oh, I know most people know this. But my father’s ’68 is a car I’ve been looking for 40 years now….
Just realized I said that CHEVY II badging was replaced by NOVA…I made a mistake. An exception was in the hood, where it was replaced by the blue bow-tie, which was curiously absent from the ’68 in any really visible place (some hubcaps had it, as well as some steering wheels and other trim items, but it was as if they didn’t want to advertise it as a Chevrolet)
Hi it’s for sale
In strict contrast to Don, I see a really decent-looking car, though my view is coloured a bit by the striking originality here. Such examples of nearly any car always soften me up some.
Please, do try and find the owner. This is like having half a bedtime story.
I do love the painted to match wheels and dog dish hubcaps. However in the 70s I wouldn’t have wanted a Buick without a genuine Buick engine.
Didn’t Buick have the V6 back by 1974? This might have been a good application for it. Other than the fact that the Chevy inline 6 was so much more pleasant to drive.
Looks like that happened in the Skylark, starting in 1975. That also appears to be the last year for the Apollo nameplate, but the V6 is listed in the brochure as being standard in the Skylark, and only available on that model. The Apollo soldiered on with the Chevy inline six as standard equipment.
How smooth were the ones one produced starting in the 1978 model year, the ones with offset crank pins?
Was brought back in fall, 1974, for the new ’75 models.
Yeah, my bad. Calendar years and model years can confuse things sometimes!
Given the badge-engineering, I’ve always been amused by one particular passage in the Apollo brochure mentioned in the article: “Let’s face it. Apollo’s basic body configuration is something you’ve seen before.”
Um, no. It’s more like Apollo’s entire body shell is something I’ve seen before. With a bowtie emblem on it. Since the 1968 model year.
Ironically, the space program of the same name made its last flight at about the same time this model name was introduced.
I actually kind of liked these when they were new. I thought the little Buick trim bits improved the car. The other thing in their favor was that by 1974 they were the only car in a GM showroom that still exuded that old Body-By-Fisher quality feel when you opened and closed the door.
If I am not mistaken, those basic hub caps were the same ones that Buick was using on the 1964 Special, so I would say Buick got its money’s worth from the tooling.
A fabulous story! I hope this Littlest Buick (an appropriate name for Justy Baum’s bedtime story) can grow old with dignity.
these were really nice buicks always liked the looks. i do prefer the nova hatchback first with the GTO second followed by the buick.
Wow – what a find! Fortunately, I’ve not been yelled at as you described (knock on wood), but these pictures and accompanying write-up were worth it.
I remember seeing only a handful of these on the road back in the day. I think the LeSabre-esque taillamps were a nice touch.
Beautiful car. There hasn’t been a Apollo around here in decades. There was a 76 Skylark for sale in the lemon lot on Shepperd Air Force base but that was back in 07. There is one 76 or 77 Nova being used as a daily at our local Wal-Mart but as far as I know, no other 70’s GM compacts are on the road around here. There is a rough 76 Nova thats been in storage at a local public storage shed for at least 20 years that I know of. Those are all thats left, no Buick’s or Oldsmobiles or Ventura’s. Kinda sad. At least I have 5 Maverick’s still on the road.
I had an aunt that owned one of these Apollos, I believe that it was even this same color. I remember being quite surprised when I first heard about it as Aunt Guytha(?) was one of those Auntie Mame types. The cars that she owned before buying the Apollo were all small, European sedans or coupes. I never got a chance to ask her why she had switched to a domestic branded car, or this one in particular but I would assume she saw it as being a bit more special (no pun intended) than a Chevrolet Nova.
Odd how Buick made such a big deal about these having Buick V8s but quietly “hid” the fact that the base car used a humble Chevy 6 cylinder engine.
To me, this car was THE sorriest attempt at making a Buick out of a Chevrolet. That front end styling in particular looks like it had all of 5 minutes thought applied to it.
Fantastic find and a great backstory too. It’s great to see this survivor still going strong.
But…. to me the “OVA” variants of the Chevrolet Nova represented the deep rot afflicting GM at the time. Why on earth would Buick, allegedly still a more “upscale” division in 1974, even be selling such a basic car with a cheap interior and dog dish hubcaps? Chevy? Yes. But Buick?
