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By XR4Tim
#61086
Vector founder Gerald Wiegert passed away last month, and scrolling through some old photos on my phone inspired me to start this thread.

Vector was founded in the early '70s, producing and constantly improving his W2 prototype (and raising capital), but Wiegert didn't produce the first customer car until 1991 when the W8 was officially available. It was essentially a cost-is-no-object project to make the best supercar possible. It featured a carbon fiber body, fully adjustable coilovers suspension, aluminum wiring harness, a twin-turbo 6.0 liter resleevable Rodeck aluminum race engine with dry sump oiling system, adjustable boost control from the dashboard, and strangely a 3-speed transmission. The transmission was based on a TH475 automatic transaxle (IIRC), but modified with about $75k of goodies inside to handle the power. It did not shift automatically. If you put it in "D", you were in 3rd gear. If you see test drive videos and acceleration seems slow, they are not starting out in 1st. Vector guaranteed at least 625 horsepower from each W8. This was at the wheels, on pump gas (low boost). Each W8 was dyno tested before leaving the factory, and some were putting out close to 750hp on low boost, and 1,200 on 110 race gas with the boost turned up.
Sadly, the cost-is-no-object approach got expensive. By 1993, the MSRP went up to $440k for a W8 (almost $800k in today's dollars) because material costs were rising. Constant delays made customers unhappy, Andre Agassi gave them some bad press when he drove an incomplete car that he had promised not to drive, and overheated it, and some very sketchy investors were unhappy with Wiegert. 18 production W8s made it out to customers. I saw my first Vector (yellow W8) in 1994, and had no idea what it was until years later.
This is #001 in Gunmetal Grey
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And this is #015 in Pearl White
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More to come...
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By XR4Tim
#61093
By the time the last few W8s were being made, Wiegert was producing a new prototype: the Avtech WX-3. It was to feature a 7.0 liter, twin-turbo, DOHC engine, and new body styling. They built a coupe, and then a roadster for the Geneva Auto Show. The 7.0 DOHC engine was pictured in promotional documents, but both cars ended up with 6.0 TT engines built for the W8s. I'm not sure what happened to the planned engine. The WX-3 bodies were carbon fiber and Kevlar aramid. They had active adjustable rear spoilers, and the coupe had retractable side mirrors. The roadster had mirrors built into the top corners of the windshield frame. The coupe featured 3-across seating with special storage compartments under the seats. I got to spend a day with both WX-3 prototypes while Mr. Wiegert drove me around in them. Unfortunately, I was having issues with my phone battery, so I only got a few pictures.
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At this point investors "Megatech" performed a hostile takeover of the company, and moved operations to Jacksonville. Megatech owned Lamborghini at the time, and decided to use the WX-3 body, but lengthen it a little bit, and drop in a Diablo V12 and Getrag 6-speed manual transmission. Instead of exotic materials, they used fiberglass for the bodies. They called it the Vector M12 (Megatech 12-cylinder). These were significantly less expensive, and of course, slower than the W8. 17 M12s made it out of Jacksonville, and a couple even raced. I've seen 3 M12s in person, but unfortunately have no good pictures.
Wiegert won the company back in court, but never recovered. When I met him in 2015, he was trying to get more capital to get his next car produced. He sold both WX-3s in 2019 to work toward that goal, but it didn't happen.
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By NSXguy
#61120
Thanks for this thread.
I've only ever seen a couple Vectors in the wild, a local enthusiast has a white one and Ken Lingenfelter has a purple one in his collection.
Crazy cars to be sure!
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By XR4Tim
#61141
NSXguy wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 9:21 am Thanks for this thread.
I've only ever seen a couple Vectors in the wild, a local enthusiast has a white one and Ken Lingenfelter has a purple one in his collection.
Crazy cars to be sure!
The white W8 pictured above is owned by Kurt, one of the original engineers for Vector. He lived in Troy until about 10 years ago, when he moved a bit further North. He had it at the concours in Plymouth in 2019.
Ken sold the purple M12 a couple of years back, and it now resides in France with the only purple W8 in the same collection!
Here's the only picture I have of the M12 at Ken's place. Apparently I took it during an earthquake 😆
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By NSXguy
#61217
XR4Tim wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 12:02 pm
NSXguy wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 9:21 am Thanks for this thread.
I've only ever seen a couple Vectors in the wild, a local enthusiast has a white one and Ken Lingenfelter has a purple one in his collection.
Crazy cars to be sure!
The white W8 pictured above is owned by Kurt, one of the original engineers for Vector. He lived in Troy until about 10 years ago, when he moved a bit further North. He had it at the concours in Plymouth in 2019.
Ken sold the purple M12 a couple of years back, and it now resides in France with the only purple W8 in the same collection!
Here's the only picture I have of the M12 at Ken's place. Apparently I took it during an earthquake 😆
Thanks for the update, I guess there are NO Vectors in my area any longer!
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By XR4Tim
#61236
Airkuhl wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 12:16 pm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WEhsS9ybwk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPyL6dye1U0
Pretty good videos! Sadly, he was driving it in 3rd gear the whole time and didn't get the true acceleration out of it that he could have. The front lid also appears to be missing something, as it shouldn't be that floppy.
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By Scott at Team Harco
#63050
Motor Trend TV has an episode of Seduced By Speed on the Vector and its creator. 9:00 EST - tonight.
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By XR4Tim
#63070
Scott at Team Harco wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 7:26 pm Motor Trend TV has an episode of Seduced By Speed on the Vector and its creator. 9:00 EST - tonight.
I would definitely be interested in seeing that. I will have to see if it will be available in any streaming platforms soon.
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By Scott at Team Harco
#63095
XR4Tim wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:10 pm
Scott at Team Harco wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 7:26 pm Motor Trend TV has an episode of Seduced By Speed on the Vector and its creator. 9:00 EST - tonight.
I would definitely be interested in seeing that. I will have to see if it will be available in any streaming platforms soon.
It wasn't too bad, They have a bunch of talking heads adding their 'insight'. It would be a lot better had they stuck to the facts without the hype. I must say - this episode was far better than the one that preceded it, one on John DeLorean. At least they had Gerald Wiegert to interview. He cut through a lot of the crap. One thing you can safely say about Wiegert - he didn't have an inferiority complex.

