#vectorw8

Candid Conversation: The Vector Saga

At long last, here we are. The last post of what I have termed the Vector Saga. This was the post I wanted to do for a while, but couldn’t as I didn’t have the WX-3; well folks, it’s finally time. So sit back, relax, grab some popcorn, a drink or maybe a monaka, as I tell you the story of Vector Motors. This is... the Vector Saga.

Early Days

Vector Motors is an American car company founded by Gerald “Jerry” Wiegert, based in Wilmington, California. The company was known to manufacture supercars and the like.

The company’s roots can be traced back to 1972, when Wiegert teamed up with renowned automotive designer Lee Brown to create a company known as Vehicle Design Force, which would manufacture a vehicle known as The Vector. 

Literature at the time stated that The Vector would be available with a DOHC Porsche engine (among various other engine options) and a pricetag of $10,000. The first prototype (shown above) was showcased in 1972, however, this version of the car was non-functional.

Birth of the W2

Wiegert then went back to the drawing board to design a further few iterations of The Vector, resulting in the W2. The W2 took its name from the founder of Vehicle Design Force, Jerry Wiegert, as well as the number of turbochargers intended to be in the car. The W2 was first showcased at the 1976 Los Angeles Auto Show as a non-running prototype; Wiegert attempted to market the car to potentially put it into production, but these never came to be due to insufficient backing and the financial downturn. As such, Wiegert opted to continue refining the car. Perhaps rather appropriately, Vehicle Design Force was renamed in 1977 to become Vector Aeromotive Corporation.

Numerous other prototypes followed, and the first functioning version of the W2 appeared in 1978. Powered by a 5.7L Chevrolet small block V8 with twin turbochargers, the W2 was claimed to be able to hit 230 mph (370 km/h). Over time, the car went through numerous running tests and was displayed at various auto shows worldwide, usually with color scheme changes and other detail improvements. The car managed to reach a top speed of 242 mph (389 km/h) on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

As time went on, Wiegert continued to push for the W2 to enter production, attempting to generate enough capital for that end. He ultimately generated enough capital in 1989, with the final version of the W2 entering production as the W8. The W2 is still owned by Wiegert but has since been dismantled.

Wiegert’s Big Break

Designed by Wiegert and head of engineering David Kostka, the W8 helped Wiegert to realize his dream: to build his own supercar. His company quickly grew, from a single building and four employees to four buildings and eighty employees. With a design inspired by that of the Alfa Romeo Carabo, the W8s were assembled in Vector’s Wilmington, California plant. Powered by a 6.0L twin-turbocharged Rodeck V8, the W8 was claimed to be able to reach a top speed of 242 mph (389 km/h). The full specifications of the W8s are detailed in an earlier post you can access by clicking here.

As Vector was designing their W8, Wiegert was already planning for a successor, which would be known as the AWX-3 (Avtech Wiegert Experimental Model 3), better known as the WX-3. The WX-3 was first showcased at the 1992 Geneva Motor Show as a non-running prototype design study, but gained a Rodeck V8 engine and a roadster counterpart, the WX-3R, for 1993, along with a repaint to advertise Aquajet, Wiegert’s other company, specializing in personal watercraft. I have similarly detailed the specifics of the WX-3 in an earlier post you can access by clicking here.

Here Comes A New Challenger

By 1993, Vector Aeromotive was running dry on funds and were unlikely to have the capacity to continue on manufacturing automobiles; production of the W8 had also stopped after only twenty-two cars were built. At this point however, a rather unknown company had risen from the ashes and offered to invest in Vector. That company was Megatech.

Megatech was an Indonesian company with ties to Bermuda, a tax haven. The company was owned jointly by Hutomo Mandala Putra, better known as Tommy Suharto, convicted felon and son of Indonesian dictator Suharto, and businessman Setiawan Djody; those were about as shady of credentials as you could possibly get. The company was a subsidiary of MyCom Setco, a Bermudan subsidiary of Malaysian company MyCom Sdn Bhd.

