Many people love the style of the Vector. The car also has taste. The interior is nicer than that of the McLaren F1, XJ220, and F40 as well. Particularly Car 12 with the Ostrich leather. The Vector is as well, if you have a fresh set of rubber. The Vector has a Rodeck Y Block, with their own proprietary materials, and standards all about. Akin to Koenigsegg building "their own" engine. Too bad they had to use it so much, as it takes away from the driving experience. Additionally, the poor design necessitated it. The Vector had to be fantastic out of the box. Nock one to the engineering of the Vector Aerospace, Can Am and Group C engineers. As was the original Vector. 17 production cars were built, with deposits in for about 5o more before the company was taken over illegally. Just like the builders of the Tesla are learning it takes more to get a car into production than a limited run of 2-5 cars. Not everyone has a million dollars to buy the Veyron, so I would say the Saleen is closer to a Vector and it has all the bugs worked out. Since this car exsists why buy a Vector???[/QUOTE] Tesla isn't unlike the Vector stories up to a point. Jerry perhaps was thinking to quickly of his next car before the W8 well established; and spent a lot of time, and money developing the AWX3, and 3-R. Including a 7.0 DOHC TT engine; and 9.0 Liter pushrod V12; capable of 750 NA HP w/out a custom tune, and extimated 1500+ hp on twin turbo's + pump gas. Jerry looked for more investors; which one of his guys brought in Suharto; the son of an Indonesian industrial megalith-gangster. Almost immediately, Weigart regretted getting him involved; and announced that Vector would go public. Suharto hired a "Wet behind the ears" trader to pull an insider-trading move which is illegal to the SEC to buy the entirety of the stock that Jerry was leveling. Suharto bought the company, and had the best lawers to delay the inevetible. In 2000, Weigart finally won the company, and remaining chassis/parts back from the Indonesians.... It's a longer, and dirtier story than this; suffice to say that Vector Aeromotive was well under way to being a HUGE success. Since the Veyron exists, why buy a Vector? Why buy anything else? right? That is the end all of everything? Why buy a Mercedes Gullwing, why buy an Enzo? That is a stupid question IMHO Each W8 can run approx 1200 hp when running 112 octane fuel, and 12 psi.
I like to think of it as an exclusive hyper-exotic the way hyper exotics used to be without technical intervention.
I know this thread is about the new vector, but I thought you might be interested in photos I just took of a Vector M12 that just showed up at a local (Vegas) dealer. It had been restored, and looked clean. I was surprised that the doors barely open enough to get in. And the windows don't go up and down, there is just a slit that you can get your hand out. http://www.flickr.com/photos/28903790@N02/sets/72157608720262654/ R.
another web reading teenager who knows better because it's on wikipedia LOL Where did I mention the Aztek? It outsold the CGT... but isn't a success; yet was profitable. Defining success by your means is a vague, and unsettling manner. The SV-1 sold more units than the McLaren F1... again, what are you getting at? Should businesses which take on investors, build something that hasn't been attempted before, take approx 70-80 deposits for a 5 year production run. Then the McLaren F1 is no success. Niether are land developers, contractors, and many other businesses who take on loans/ investments to make a company for profit.... ???
Sure he was. He was in business to sell limited partnerships. I was offered a job there once. Got a tour of the shack he was working out of in Venice. It was just after everyone walked out because they weren't being paid. The fabrication and build quality was great but the engineering was a disaster. Lift the car in the air and the suspension geometry was so bad suspension pieces would foul each other. The wiring harness attached to the DeDion tube in the rear (thats right a harness attached to a moving suspension part) would pull its bulkhead plug out because the wires were too short. Just too many things to list. The other guy and I that were being romanced into going to work there could barely contain our laughter. He was making performance claims the then current F1 cars could not live up to. He showed us his promotional materials and it showed cars in 5 or so different colors. When we asked him if they had produced that many he told us there was one running prototype and he painted it several times for that purpose. I had a chance to work on one several years later. It lived up to every expectation. The one I did work on was to finish it. It was siezed at the L.A. Auto show under court order because it had been sold some time prior but never delivered. After being siezed, even though it was supposed to be a finished car it was not. There was enough stuff on and in it to look complete but was far from it. Weigert spent the entire show slamming the Ferraris and Lambos but there was a big difference. The Ferraris and Lambos all drove in. The Vectors were just shells and needed to be pushed. Preston Tucker is alive and well.
By the sound of it, you are talking predominantly of the W2; which was quite different then the W8's... David Koska was the man who made the W8 a working reality... . bearing in mind the first w8 landed in later 1990, and the last one was early in 1993. The W2 was a prototype. Considering that Vector made 22 cars with $30 mill, while Bugatti made one prototype for $30 mill... If I were to suppose, you ~may~ have worked on the white no. 8 that was at Stepman brothers ? That car had "issues" until another former Vector employee bought it. The court order your speaking of was nothing short of a farce... but what is done was done.