Given the growth in sales of smaller cars that was very evident in the early 1970s–including more upscale trims–it’s mind-boggling that GM beancounters wouldn’t allow for better differentiation for the Buick, Olds and Pontiac variants of the RWD X-Body. For a relatively minimal investment, they could have charged more for the “OVA” cars, and had products more in keeping with each division’s image. That strategy had worked well for the larger A- and B-Body cars, but GM apparently was so disdainful of “small” cars that they didn’t bother with making changes beyond the most minimal front clip, tail light and seat upholstery tweaks. It was an enormous lost opportunity, and it makes me cringe every time I think about the “OVA” clones and what they could have/should have been.
Great points!
Great curbside classic! The original owner (presumably, and what a quintessential old lady car that is!) doesn’t come across as a very nice person in your brief encounters with her, but I’m sure she had some fine qualities not least of which are those that enabled her to maintain that car in nice shape for 35 years. It looks clean in the 2009 shot, and white walls don’t just keep themselves that white. If that is her house in the background, it looks well tended as well. She must have had most of her faculties at that point, because in my experience old folks in the grips of dementia are not good at maintaining their homes and belongings.
Given her desire for privacy and taste for cleanliness, she seems like the type who would keep her car in the garage.
It’s nice to see that the car is still going strong. The blackwalls are in keeping with the image of the car, but I prefer the white walls. They are more appropriate to the car’s era and are probably how it came new. With very limited whitewall choices, you have to make a special point of buying whitewalls nowadays and it’s likely something that didn’t even occur to the young new owner.
P.s. I didn’t mean for this to be attached to GN’s comment.
I don’t know what drove Buick to offer the Apollo, but I’ve read that Oldsmobile offered the first Omega because dealers were upset over the phase-out of the F-85 nameplate and availability of the six in the Olds A-body.
If I recall correctly, this happened for the 1973 model year. Dealers wanted an offering with a low base price that could be used to lure customers to the store. Of course, once the customers were there, the dealers most likely tried to “upsell” them to a Cutlass with a V-8!
Motor Trend had this quote in write up of 1973 1/2 Apollo.
“Buick salesmen will say, Apollo is a nice car, but let me show you a bigger car that will hold the road better, a Century…”
I’m sure that happened often in SoCal. A work colleague bought one of these Apollos new, beige with the six and automatic, radio, and – perhaps one nod to its being sold at a Buick dealership – whitewalls and full wheel covers. Her chief incentive was the salesman practically gave the car away to get it off the back lot where it sat, alone and ignored. IIRC she got many years of good service out of the Apollo and enjoyed its rarity.
Buick’s general manager when these would have been approved was Lee Mays, who had come from Chevrolet and who — at least according to John DeLorean — had a pronounced disdain for anything other than traditional, middle-of-the-road family cars. While the call for something smaller than the Skylark probably came from the dealers, I have to think Mays would have been dubious about offering such a car as anything other than a fairly cynical loss-leader, and would likely have been reluctant to spend real money on it even if it had been his decision to make.
The other consideration, so far as the corporation went, was that the last time they had all the mid-price divisions’ sales forces yelling for small cars, GM had ended up with three models that were very similar in price and concept, but mechanically dissimilar enough to really compromise their ROI. (I don’t know if Pontiac, Olds, and Buick lost money on the Y-bodies, but they certainly weren’t wildly profitable.) That wasn’t all that terribly long before, so the logic of the, “Novas? We got Novas, who wants a Nova?” plan isn’t hard to see, even if it doesn’t invite any great admiration.
Just seeing those “after thought” extended bumpers brings me back. I remember only too well needing to sweep the snow off them.
My brother was a law enforcement officer. He surprisingly, would leave snow on the bumper ((porch)) shielding the taillights.
I used to say “really”?
Nice write-up and nice car Paul. Do you happen to know if the seat belt interlock system is intact and working on this car?
Glenn-
It’s not unheard of for those systems to survive through the ages-
The ’74 Mustang II I bought in 2013 still had a working interlock system (That I quickly deactivated).
When I was in the market for a used car to replace my worn-out ’65 Mustang in late 1978, my sister-in-law offered to sell me her 1974 Apollo coupe. It was maroon with a white top and interior, and was equipped with the 2-bbl 350, auto, and A/C. It was in pretty good shape and drove decently, but I found it to be too dull.
With the “V8”, it should a moved pretty well.