With Wiegert knowing that he’d require some amount of investment or capital in order to manufacture the WX-3, he accepted while he was at the Geneva Motor Show that year. Little did he know that this was one of the worst decisions he’d ever make.

Shock, Horror, a Hostile Takeover

With investment now secure, Wiegert could freely produce the WX-3... or so he thought. Because behind the scenes, Tommy Suharto was working behind the scenes to enact a hostile takeover of Vector. Wiegert then received a call to an urgent meeting at the Geneva Motor Show, and flew back to California, and it was here that he knew he screwed up big time with his recent investment.

At this meeting, Vector’s board of directors, under clear influence from Megatech’s bosses, requested Wiegert to resign from his role as owner and take up a role as a designer for the company. Wiegert vehemently refused and went into a meltdown, firing all his employees, hiring armed guards and changing all the locks at the Vector offices. It was this that ultimately led Wiegert to be fired from his own company, and he was subsequently accused of mismanaging company funds.

Megatech’s Early Days

With Wiegert out of the company, Megatech now had free rein to do whatever they wanted... or so they thought. Megatech had intended to produce the WX-3 now with Wiegert’s absence, but could not do so as Wiegert had continuously filed lawsuits against the company regarding them producing the car and protected the design of the WX-3 with patents (and by extension, the W8). As such, Vector had no car to produce, nor did they have a designer to design one for them (they had fired Wiegert whom they had originally intended to be the designer).

Around this time however, Megatech acquired Lamborghini from Chrysler Corporation on 31 January 1994 for $40 million. As such, Megatech relocated Vector’s offices from Wilmington, California to Green Cove Springs, Florida, allowing Vector and Lamborghini to share office spaces in the US. With Megatech having acquired Lamborghini, the company decided to merge both Lamborghini and Vector traits into one car. In order to continue the Vector lineage, Vector hired Peter Stevens, one of the engineers on the McLaren F1 project, to design their new car.

The Unholy Hellspawn

That car was the M12. The M12 combined traits of the stillborn WX-3 and the Lamborghini Diablo into one package, with the overall exterior design by Stevens being essentially a loose copy of that of the WX-3’s design (as the design of the WX-3 was protected by patents). The M12 also used the same 5.7L V12 as the Diablos of the time as the Rodeck V8s used by the W8 and WX-3 were somehow too expensive for them to afford. The first M12 produced was also painted in a patriotic red, white and blue color scheme with the American flag and other patriotic symbols all around.

The M12 was ultimately released in 1995, priced at $189,000; apparently the folks at Megatech thought that a $50,000 premium over the Diablo was enough to salvage the company’s investment. Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t.

The M12 received scathing reviews from those who could get their hands on one, with noted automotive journalist Jeremy Clarkson writing that the quality control of the M12 was “on par with that of a Bulgarian power station”, with doors which didn’t fit properly, a reeking gasoline smell, a “bonkers” seating position and air-conditioning vents which couldn’t be properly pushed into the car. Autoweek magazine went even further, giving the M12 the unenviable award of the worst car they had ever tested.

The devastating exposure of the inefficiencies of the M12 made Megatech jittery, and it was time for their next course of action. In an attempt to shut critics up, Vector’s management elected to venture into the world of motorsport, with the logic that if Vector could score wins in motorsport, the company could be elevated within striking distance of the top high-end car manufacturers at the time, such as Ferrari, with Vectors finally getting the respect they deserved. The category Vector decided to dip their toes into was the IMSA GT Series, in its current form now known as the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. To do this, Megatech called for the assistance of the now defunct IMSA GT team American Spirit Racing, who modified a pre-production M12 chassis into a race car.