Wrong car but from what was going on at the time it sounded as though there was more than one court order. The court order I know of was no farce. We also worked side by side with the Vector guys while the car was finished. The car was not allowed to be returned to their shack to finish. They provided a great deal of amusement for us. What a clown show. One of their test drives on one of the few occasions when they could actually get the car to run the car trailed a large stream of trans fluid and left a large "V" in oil in our driveway. We called it the "V for Vector".
Gee I wonder where Vector got his body design from? It's a wonder Alfa didn't take legal action. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
concepts are basically never patented/trademarked, 100 years ago, 50 years ago, 30 years ago, today.. Ferrari are one of the few companies that trademark their designs to try to stop the dilution by companies that make mass quantities of replicars on the Ferrari name. Only the technology behind them. I see a lot of individuality. Additionally; the Carabo was not an Alfa Romeo concept, so they couldn't take legal action. It was a design from Bertone; under direction of M. Gandini; who later honed his wedge into the Countach. There were other notable extreme wedges, such as the concept Stratos some years after the Carabo; and others that you haven't mentioned. From that angle, there are similarities, but from other angles, there are more and more differences. Weigart, and Gandini weren't the only wedge designers at the time. Weigart was the first to make the wedge go as fast as it looked. Additionally, I posted direct comparisons where you can see the lines being far more competant on the Vector, flowing both from the sides, as well from the top, and directly in front. The Carabo was unfinished. Designers today still "Borrow" from each other. They are browsing the latest designs once released, once spy photos come out, at every auto expo... Believe it or not, Chris Bangle today has the greatest influence on all other designers. Weigart was influenced by Gandini at the time. By the time of the W8, much was changed, and the WX3 even more was evolved. I'm surprised that you haven't yet comprehended this, and are simply looking for a reason to e-hate on the Vector. Oh well. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The more I learn about the Vector or Weigart, it just seems like a big sham, Here are a few others. You have to remember the Vector was designed 15-20 years after these designs ,IMO the vector design was just a poor copy. How much money have you invested? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The first Vector design was presented in 1972 with the company Vehicle Design Force. The next concept was displayed 6 years later in 1978, with the first prototype W2 showing in 1979. The production vehicle was 1990-1993. Each phase was a significant design evolution. So, why isn't each of the creators of each of these cars suing each other? They are not coming from the same designers minds and hands. Proof you are nothing but a troll. I wouldn't invest with Jerry today myself. The new design isn't much of an evolution of the AWX 3's IMHO. Sham? riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
The company took peoples money and didn't deliver His designs were copies at best lawsuits court orders cars siezed at auto shows Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla..............................
For 30 million, Bugatti delivered one prototype EB110; for 30 Million, Vector produced 22 cars before being taken over illegally. Car seized at an auto show... I'll get the inside scoop on that before long. So far, all we have is heresay. Court orders - company was taken over illegally. took people's money - what about other companies that get venture capitol and fail. statistically, 9/10 companies fail. Vector returned every deposit given on a car that was not delivered. Megatech then asked for them back, and tried to "Deliver" on them with the POS M12. Copy at best? Which of them was a production car? which one was an Aluminum Monicoque honeycomb chassis based on Group C race technology? which one had the most powerful production engine in the world at the time, that was built to handle 1200 hp with race fuel (110 octane) ? which one was stable at 242 mph? which one was honed in a wind tunnel? which one had a carbon kevlar body? which one was the safest car ever tested in a side-impact collision by the US DOT testing facility in Ann Arbor? which one was measured to out handle a Ferrari F40? which one was driven in excess of 200,000 miles in testing before bringing to fruition? Even with these failed concepts you posted, none had the largest piece of automotive glass ever made. The Vector does. and on and on and on... We get it, you don't like the vector, but you really have no clue what you are talking about.
Like you, I only have anecdotal information about Vector cars, i.e. car tests cold never be completed because of mechanical problems, Agassi returned his Vector because cats kept catching on fire, owner used AMEX to cover a car show expense...the list goes on, all very colorful! Can you point to nationally recognized publications that tested the car and support the numbers above? Any actual heads up comparison with other Super cars of the time - ie not just published numbers? Just curious THX
I Wouldn't say Isaac's information is anecdotal. I personally know his source and it is not Wiki or a pile of magazines, but someone quite credible. Isaac has some unique access to the history of these cars and although colorful, he knows what he is talking about ill back him on that! CT
Thanks for the vote of confidence Stack! You are absolutely correct, as my information is pretty much 2nd hand only because the fact that I'm typing it. SoM may be on Barret Jackson tonight/ tomorrow... i'm DVRing
