Vector Motors Corporation was the brainchild of Gerald Wiegert. He dreamed of a US option for those who lusted after Ferrari & Lamborghini.
â–´2 Introduced in 1976, the Vector W2 (W for Wiegert & 2 for the number of turbos) had outrageous specs - twin turbo, 5.7L V8 with over 600hp & over 600 ft.lb of tq. & a top speed of 242mph, which at the time would have made it the fastest car in the world. Unfortunately, only 2 W2 models were ever produced due to a lack of funding & a global oil crisis.
â–´3 Wiegert continued to struggle with funding through the 80s, but in 1989, a glimmer of hope appeared when a production model of the W2, called the W8 was going to be produced!
â–´4 Vector once again claimed insane specs, but this time, they delivered. 19 cars total were built at a price of $280,000. Production motors were tamed down from 1000hp to 650hp on 8lbs of boost.
Reception, however, for the W8 was mixed. Vector asked the media not to test top speed. Car & Driver reported mechanical issues, but Road & Track had none.▴5 It also didn't help when tennis pro Andre Agassi asked for a refund after driving his W8 before it was production ready. Vector couldn’t catch a break.
▴1,▴6 -▴8 The follow up to the W8 would be the AVX-3 & R, coupe & roadster, respectively. These cars never made it to production because in 1993, Vector were the victims of a hostile takeover by MegaTech, an Indonesian conglomerate, & Wiegert was fired. Fun fact, MegaTech was the same company that flipped Lamborghini from Chrysler in ‘94 to Audi in ‘98 for a cool $70 million.
â–´9 After moving production from Southern California to Florida, MegaTech transformed the AVX-3 into the Vector M12. Although beautiful & powered by a Lamborghini V12, these cars were poorly built. Only 17 units were assembled, but only 12 made it to production. Eventually, MegaTech gave up on Vector.
â–´10 In 2008, Wiegart bought his company back & yep, introduced another supercar. Whether it comes to life or not, nothing will stop Vector.
📷Sources: |wikipedia|Vector Motors|RM Sothebys|