The Vector Goes Racing

That car was appropriately named the Vector M12 ASR GT2, run by American Spirit Racing. The car was fitted with race-specification suspension, brakes, weight reduction and a larger rear spoiler and front airdam. Little modification to the 5.7L V12 was required as the power produced by the engine was within regulations. With close to no prior testing, the M12 ASR GT2 was soon shipped off to the first round of the 1998 IMSA GT series: the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Sebring was a circuit noted to be able to shake cars apart due to its bumpy surfaces, and deciding to debut the car at this circuit was likely something Megatech didn’t think thoroughly through. With Bill Eagle and Dorsey Schroeder at the wheel of the M12, ASR attempted to qualify against competition such as the Porsche 911 GT2, Saleen Mustang GT2 and Honda (or Acura in this case) NSX GT2s; the M12 ultimately qualified a lowly 33rd out of 48 cars. On the day of the race however, Sebring lived up to its name, shaking the M12 apart and out of the race after just 16 laps; the car’s listed classification is 44th.

The M12 would then move to Las Vegas for the second round of the IMSA GT championship, where it also fared poorly; the car qualified second to last, and in the race, the car’s engine overheated and gave out after a mere 2 laps. The car’s final classification was 21st. With two retirements in two races, ASR did not turn up for the third round at Lime Rock and instead focused on the fourth round of the championship at Road Atlanta.

With two new drivers and a new team, the M12 was entered into Road Atlanta by a Jon Lewis and driven by Kevin Allen and Randy Pobst. As usual, the car qualified poorly, qualifying second to last again, and performed even worse during the race, with a gearbox failure retiring the car on lap 43.

From Bad To Worse

With a financial crisis brewing in Indonesia, Megatech’s funds had been reduced significantly, with little money left to do anything for that matter; they needed funds, and fast. To that end, Megatech canceled the GT2 project after just three rounds, and as such, Vector exited the motorsport realm, having made no significant impact to their sales. In addition, Megatech sold Lamborghini to Audi AG in September 1998 for $110 million, ending any hopes for Megatech to dominate the supercar realm. Lamborghini remains with Audi until this day. What Megatech failed to realize though is that this decision would come and bite them in the back. Hard.

Somehow, Megatech managed to conveniently forget that the only car they manufactured, the M12, used a Lamborghini 5.7L V12 engine. With Vector now considered a rival company to Lamborghini, Lamborghini begins to charge Vector for the engines.

In addition to Tommy Suharto having embezzled large swathes of money from the company presumably for his own personal gain, the engine charges that Lamborghini was requesting dealt a crippling blow to Megatech; it got so bad that Megatech was unable to even pay for the engines due to the above factors. This essentially killed M12 production with only seventeen produced. With a severe lack of funds and an appalling lack of any form of competent management, Megatech, in their desperation, offers to Lamborghini an unsold Vector W8 as payment.

Lamborghini actually accepts the W8, but Jerry Wiegert comes out of nowhere and immediately sues Lamborghini for accepting payment of the W8, for the W8 in question was actually his car. Wiegert ultimately won the suit and retained legal custody of the car, but Lamborghini refuses to return the W8; it remains in Sant'Agata Bolognese to this day.

Scrambling For A Way Out

After this spectacle, Megatech, with no car, no engines, no competent leadership and no funds, tried to find a way out of this situation. In a last ditch attempt to save the brand, the company took the M12 ASR GT2 race car and converted it into the SRV8 (shown above).

In what might have been quite possibly the only smart move Megatech made throughout the entirety of their ownership of Vector, Megatech ditched the Lamborghini V12 and replaced it with a General Motors 5.7L LT1 V8 from a Chevrolet Corvette. This was combined with a Porsche G50 5-speed manual transmission along with a transaxle from a Porsche 964. The car was given a mild bodykit in an attempt to spice things up a bit, as well as fixed headlights taken from the Nissan 300ZX (funnily enough like its cousin the Diablo).