Before the Apollo Buick, 1972, Buick had only two engines…the 350 and 455, albeit in different states of tune. 350 2bbl, 350 4bbl, 455 bbl and 455 Stage I…..All made by Buick and 3 transmissions, Turbo Hydramatic 350, Turbo Hydramatic 375B and Turbo Hydramatic 400…A simpler time
The commonality of the GM division V8 engines would have made for some interesting (and, theoretically, easy) engine swaps. Imagine a division-specific 455 going into an early Apollo, Ventura, or Omega.
But in 1971 and going back to the 60s the Chevy I6 was the standard engine in the basic Skylark/Special after Buick gave up on the V6 and sold it to AMC.
I have to say, I always thought the badge-engineered versions of the Nova from Buick, Pontiac and Olds were actually better looking than the Nova…
Even though I know full well these opened a badge engineering Pandora’s box that GM would later truly exploit, I have to agree. The Nova was one of those good looking bodies in search of a pretty face, and Buick, Olds and Pontiac all gave it good ones.
My favorite of these ’73-’74 GM compacts was the ’74 GTO. Pontiac aficionados look down on the ’74 in the same way Mustang enthusiasts disregard the Mustang II but, like the Pinto-stang, the Ventura Goat is actually quite similar to the original ’64 GTO.
The problem with the Ventura version was that, unlike in 1964, it wasn’t brand-new, performance was a dirty word, and there was some stiff competition from the Mopar A-body for less coin.
The 74 GTO would have been a whole lot more accepted had they come standard with a 400 or even 455. With the 350 though the GTO was now positioned as second fiddle to the Firebird in the performance Pontiac range, which wasn’t like the original. The car is a bit of a conundrum for me, as a Duster 340(360) competitor, these were a solid effort, and I quite like the styling on the Ventura, but I just have a really hard time with the GTO badge.
Better effort than the Buick GSX though
Looking at a perfect ’74 GTO in green (VERY green) at the Ypsilanti museum, it was a beautiful design. I couldn’t take my eyes of it, while everyone else was looking at the adjacent row of Corvairs.
I vaguely recall a 1974 comparison between the ‘hot’ compacts of that year, and the Ventura GTO was noticeably slower than the A-body, and it was priced at quite a premium, too. That’s really what killed it. Who the hell would pay more for a new ’74 GTO that was significantly slower than a 360 Duster/Dart?
I can’t imagine how much more Pontiac would have wanted for a 400/455 Ventura GTO just to get it on the same level as the Mopar, not to mention how expensive it would have been to insure. But even with all that, I would certainly love to have a nice, original ’74 GTO. Even if it wasn’t as fast as its competitors, it still had the GTO ‘image’ and, unlike the truly lame Mustang II, that counts for something.
I can’t imagine it would be any worse to insure than a Formula or Trans Am with a 400 or 455. I mean it makes it an “adult” supercar, but that’s essentially what the GTO had been since budget muscle cars like the RoadRunner hit the scene anyway. I actually had no idea they were priced at a premium, I had always figured they were in the Duster 340 ballpark.
Other image problem with these GTOs I imagine was the fact that you could get a SS 396 Nova in this bodystyle up to 5 years earlier, and without citing any sources I presume they’d be quite a bit brisker than these GTOs as well as cheaper for a speed hungry buyer. It would be particularly embarrassing getting the doors of your brand new GTO blown off by some kid in his near identical but clapped out big block Nova.
Certainly one of the more rare CCs and in great condition!
It’s been mentioned in other X body posts but who else can remember what the letters NOVA stand for?
Nova
Omega
Ventura
Apollo
😉
Never heard that one before. Interesting observation. Nova cuz, the “Ventura II”, surfaced first though. Was the “71 Ventura II:
Remember seeing a “gold out/green in”, one in front of “Mikan Pontiac”.
Thought is was a new “Nova” , already, on a used car lot for a week or so.
Then I remembered the used rides were in a separate line.
Next to the “V II” were all new cars.
A good friend of mine had one of these in high school about 18 years ago, it’s the only Apollo I’ve ever seen in the metal. It was your typical $500 teenager beater car, very rusty, painted over with spray can yellow but ran like a champ. Had the Buick 350 2 barrel and automatic which made it pretty quick. One thing that stands out for me was how similar in quality the interior was to the Hornet I had at the time.
When my friend upgraded from the Apollo it was sold to a far less reputable friend who never registered or insured it and later abandoned it after some drunken joyrides. When found abandoned, the authorities came after the first friend who ended up having to sue the friend he sold it to. Nonetheless the Apollo undoubtedly ended up in the junkyard, hopefully that strong Buick 350 found it’s way under the hood of another Buick.
