The Buick Apollo is a

compact car Compact car is a vehicle size class — predominantly used in North America — that sits between subcompact cars and mid-size cars. "Small family car" is a British term and a part of the C-segment in the European car classification. However, p ...

that was manufactured from 1973 to 1975 by

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

. It was based on the

GM X platform General Motors has used the X-platform or X-body designation for two different automobile platforms. All X-bodies were compact car Compact car is a vehicle size class — predominantly used in North America — that sits between subcompact c ...

along with the

Oldsmobile Omega The Oldsmobile Omega is a compact car manufactured and marketed from 1973-1984 by Oldsmobile, as the brand's most affordable, entry level vehicle — across three distinct generations. The first two generations of the Omega used rear-wheel ...

Chevrolet Nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

, and the

Pontiac Ventura The Pontiac Ventura was an automobile model that was produced by Pontiac. As was common practice at the time, its name was derived from Ventura, California, joining other similarly derived models such as the fellow Pontiac Catalina, the Chevrolet M ...

. The car was named for the Greek god

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

. It was available as a coupe, two-door hatchback, or four-door sedan. The two-door models were renamed

Skylark ''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species are ...

for 1975; only the sedan carried the Apollo nameplate for that year. A total of 112,901 Apollos were built.The total does not include Buick Skylarks for 1975. * * *

Overview

The Apollo was powered by a standard

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

inline six or an optional

V8, available with either a two- or four-barrel carburetor. A three-speed manual transmission was standard, with a three-speed

Turbo-Hydramatic Turbo-Hydramatic or Turbo Hydra-Matic is the registered tradename for a family of automatic transmissions developed and produced by General Motors. These transmissions mate a three-element turbine torque converter to a Simpson planetary geartra ...

optional. The Oldsmobile 260 was added as the base V8 option for 1975. Standard equipment on the Apollo included a semi-closed cooling system, manual brakes with finned front drums, coil spring front suspension with stabilizer bar, extensive use of insulation and sound deadening materials, flow-through ventilation system, full-foam seats, front and rear ashtrays, reinforced front bumpers, carpeting, roof drip moldings, and front and rear wheel opening moldings. Options included variable-ratio power steering, power drum or power front disc brakes, E78x14 bias-belted tires, custom cloth interior trim, convenience center storage compartment, tilt steering wheel, climate control air conditioning with low Freon detector switch, rear window defogger (blower), tinted glass, sport mirrors with drivers remote control, bumper protective strips with white accent stripe- front and rear, bumper guards front and rear, color-coordinated body protective side moldings, deluxe wheel covers, deluxe wire wheel covers, chrome-plated styled wheels (Buick rally wheels) and a custom vinyl top. Steel-belted tires were introduced in 1975. There was no conventional antenna mounted on the body of the car. Instead, two wires were embedded in the layers of glass in the windshield. The 1974 Apollo debuted with only subtle differences. A chrome strip above the grille and roof-mounted safety restraints were added. A GSX package became available on the coupe for 1974, however, it was purely cosmetic changes, lacking the performance upgrades that distinguished it in previous years. It was available in red or white and featured a blacked-out grille, unique striping, white vinyl bucket seats with red interior accents, and wire wheel covers. The GSX was available with the straight six or either 350 V8, and could be ordered with any of the optional equipment available to other Apollo models. The 1975 Apollo was only available as a four-door sedan and adopted the redesigned X-body shell with a boxier European look which replaced the former Coke-bottle shape. For 1976, the Apollo nameplate was dropped entirely, with the sedan renamed Skylark to rejoin the coupe and hatchback.

References

{{Buick postwar timeline

Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Compact cars Coupés Sedans Motor vehicles manufactured in the United States Cars introduced in 1973