The SRV8 was then shown to the public in 1999, and was Megatech’s way of saying that Vector was back and they were going to take America by storm again, in an attempt to get potential buyers to buy their cars. Unfortunately for them, nobody bought the idea, and sure enough, they weren’t going to; just a few days after the SRV8 showed its face for the first time, Vector shut its doors permanently. Vector was then sold to American Automotive, and Megatech has not been heard from since.

Reborn from the Ashes

After some years, Wiegert purchases the ruins of Vector Aeromotive from American Automotive. He then relocates the company from Florida back to Wilmington, California, and renames the company to Avtech Motors, then Vector Supercars, and finally the current name of Vector Motors. Mullings about Vector designing a new car began to surface, and in 2006, Wiegert proved those rumors true by announcing that he was developing a new car: the WX-8.

 Wiegert unveiled the WX-8 in 2007, featuring rather optimistic specifications such as a top speed of 270 mph (430 km/h), 0-60 in 2.3 seconds and somewhere between “over 1250” and “1800+ horsepower”, from either a 10.0L twin-turbocharged V8 or a 7.0L hybrid V8. The car received criticism for resembling a fourth-generation Chevrolet Camaro and use of Toyota Supra headlights. As of 2018, the WX-8 was reportedly still under development, with Wiegert selling both WX-3 prototypes in 2019 in order to secure funding. 

I hope this gives you a better idea about what to expect from this American supercar company. And thus ends The Vector Saga.

Casting Call: Vector W8

First off, I’d like to apologize for the fact that I’ve not been updating my Tumblr lately. I’ve been busy at work and haven’t had time to write something. To make up for this... I’m writing quite possibly one of my longest posts yet.

By popular demand, this is the casting you chose on Instagram for me to document: the Vector W8. Grab some popcorn, a drink or some music... and enjoy the read. This is also in some ways a car that time forgot, but it’s not a concept car... but I can break the rules because I made them.

When it comes to cars of the ‘80s, there is a debate as to what the best car of the era was. Many say it would be either the Lamborghini Countach or the Ferrari Testarossa. But I have something that is neither of those things. Today, we’re going to take a trip down memory lane and explore the car that attempted to elevate a small company to the dizzying heights of the supercar realm. This... is the Vector W8.

First, here’s a bit of background. The W8 was manufactured by a company known as Vector Motors, then known as Vector Aeromotive. The company was founded in 1971 as Vehicle Design Force by Gerald “Jerry” Wiegert in Wilmington, California; we’ll get to the full history of Vector in a post in the near future because it is honestly very interesting.

In essence, the W8 was a highly refined version of the Vector W2, one of the company’s initial prototypes (the “W” in the name stood for “Wiegert”). Wiegert wanted to put the W2 into production, but an economical downturn prevented him from doing so. However, by the ‘80s, Wiegert had eventually secured enough capital through public stock offerings and even various lawsuits, allowing him to chase his dream: to build his ultimate sports car, designed and built by his own company.

Design inspiration for the W8 (and by extension the W2) came from this green car: the Alfa Romeo Carabo (Hot Wheels actually did a model of this way back when). Its sleek, futuristic and aerodynamic design was perfect for Wiegert, especially with the aerospace theme the company was going for in the ‘80s.

Combining the sleek looks of the Carabo with the geometry and technology of fighter jets of the time like the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon and F/A-18 Hornet, Wiegert and chief designer David Kostka set out to create what would be quite possibly the most insane supercar of the ‘80s, and probably still is now: the Vector W8. The term “Aeromotive Engineering” was used to describe the process of manufacturing this car, for the car used the newest and most advanced aerospace materials when manufacturing the W8.

The car passed the mandatory DOT crash tests and emissions tests. It used a semi-aluminum monocoque chassis which was epoxy bonded and riveted using 5000 aircraft-specification rivets with an aluminum honeycomb floorpan. The body was made mainly of carbon fiber and Kevlar. The car featured scissor doors, like a Lamborghini.