Thanks for bringing back those memories with the subject car. While I normally dislike that colour it looks so right on this car, especially with the dog dish hubcaps.
I’m starting to think I might live in a parallel CC universe populated with cars one generation newer than the ones Paul posts. Because there’s a late 1970s Skylark that’s a frequent visitor to my neighborhood. It’s in reasonably good condition for its age, apart from the plastic piece between the rear bumper and the body disintegrating. I’m guessing it belongs to a friend or relative of the resident of the house I sometimes see it parked in front of.
Then the other day there was the “world’s best preserved B210”. I think I may have found the world’s best preserved first-generation Sentra.
Eventually, yes, but I’ve long had my suspicions, guesses, and assumptions about the early particulars of GM’s shift from brand-specific to corporate engines. I am under the impression that it worked less like intermixing and more like one-way substitution: buyers of Delta 88s and 98 Regencies were peeved to find a Chev V8 engine under the hood of their newly-purchased Olds, but there weren’t any Caprice or Impala buyers similarly peeved, because aside from the stinky diesel GM did not install Olds V8s in Chevs. With and/or without merit, the Chev small block was publicly perceived as inferior to the Olds motor—and GM’s lopsided behaviour, telling Olds owners “You ordered a 350, you got a 350, so what’s yer problem?” but never the other way around, seemed to confirm it—thus the lawsuit(s), Is that more or less correct? I’d surely like to read in researched, accurate detail about this.
Like you I have only suspicions, but it would appear that GM’s engine-mixing plans were in the planning stages as early as 1969-70 when every Division’s small V8 magically wound up at an even 350 and every BOP Divisional big V8 ended up at 455. How Chevy kept its 454 is an interesting question.
But then just as oddly the newer versions of those engines sprayed displacements all over the map with an Olds 260, Chevy 267, Pontiac 265 and 301, Olds 307, Chevy 305. It makes you wonder if anyone was actually running the place even then.
Here and Here are contemporaneous New York Times accounts of the kerfuffle. The second one is particularly interesting for its last line: “The damages sought included two cents a mile for alleged inferior durability, design and drivability of the Chevrolet engines.”
Took some digging, but I’ve found what appears to be a report on the appeal. It’s very dense and legalistic, natch, but contains interesting snippets like The plaintiff-objectors presented, among others, several 1977 Oldsmobile owners who objected to the settlement and two mechanics who testified that the substituted power train was inferior to the one GM allegedly warranted. GM relied largely on exhibits and the testimony of a Chevrolet staff engineer who testified that the power trains warranted and those provided were comparable.
Give me a Buick or Oldsmobile 350 for their fatter/flatter torque curves compared to the Chevy.
I thought the ultimate ignominy for Buick and Pontiac at the end of “box” B-body wagon production was forcing all of them to use the Olds 307 V8 with E-QudraJet. Low power, slow reving, and stuck with a carburetor when the list of vehicles that still used one was getting very short. The same disgrace was shoved on Cadillac with the Olds 307 as the base engine in the Fleetwood Brougham from 1987-1990.
The 307 may have been somewhat strangled for power but it was of excellent quality and durability. Even a decade before the smaller Olds V8 engine was recognized as such and was the only power-plant that was considered for the Seville, Cadillac’s most expensive model.
They only rounded off. If you do the math, only Olds and Chevy are proper 350s, the buick is a 349 and the Pontiac is a 354.
The similarity in displacement was a matter of corporate policy. It wasn’t about preparing for engine interchangeability, but rather of trying to keep the divisions from one-upping each other to degrees that would draw fire from the safety lobby. Corporate management kept having to amend the policy because the division either flaunted it or screamed about the others flaunting it, but that was the original rationale. That is why, for instance, that the Buick 401 was called 400 in the initial Buick GS400. It was supposed to keep the divisions honest, not set people up for sharing engines on a wider scale.
*flouted
Yeah, I realized that after I posted it, but the 503 error kept me from editing. “[T]he division either flouted it or screamed about the others flouting it.”
Johnny Carson even joked about the engine switch, adding fuel to the fire.
“Olds owners also found buggy whips instead of steering wheels in their new cars”
There was a precedent set before that-The first Pontiac Ventura II had a 307 Chevy option. If you count Canadian Pontiacs, it went on for about 15 years before even that.
