Apollo 4/12 PS
Car : Apollo 4/12 PS
Year : 1913
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke :75×116 mm
Cylinder capacity : 2040 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power :20
Maximum speed : 56 mph
Wheelbase : 7 ft 2½ ins (2.20 m)
Suspension : front and rear :semi-elliptic leaf- springs
Apollo began as Ruppe & Sohn of Apolda in Thuringia but in 1910 it became Apollo Werke. It then started the manufacture of water and air-cooled vehicles (the latter were uncommon at that time) under the management of Karl Slevogt who was both a well respected engineer and a skilled driver.
Apollo 4/12 PS
The best known car was the sports version of the 1911 4/12 with a unit construction 1000 cc engine and gearbox that developed 12 bhp at 1,800 revs. There was also a Typ B Spezial (20 bhp at 2,200 revs) illustrated here. A record breaking car was developed from the latter which produced almost twice the power due to the capacity being raised to over 2000 cc. The 4-cylinder engine developed a heftly 28 bhp at 2,000 revs which gave a maximum speed of 56 mph. It weighed less than 1,545 lb (700 kg). Its sporting successes led Apollo to widen its production and it built large capacity engines, also water-cooled and, after the war, a V-8 with four wheel brakes. Apollo went out of business in 1926, leaving behind the memory of a small but well run and highly flexible company. During the period when it was regularly taking part in races it was quite common for its nippy little cars to cause problems for even the most powerful Bugattis on the race track.