Ride Of The Week 09/21/2020: Dave Slusser’s 1973 Buick Apollo Hatchback

“Making the best of a bad situation…twice”

When Dave Slusser was 16, he bought a 1973 Chevy Nova Hatchback as his first car. He proceeded to make it his own and turning it into a dream ride he maintained for a few decades. However, thieves got a hold of the car and ripped off a ton of parts, including items from Dave’s teenage years, leaving him with an inoperable ride and a feeling of utter violation.

To add insult to injury, Dave’s wife was diagnosed with cancer, making the misery of his broken ride seem insignificant. As his wife embarked on her treatment journey she encouraged him to look for something new so they could focus on go cruising when she finished chemotherapy. So, Dave began looking for a new classic car.

As fate would have it. Dave’s wife was in the same cancer treatment group as an older woman who had recently lost her husband. The widow mentioned that her late husband had three cars she was going to sell off. One of them, a rare GM X-body hatchback, was a 1973 Buick Apollo. Dave was shocked to find a counterpart to his prized Nova and it such great condition.

While his wife continues her recovery, Dave says that he’s put 2,500 mi on the Apollo since acquiring it. He also has commissioned Amish quilters to fashion a replica tent, a factory option on these X-Body hatches in the early ‘70s that zippers into the hatch, kinda like the Pontiac Aztek of the early 2000s. While he says finding the car was tough, it was even tougher to find a 1980s Timex watch and a tassel from his graduation year to put in the car. Both items were lost in the theft, but now with the tassel on the rearview and the watch around the gearshift, the Buick feels much more like home.

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