Yes, this is a very late reply. The answer is much simpler than any grand plans to shift to corporate engines, it was simply a case of supply and demand. Demand for the Cutlass was way up which meant that Olds was short on engines. Meanwhile demand for the full size Chevy was down. Olds needed engines and Chevy suddenly had excess capacity. The expedient and low cost solution was to use that excess Chevy capacity rather than add capacity for Olds engines.
The Buick Apollo came off far better looking than its concurrent Nova-clone Olds Omega. Cool find on this one!
(btw-it cracks me up in the Apollo brochure where they mention woodgrain trim on the dash but don’t actually show the Nova-based dash..)
Reason why 1973 Apollo sales are low is it had a spring ’73 introduction, thus shorter model year.
Buick did get loyal brand buyers for Apollo who would “never get a Chevy”, still thinking of GM’s brands as “separate car companies”. “GM” to some simply meant “all American car companies”, as if public utility like Bell System.
#IMO the Nova (and it’s various GM nameplate clones) was a far inferior car when compared to the same year Plymouth Valiant or Dodge Dart.
Mopar A body is their ‘Greatest Hit’, but then got replaced by one of its ‘deadliest sins’, the Volare’ and Aspen, at least in their first years. Adding a new front and rear clip and voila! The M body, which lasted until 1989.
A friend of mine’s mom had a black Apollo in the late 70’s-early 80’s. It also had a tan vinyl top and interior, if memory serves me correctly.
He told me that when its engine died, he put a straight 6 in its place. i don’t recall what it had in it originally.
This is the ’75, but an interesting take on things; the lead for the Popular Mechanics article notes the relatively minor (base) price difference, but the notable variance in buyer satisfaction:
Somebody did use this 4-door to get groceries in LA. Only ever saw it once, but I thought it looked surprisingly like the 1968-72 Special 4-door for a Nova.
I am fan of GM rwd X bodies. A year ago I bought All original 76 Pontiac Ventura blue exterior eith light blue vinyl cloth interior 260 2V, tilt steering, Factory AM radio, rally wheels. And the Surprise its 121 Original miles since new!! Yes Not typo I must guess could be only left in existence with that mileage!!
Gramps bought a new 74 Pontiac version, cause he was a Pontiac man, don’t you know. That car had more issues than any car I have ever driven. I borrowed it for a week when our family car was in the shop back in the mid eighties and it it instantly rewarded me by overheating on the way home. Before the end of the week, I had replaced the water pump, thermostat and hoses and did a flush and fill with money I didn’t have. The Ventura II rewarded me by once again overheating, this time at 4:30 in the morning. To plagiarize my favorite movie, that son of a bitch would overheat in the middle of winter in the Antarctic! Granted, we were in Phoenix, but it WAS winter and the temp was in the 30s! I never did make peace with that car, and it never stopped letting us down and leaving us stranded until we had to take Gramps keys from him in the late 80s. He offered it for free to anyone in the family, there were no takers.
just my 75 ventura
I’ve seen this Apollo in McMinnville, OR. Started seeing it over the winter, seems like a daily driver. Note the Colorado license plate.
I can’t recall ever seeing these as a kid. They were all regular Novas. I like the Buick details. While the steel wheels are cool and original looking, rally wheels make almost everything better, in my opinion. I would absolutely love to have this car. It would rust out in about an hour here in northwest Indiana though.
A got a kick out of reading this. I bought this car in 1983 for my mom (the French lady). I got it back from her when she was no longer able to drive and it’s been my everyday driver for almost 10 years now. I hate to say it, but I might be selling it soon.
Aha! Now we really have the full backstory. Thanks!
Nice car, but it has quite a bit of rust and at the CL asking price of $4,000 is a bit over priced (looked at it recently, parked across from The Vintage). Also, the six cylinder motor is a real drawback, along with the NADA average retail value of $2,100, which is way less than what he is asking. Now if it was a ’63 Nova, that would be a different matter!
I had one in the early 80s. Same color! Mine had the six, three on the column, manual steering, manual drum brakes. Did have an AM radio — was that standard? The ‘Buickness’, aside from the trim, was the horn. It had an honest-to-gosh twin-pipe Buick horn. That sucker was loud. These things drove well, GM cars of the era beat Ford, certainly, in the nice-to-drive character.
I drive mine at least three times a week.
Yep. The best way to keep an old car reliable is to drive it regularly. I’ll take my Skylark to work tomorrow.
And besides, I enjoy driving it, and showing it off. When I stop enjoying it, it’s time to sell.
