Comments: 1-15, 16-25
Water pump.
Rear brake cylinders.
Rear window leaks a little.
Replaced the exhaust.
Wiper motor.
Heater core.
Tie rod ends.
Recharged/retrofitted A/C system.
This is my first car and most reliable car I've ever owned. $600 is not bad for something that's lasted me 6 years and 67,000 miles.
It's Buick's equal to the Chevy Nova, rare back in the day and even more scarce today. It's got a lot of power, mid-sized by today's standards (Compact back then) with a small block V8! I can really burn up tires when I want to. Most people like to judge it by its looks when they pull up to me at a stoplight, but their jaws drop when I pull away from their Japanese tin can with screeching tires, roaring engine and smelling my exhaust.
It's not big and boaty like most cars of the 70's, and actually isn't bad at all on gas. It's been fairly reliable too and when you take into consideration the age and mileage, I guess it has a right to be tempermental once in a while. We went ice fishing in Canada one winter and got stranded in a blizzard overnight, and my car started at minus 40 the next day when everyone else's $35,000 SUV wouldn't. I also took a trip from Michigan to Arizona in the Scorching Desert heat last summer with no trouble at all.
I've done some body work to it to get it looking good and painted it too. Parts can be hard to find when you need them. I've fallen in love with this car and would never part with it!
I can relate to the way you feel about you Apollo. I am the owner of a 1974 Buick Apollo also and I love it I paid 525 for my car and I have had it 7 years. this car has been very good to me. I am thinking about getting the motor rebuilt in it and a small face lift. I am a 45 year old female and everyday some young guy is trying to buy my car. But I know it will never mean the same thing to them that it means to me. My car still has the original motor. It has 350 engine in it with a 2 barrel carb. I want to spice it up a little, but I also like the originality of it. it is the only Apollo that I have everseen in my part of the country and that is in the state of Miss.
Hey there I own a 74 Buick apollo 2 door.I'm 24! a young guy who ultimately knows the value of this rare automobile, never seeing one before in my life I came across this one by accident! paying a mear $ 1,100 for my buick it is going to be the most radical street machine in central maine area within a few years. Everyone who's seen it in my dooryard always stops to see if it is for sale, 99% of those people mistake it for a Chevy Nova which encourages me to spend all my money on it even more to get it to be one of the most talked about car in the area.
The people's jaws drop when you pull away from a light with screeching tires, because they probably can't believe that some immature moron is beating on an old relic of a car that
could self-destruct at any moment.
I hunted an Apollo and am bringing my car back to life, it came out of Montana in a junk yard, in tacted, and restorable. The car is a 1973 Apollo Buick, hatch back bucket seats, shift on floor, auto, 455 motor, and Buick sport wheels. The car is quite rare in that I am told, it has a sliding factory sunroof offered in Nova and others in 1972-1973. The car has factory AC and AM-FM radio. Clock, and floor mats also. This is a real tire burner, as the car will break loose on the road at 40 mph with a stop of the gas. Hatchbacks are also a bit more rare in Apollos, than trunk back cars. I am making into a real American Muscle car, Craig in Minneapolis.
The reason 99% of people mistake your Apollo for a Chevy Nova is that... your Apollo is 99% the same as a Chevy Nova (OK, maybe 90%, but the only real differences were the grille and taillights)
Hi, Proud owner of a 74 4 door Apollo.. trying to make it my version of a family car with a wieand supercharged 383, 3.73 posi rear polygraphite everything.. wilwood discs up front and hopefully in the rear, having NO LUCK with finding interior parts (moldings are disintegrating from age) but I won't give up... only a few people understand that the car is a rarity.. I only know 1 other person who has one here in Florida and he lives almost 200 miles away... i have had an accident with the car (hit a Hyundai) gave him bookoo damage and didn't even damage my grill...That's why I don't want a 'newer' car.. they may have crumple zones, but my car won't crumple..:) everyone who has one: keep it up and drive the hell out of them..i'll beat a ricer EVERY TIME!! thanks ntanova.
Stop looking for Apollo and try looking for Nova parts. Practically everything is the same, and if you can't find Nova parts then you are just not looking very hard, they are quite easy to find, especially the pre-'75 models.
Although not that many people are bothering with four-doors so parts specific to that body style might be harder to find...
I miss my Buick apollo,350 4 barrels,4 doors coupe, its was original paint was Lime Green metallic,but my father paint it Dark Green Mettalic whit Gold stripe just after my mom crash into a brand new 92 f-150 xcab, she split the truck in two, my apollo had minor Repair to do, the insurance gave me 2000$ for fix it soo you know the color it is now. unfortunately I had to sold the car : (but the car was very good again I miss my appolo and I would buy a other one if I can find one or I'm getting a nova even if it's a 6cyl.