I didn't realize, until just now, Wiegert passed away last month. That didn't seem to make the (non-automotive) news.
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By XR4Tim
#63257
Scott at Team Harco wrote: Sun Feb 28, 2021 8:25 amIt wasn't too bad, They have a bunch of talking heads adding their 'insight'. It would be a lot better had they stuck to the facts without the hype. I must say - this episode was far better than the one that preceded it, one on John DeLorean. At least they had Gerald Wiegert to interview. He cut through a lot of the crap. One thing you can safely say about Wiegert - he didn't have an inferiority complex.

I didn't realize, until just now, Wiegert passed away last month. That didn't seem to make the (non-automotive) news.
I watched it last night, and I agree with your assessment. It seemed short, and there wasn't a lot of (accurate) detail on certain things, such as the Lamborghini deal and the Megatech takeover, but it was good overall. Jerry's interview was done at his house - I recognized the bar area behind him from when I was there!
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By Flat6Noise
#63261
Wow! Great thread! Thank you for sharing this. These cars were as exotic as it gets for back then. I’ve only seen photos of them. The amount of engineering that went into them is just crazy. The white one with the long intake runners reminds me of the old L98 tpi mills before the lt1. I’m sure you could just walk around staring at details on these cars for hours.
XR4Tim liked this
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By XR4Tim
#63299
Flat6Noise wrote: Mon Mar 01, 2021 2:58 am Wow! Great thread! Thank you for sharing this. These cars were as exotic as it gets for back then. I’ve only seen photos of them. The amount of engineering that went into them is just crazy. The white one with the long intake runners reminds me of the old L98 tpi mills before the lt1. I’m sure you could just walk around staring at details on these cars for hours.
You're not wrong. I have spent many hours looking at the details on these cars, and they are works of art and engineering.
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