♔ ‘Ferrari sold dreams. Vector sold fantasies — and like most fantasies, they cost a fortune and ended in disappointment.’
The Vector W8 was the supercar that made even Ferraris look underdressed. Carbon-Kevlar bodywork, aerospace instruments, and 625bhp from a twin-turbo V8.
It promised perfection — and almost delivered.
But here’s the catch: when you try to build a jet fighter for the road without compromise, you also build the financial guillotine.
The Vector became both legend and obituary in one.
(Read On…..)
1980s – The Dream Forms:
◼︎ Gerald Wiegert, a Detroit designer with Bond-villain hair, vowed America could out-Ferrari Ferrari.
◼︎ He promised a space-age machine hand-built to aerospace standards. The car world smirked. Then he unveiled the W8.
1990 – The Launch:
◼︎ Angular, menacing, dripping with aerospace fantasy.
◼︎ A cabin filled with aircraft switches, an engine bay resembling Cape Canaveral.
◼︎ Performance figures? 0–60 in under 4 seconds, top speed north of 240mph — figures that terrified Ferrari and Lamborghini in equal measure.
Perfection’s Price:
◼︎ Each car took thousands of hours to assemble, with panel gaps measured in micrometres and interiors more complex than a Harrods watch counter.
◼︎ Customers were dazzled, investors less so.
◼︎ The W8 cost far more to build than it ever sold for
1993 – The Fall:
◼︎ By pursuing perfection, Wiegert bankrupted his dream.
◼︎ Vector collapsed, leaving just a handful of W8s — unicorns on four wheels.
Today – Collector’s Icon:
◼︎ The W8 is revered precisely because it failed. Proof that when ambition collides with reality, legend is born — and bankruptcy lawyers get rich.
♔ ‘It was faster than a Diablo, louder than a Countach, and more financially ruinous than three divorces.’