To the writer of the third comment: This Buick will be on the road long after your tin can Honda or Toyota has fallen apart and failed. You can take that straight from the owner of this car and original author of this review. 70's and 80's cars have many things modern foreign and domestic cars don't, like reliability, class, style and character for starters. Look at the interior color choices available on modern cars: charcoal, neutral, and tan. But look back 20 years and you could choose from black, white, tan, light or dark brown, light or dark blue, light or dark red, light or dark green,and light or dark gray, or even beautiful two tone combinations of them. Modern car interiors and exteriors are made of chromeless cheap plastic that fall apart after five years. And we pay 4 to 5 times for a new car today than what they cost 30 years ago. Another perfect example of how auto unions ruined America. 24,000 more miles after writing this review. My car gets 22+ MPG on the highway, at 70+ MPH, with a 350 4-barrel and three speed automatic. Many modern, fuel injected full size cars can't even achieve this with 5 or 6 gears. My wife and I own a 2003 Toyota Camry and a 2002 Chevy Impala. These are the last new cars we will ever spend money on. The Chevy has a plastic intake manifold, and the Toyota has had continuous electrical problems. Look at your "superior modern cars." I paid about $900 for this car, and fully restored it and got it running like new for under $5000. And the collector value is steadily climbing. I think that's a much better deal than paying $25,000-$50,000 for a modern foreign or domestic and having the resale value drop 20% the minute you sign the sales papers. If you don't like old cars, fine with me, but keep your negative, pointless criticism to yourself. See ya in the slow lane and/or shoulder. I'll be passing you soon, and laughing all the way to the bank! Have a nice day! :-)
Yup, I couldn't agree more with that comment if I'd written it myself. Hooray for '60s, '70s and '80s domestic cars! May they live forever! I know that my '71 and '73 will be around several more decades, and my '85 is still hanging in there just fine.
Hi!! I have a 73 Apollo with a 250 straight 6, I have had to replace my radiator, fan, water pump, lights, points, plugs, carburetor I am constantly rebuilding her. I wouldn't part with her for anything!!! I hope to put a 350 in her someday. The only problem I have is that everyone keeps asking me why I am driving my boyfriends car. They can't believe that I am the one doing all of the work until their cars break down and they ask me to fix them. Did I mention that I am 19 yr old female in Colorado!
Hi I am from the Northwest like middle of Oregon. I have a 72 Nova and a 72 Buick Apollo. They are both nice cars. I really haven't done anything to either one of them. They both are in really decent condition. I have been looking and asking anybody and every body if they had seen a Buick Apollo. Very few have, it has been really nice to find this web site. By the way I am seventy and still like cars. Ed.
This is a very well written review. And I agree with the author of the review with regards to modern car interiors. They're so dull and could benefit from a nice dose of color, like the car interiors of 20 or more years ago...heck, even 15 years ago there were still some cars with some real color inside.
Although I think car interiors today are put together better, the old ones are much nicer looking. And I think old cars are far more interesting than most new ones. Most of the new ones (especially Hondas, Toyotas, Kias, Hyundais, etc.) start to look alike after a while. No flair, no style, just bland anony-mobiles with a few exceptions. Not that they're bad cars, they're just boring. Years ago, even family sedans had at least a few interesting and unique styling features. They had character. And you could tell one model year from another just by the grille and taillights because they changed every year. It kept things interesting and the beginning of a new model year was something to look forward to.
Not so today. Today every model year blurs into the next with only all-new models to keep things interesting, and with the sole exception of all-new performance/enthusiast cars, the rest are usually nothing special anyway (more SUV's and minivans, anyone?) Oh well. I must be stuck in the past.
To the author of this review: Good luck with your Buick and enjoy it! When I can afford it, I'll be looking for my own old Buick: a great big Electra 225, or even a LeSabre convertible.
Glad you all are enjoying your Apollos. I was looking at getting one when I was 16, then my mom's 1960 Le Sabre died, so since I had done the research, SHE got a brand new 1974 Buick Apollo hatchback. 350 2V, dark blue with painted white top, those Buick mag wheels, white vinyl bucket seats.
Sharp looking rig, but oh how unreliable. White roof had to be repainted 2 times under warranty. 3 transmissions in 2 years, all covered by warranty. Paint peeling off the plastic/fiberglass trim panel above the taillights and below the hatch. Then, at 16,000 miles, the trannie started slipping for a 4th time. I told mom to dump the car. In the meantime I had purchased a news 1974 Pinto. Pretty basic car, but mom loved it since all her driving was in city traffic. So she traded in the Apollo on a new 1976 Pinto Wagon with all the options except the woodgrain sides and sunroof. That little Pinto lasted her 27 years, I finally killed it, took it out on the freeway to blow out the carbon before a smog check and blew the motor. Mom was still angry about her experience with the Apollo, so back to the Ford dealer for a new Focus. If THIS car lasts her 27 years, she'll be 107!!!
I own a 1974 Buick Apollo coupe with a 350 cu. in. motor three speed automatic transmission.I've owned the car since July of 1995.I love the power, style and chrome bumpers. I also like the fact that you can't break into the car without breaking the window. It's also nice that there's no smog or electronics!!! One word to all Apollo owners; Keep your Apollo!!!