The beating heart of the W8 was this: a highly-modified aluminum resleevable 6.0L Rodeck twin-turbocharged racing V8 with variable boost pressure. The engine produced 625 horsepower and made 649 lb⋅ft (880 N⋅m) of torque at 4,900 rpm at 8 psi of boost pressure, and as if the Rodeck V8 couldn’t get any more ridiculous, it featured TRW forged pistons, Carrillo stainless steel connecting rods, stainless steel valves and roller rocker arms, a forged crank, a dry-sump oiling system with three separate filters and braided stainless steel hoses with anodized red and blue fittings. This engine sounded mad; click here to hear a Vector starting up and revving.

Yes, you heard that correctly; variable boost. The boost for both turbochargers was adjustable from 8 to 14 psi through a dial in the interior. And speaking of which, let’s talk about that next; because, if you thought the engine was already mad enough, the interior is on a whole other level.

As you can see, the interior of the W8 is mad. Fighter jet-inspired screen? Check. A million buttons everywhere? Check. Gauges? ...no check. And hang on... is that what I think it is? A Turbo-Hydramatic 425 transmission?

Yep, that’s right, and that just makes the car a lot more insane; this ridiculously powerful 6.0L Rodeck V8 was mated to a 3-speed Turbo-Hydramatic 425 automatic transmission. Next to it on the right was the handbrake, sort of shaped like the throttle on a fighter jet. Due to the placement of the transmission and the handbrake, the driver side doorsill is very, very wide, making it a bit tough for the driver to get in and out of the car. You will also notice that there are buttons on top of the gear stick. I’ll get to those now.

As if this car couldn’t get any more ridiculous. This is the screen of the Vector W8, with four different settings (controlled with those four buttons), marked “Main”, “Performance”, “Performance” again and “Chassis”. This is the “Main” screen, showing the odometer, fuel gauge, speedometer and tachometer.

This is the first “Performance” screen, showing engine temperature, oil pressure and temperature, the tachometer reading and various other metrics.

The third screen was the second “Performance” screen, showing the transmission pressure (because it had a torque converter) and transmission temperature as well as battery voltage.

The last screen was the “Chassis” screen, which showed a picture of the W8 which updated in real time when a door was opened, when the engine compartment was opened and so on.

On the other side, you will notice that the W8 doesn’t actually have a partition between the driver and passenger side footwells. So it is a little awkward. This car also has no glovebox; in its place is a... CD changer?

Yes, that’s right. The car came with an in-car stereo... and a Sony CDX-A2001 ten-disc CD changer which graced the entire right side of the car’s already insane instrument panel. This was a nice innovation, although it did came with one drawback; no passenger-side airbags. Good luck if you get into a crash riding shotgun.

Back to the interior though. It was upholstered in premium leather and suede, with electrically adjustable leather Recaro seats and featured a premium air-conditioning system. Some driving amenities such as power steering were excluded. The seating position for the driver was made slightly towards the center for better drivability.

The rear of the W8 was dominated by lines, and the rear sightline... wasn’t very good, mainly because of that gigantic wing. The license plate holder is located on the left and apparently may have been an afterthought. “TWINTURBO” is seen gracing the back.

The car also features a trunk which is just behind the engine.

As for the front... oh, right, the headlamps. They’re not pop-up... they’re pop-DOWN.

The car also has a storage cubby up front, although really, it wasn’t much.

Also gracing the front were windshield wipers, as you would expect on practically every other car. However, there wasn’t just one, nor was there just two: there were THREE. A moonroof was also standard. It also had sliding side windows like a race car, as well as power-adjustable side mirrors.

The logo on the side of the car was the only thing that really gave any indication as to what manufacturer it was.

The car had unique six-spoke “turbine” wheels fitted to Michelin XGT Plus tires; the car used 255/45ZR-16s in the front and very, very strange 315/40ZR-16s in rear. These wheels were apparently of a bespoke design made to the driver’s specifications. 

