Engineered by Milt Brown and designed by Ron Plescia, it featured handmade Italian bodywork and chassis by Intermeccanica, with a choice between two-seater convertible or fastback styles.

Frank Reisner, a former chemical engineer born in Hungary, raised in Canada and educated in America,[4] established a company that later produced complete bodies—painted and trimmed—for the Apollo as well as the Texas-built Vetta Ventura (which was the same car with a different name).

Reisner, on holiday in Italy in 1959, decided that he loved Turin and set up shop there as Intermeccanica producing tuning kits for Renaults, Peugeots, and Simcas.

The Apollo project was the dream of a young California engineer, Milt Brown, who desired to build an American answer to European GTs, such as the Aston Martin DB4 and Ferrari coupes.

The prototype's design was by Milt Brown's friend, Ron Plescia, but the nose was too long and the rear vision limited, so Reisner commissioned former Bertone stylist Franco Scaglione to revise it.

IMC then made a contract with Reisner (to keep his operation going) allowing Intermeccanica to supply body/chassis units to Fred Ricketts, owner of Vanguard Industries, an aftermarket supplier of auto air conditioners in Dallas, Texas.