Vector W8 #007 @ RM London

Yes, it looks awfully 80's GM with gaps and asymmetry. It looks like an amateur-built kit car.

It's definitely interesting, but that M12 appears to be better built (clm's comments notwithstanding, which indicate otherwise).

 

quite the opposite.
There is NO other supercar from the 90´s with better build quality than a Vector W8.
Fit and finish and the selection of materials were unmatched, maybe except for the McL F1.

But with the so called "Vector" M12 the Indonesians built what Jeremy Clarkson (in TopGear, August 1998) called the "worst car on the entire planet", a poor kit car with Lamborghini engine with no fit and no finish at all.
Gearbox breaks and clutch blows up all the time.
The overall car is poorly assembled.

The VECTOR W8 was made from Aerospace tech materials.
The M12 was made from crappy materials with no proper engineering.

 

Right - I make no claims either way - only the appearance from the pics.

 

A few of my pictures
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all auction results:
http://www.rmauctions.com/auction-results-overview.cfm?SaleCode=LF10

LOT: 125 1992 Vector W8 Twin Turbo
Estimate: £150,000-£180,000
Chassis No. 1V9VW2623NW048007
AUCTION RESULTS: Lot was Sold at a price of £179.200 (= £160.000 high bid plus 12% buyer´s fee)

 

Sam Fiorani (Automotive historian) wrote an article about this auction:
http://www.automotivetraveler.com/magazine/viewer.php?path=2010/10/Not_Found_on_eBay_1992_Vector_W8

He is the author of the 12 page article in "Collectible Automobile", August 1998 which is the most in-depth article on Vector in any magazine so far:
http://desc.shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=%22collectible+automobile%22+vector&_sacat=267&_dmpt=Magazines&_odkw=collectible+automobile+vector&_osacat=267&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313&LH_TitleDesc=1

 

Any more pics of that sweet Toyota 2000GT?

 

Sorry no. I'm more of a Miura onwards supercar guy.

 

Loved the Vectors when they came out but now I don't think I would own one even if I could afford one.

 

barchetta.cc´s Peter Singhof took lots of photos:

http://www.barchetta.cc/All.Ferraris/events-stories/events/2010/auction/rm/automobiles-of-london/37-72/index.html

 

WOW...I love the W8's... I hope to see one in person (and a McLaren F1 also) some day!

Chris, that silver M12 you have cared for here in Austin, is that the one that had been for sale at that shop up in G'town for quite some time?

 

My whole gallery of the W8 at the auction, sorry about the quality of some shots

http://img238.imagevenue.com/gallery/loc154/333_1885_1288743925-16.php

 

W8-007 sold to Hungary.

 

i remember seeing that early car on the cover of r/t in the desert,what ever happened to the owner [jim weingert?]

 

That VECTOR cover was on Car and Driver, Dec 1980.
Jerry Wiegert runs www.vectormotors.com and www.aquajet.com

 

Does the W2 still sit in Wiegerts' garage? The only truly beautiful Vector built IMO.

 

Yes, it does.
But don´t forget that the W2 design evolved to this:

This is how the car eventually looked, 90% W8 style.

 

M12 built better? Are you serious??? Have you even seen an M12?

And, what gaps are you speaking of? This thing was dead even all the way around unless you have a micrometer. Better built than an F40 (one of my personal favorite cars I've driven), and better built than an XJ220... considering the era, it's a monster.
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I can't get access to that page, it keeps telling me 'forbidden'. Can you lift a pic or 2?

W2 looked attractive to me because it didn't have all the add-on skirts and wings. It had a much purer form. I still have a 'sales brochure' of it, just a single page leaflet, but nice Would have to look it up, but I think it is from 1981 or 2, when I met Mr. Wiegert in Duesseldorf, Germany, at the premises of Auto Becker. W2 was there, I looked it over very carefully, beautifully built, massive power.

 

WOW!
you did see the W2 at Auto Becker in Duesseldorf?
I talked to Helmut Becker last night in order to obtain the old photos from his photo archive.
If you still have any photos form that day and could share them we would all appreciate it

 

you saw the W2 at Auto Becker in Duesseldorf?

http://www.madle.org/becker81.jpg
http://www.madle.org/ebecker.htm

Here are a few articles with the old W2:
http://www.gatsbyonline.com/main.aspx?page=text&id=539&cat=auto
http://www.gatsbyonline.com/main.aspx?page=text&id=540&cat=auto
http://www.gatsbyonline.com/main.aspx?page=text&id=656&cat=auto

 

W2 at 1983 Frankfurt (IAA) Auto Show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiJLm2Toqvk#t=2m07s

Auto Becker 1981:
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Thanks!

 

Yes, Mr Wiegert was also there; W2 was put outside on the parking lot with all the other nice cars we could find inside, then a whole lot of 'snow' was made with fire extinguishers and shots taken for the Auto Becker X-mas card that year.
Small but significant detail: Helmut actually put a rather large Datsun-sticker on the nose of W2...
I am sure I have some slides of the occasion, but they are in an archive 10.000kms away, in the Netherlands.

When next you speak with Helmut, please give him my best regards! My first ride in a Ferrari was with him in his 512 (DDU 512) some other keywords to jog his memory are drawings of 400 Cabrio and the book, Faszination auf Raeder, in which said drawings were published. We saw eachother quite regularly in those days, a very special man indeed.