In terms of suspension, the W8 featured double A-arms up front and De Dion tube suspension at the rear, located by four trailing arms that stretched all the way forward to the firewall. The W8 used 13-inch vented disc brakes with Alcon aluminum 4-piston calipers.

In terms of performance, the Vector shined; it claimed to be able to do 389 km/h (242 mph) and a 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) time of 3.9 seconds. These numbers were never officially tested, but if true, these are very impressive numbers for the time. Okay, enough about the W8’s performance and figures; let’s get to the part you’ve been waiting for, the history.

The W8 was first introduced in 1988 with a sticker price of about $185,000, priced within striking range of European competitors like the Lamborghini Diablo.

One high profile owner of a W8 was this man: Andre Agassi, although he ended up giving the car a bit of a bad rap. Agassi had insisted that his car be delivered before it was fully prepared; Vector agreed to this on the condition that Agassi not drive it and keep it in storage as the car was adjusted for the various emissions regulations in place. Agassi did not listen and drove it and ended up burning the rear carpeting due to an overly hot exhaust system; Agassi ended up requesting for a refund, which was ultimately granted. I’ll let you decide who’s at fault here.

Car And Driver magazine also tested the W8, but couldn’t complete testing because all three cars they were sent somehow managed to break down in different ways, leading to even more bad publicity. However, not all is bad as Road and Track magazine waxed lyrical about the Vector, praising practically every aspect of the W8’s performance.

Vector was still going strong in 1993, selling W8s; however, Wiegert was already planning for a successor. That successor was to be known as the AWX-3, better known as the WX-3 (Hot Wheels also made a model of this one too), where the name stood for Avtech Wiegert eXperimental, 3rd generation.

I’ll get into more details of the WX-3 in a later blog when I receive my WX-3 from the United States. Production of the W8 ultimately came to a halt in 1993 as Wiegert attempted to put the WX-3 into production; however, as the company was engaged in a hostile takeover by a Bermuda-based Indonesian company known as MegaTech, production never resumed and Vector entered a sharp decline. I’ll get into the rest of that history in another post.

In total, twenty-two cars were produced; seventeen of which were customer cars and five of which were prototypes. The car is now worth over $1 million today; so, if for some reason you ever see a car that looks like this on the roads, drop everything and take as many pictures as you can, because you have just seen one of only twenty-two Vector W8s. Okay, now that we’ve gotten all that out of the way, let’s get to the reason why you’re here.

This... is the Hot Wheels version of the Vector W8. Named the Vector W8 Twinturbo in the Hot Wheels lineup, this casting was first introduced in the 2012 HW Boulevard series in the Ahead Of Its Time sub-series. This casting was designed by Manson Cheung.

The base of the W8 features no mention of “Vector” anywhere; instead, just the SKU is displayed: W4831.

The sides feature the text “VECTOR W8 TWINTURBO” and nothing else. Black lines streak across the back to represent the engine cover.

The rear fascia is nice, although my only real gripe is a lack of rear detail apart from the engine cover.

The front fascia is also well done, with “VECTOR” and “TWIN TURBO” on the windshield, although a lack of detail on the body apart from the side reflectors leaves me wanting more. The interior is painfully cramped so I can’t get any good photographs, but what I see are the Turbo-Hydramatic shift lever, the steering wheel, seats and molded pedals (those pedals are part of the base). The distinctive screen and CD changer are absent from the instrument panel, but of course, you can’t have everything.

Folks, I believe you may have heard of the term “One-Hit Wonder” before. This is exactly an example of that; the W8 only saw one release in the HW Boulevard series and has not been seen since. As a result, prices for the Vector have been steadily climbing on eBay and I don’t see them going down for some time; why don’t you take a look for yourself?

I hope this long writeup has given you a better idea on this turbocharged thrasher, and what is quite possibly my new favorite supercar from the ‘80s; step aside, Lamborghini Countach. As usual, I’d do something like this any day.