Didn’t see too many “Apollo’s” even then. This one being so “basic” is really a curiousity”.
That “V6” mentioned wasn’t available in “74”, that I know of.
Showed up with the “75 restyle”, of this line.
That “71 Ventura”, pictured a bit down the article, is the color combo of our neighbor’s “73 Ventura”, hatchback.
He bought it upon his return from “Vietnam”.
It was “350 V8”.
My brother had the “74 Ventura”, (tudoor) with the (buzzy 250 cid “6”)
It was a “basics”. Options were ;radio/auto/ deluxe white bucket seat interior/wheel covers. Likely had white stripe tires too. I forget for sure.
As it was a “15 month old used car”, the first owner had dressed it a bit with a side striped (black) between the wheel wells.
The Apollo I knew was purchased new at a Buick dealer due to the fact that the young couple was trading in a Buick and interested in a smaller car. They were my cousins. It was a bright red and it was a dependable ride. There wasn’t anything “Buick” about it. It was a straight Nova with Apollo lables on it. I rode in it all the time, never drove it, and it was rather unremarkable other than its rarity.
Why did this happen? I believe it happened because the marketing wind was blowing in that general direction and Ford had made enough noise to stir up market concerns that their new Granada/Monarch would be an upscale compact. So it was a reaction to having something like an upscale compact before the Granada/Monarch.
The Granada/Monarch was a huge hit in 1974 and quite a sensation. GM didn’t have anything to counter it. They just had these Nova knock-offs. Until the Granada evolved away after two generations, (the Maverick base and then the Fox base), GM never really got a competitor at the same level as Ford’s. When the X cars arrived, GM had its first new compact since 1968. We know how that became the infamous X car debacle, sadly.
So these Nova clones are rare. Everyone knew that these were just Novas with different front and rear trim. So, they weren’t successful. Mercury Monarch took the luxury compact market as the Ford Granada cleaned up. They weren’t even good cars until they were put onto the Fox bodies. Yet – hundreds of thousands of American buyers wanted the new little formal brougham compacts that Lee Iacocca unveiled in late ’73.
These Nova clones were better cars, but didn’t have the styling needed to be contenders during these years.
Minor correction, the Ford Granada / Mercury Monarch were launch in the fall of 1974 as a 1975 model year cars. What I would be curious to learn is what changes were made to the Granada / Monarch if any when the decision was made to keep the Maverick / Comet in production until the launch of the Fox platform in the fall of 1977 for the 1978 model year.
My “h/s” friends mom got a “76 Granada”. They “factory ordered” it. Pretty “under powered,” ((severely actually)) as I recall.
Was an attractive car. Easy in/out to back seat, for a “tudor”. Remember “noisy windshield wipers” too.
It was simple. Maverick sales were still strong as for as cheap strippers were concerned. So Ford dropped the entry level trim and stripped exterior Granada/Monarch models and opened with the mid range models as the lesser Granadas/Monarchs, letting Maverick handle the entry level sales.
The Granada program began years before they were finally revealed in the forms they took in 1974. Ford had considered a number of designs, more than a few were based upon the European Granada. When Dearborn finally decided to make a decision on how they wanted to proceed, they started from scratch with the Maverick again. So the upscale Granada was not a secret and there was more than enough time for GM to cobble together these NOVA clones to meet what Ford finally put into production.
It took Ford a long time to put out a US based Granada. Everyone in the business knew that Ford was putting together a Granada for the US at some point in the early 1970s.
So yes, the Granada was the push for GM to give Olds and Buick their own Nova knock off.
Not a Thrush sticker. That’s a Clay Smith Cams sticker, though the two logos look very similar. I don’t believe CS offers any cams for a Chevy 6, at least not currently, though they do sell them for the Ford 6 of this era.
Surely, there’s a great engine swap story here. /s
Probably in1975 my cousin (actually my Father’s cousin, but he was about my age) stopped by at our home in Virginia with a friend to pick my sister and I up to take us to Kings Dominion, which I think had recently opened (we moved from Virginia in 1975 and I’ve rarely been back), driving one of these. I remember them taking back-to-back trips on the rollercoaster (probably was a big deal back then).
I got to drive the next generation two years later when I was a transporter for Hertz. Mostly back then Hertz rented Fords but this was probably the most common GM car at our location. Actually it probably wasn’t a Buick, but an Olds Omega that we had in our fleet. I liked the car but it was a bit small inside for the size of the car. I remember the vertical radio position.