To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION at RM Sothebys' Arizona event, 17 - 18
January 2019.
Estimate:
$450,000 - $550,000
- The 1992 and 1993 Geneva Motor Show car
- The only Vector WX-3 coupe prototype produced
- Incredible 1,000-hp twin-turbo V-8 engine
- Retained by company founder Jerry Wiegert
For Gerald "Jerry" Wiegert, the wedge-shaped Lamborghini and
Ferrari sports cars of the 1970s were more than a passing interest.
After completing his studies at the Art Center College of Design in
idyllic Pasadena, California, Wiegert started a design firm called
Vehicle Design Force with the intention of building a wholly
American supercar.
The Vector W2�its name derived from Wiegert's last name and from
its twin-turbocharged V-8 engine�boasted a cutting-edge design that
wowed show-goers for more than a decade while its builder raised
funds to put it into production. Car & Driver said of the W2 that
it was created "the way you'd build a Formula 1 car if you could
afford to."
Wiegert's day finally came in 1989 when production started on the
Vector W8, America's first supercar that in so many ways
represented what the 1980s were all about. Its design benefitted
from massive leaps forward in computer engineering and the
materials Vector used to build the mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive
sports car were cribbed from the aerospace industry. After all,
Vector referred to itself not as an automaker but as the Vector
Aeromotive Corporation.
The W8's monocoque chassis was bonded with epoxy and riveted to an
aluminum honeycomb structure floor pan. Overall, about 5,000 rivets
were used in the car's structure. Intercooled Garrett
twin-turbochargers helped the 6.0-liter Rodeck V-8 produce 625 hp,
making it among the earliest cars to exceed 100 hp per liter. The
W8 was ferociously fast. One reportedly hit 242 mph on the
Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Nearly two dozen were built and at a
price of nearly $450,000 in 1990, allowing Wiegert to turn his
focus to its successor.
The Avtech WX-3 prototype was to preview a production car when it
was first displayed at the 1992 Geneva Motor Show. Its silver paint
reflecting the bright lights of the Geneva Palexpo Center, the WX-3
was initially a mere showpiece. The WX-3 prototype owed its
advanced composition to the W8, including carbon fiber and Kevlar.
Though its profile was angular, the WX-3 had streamlined, curved
bumpers and cut lines that marked it as a product of the early
1990s. Its pop-up headlights look like a throwback today, but they
were still popular when the WX-3 was unveiled in Geneva.
Inside, the WX-3's interior was far more refined, but still shared
its airplane cockpit control arrangement with the W8. The switches
and buttons were organized in a more conventional array. The
hardtop eschewed deeply bolstered sports seats in favor of a
three-across seating configuration clothed in black leather with
teal green trim, an option previously made available for the W8
export market. Side windows that slid open helped save weight and
reduced complexity, as did triangular mirrors integrated into the
A-pillars.
A year later, Vector had more to show at the 1993 Geneva salon. By
then, the company had wedged its twin-turbo Rodeck 7.0-liter,
1,000-hp V-8 behind the passenger compartment and repainted the
WX-3 the Brilliant Aquamarine it wears today. It was joined by the
open-top purple WX-3R (for Roadster) at the automaker's California
modern-themed stand at the motor show. Wiegert chose the teal and
purple hues because they matched the logo of his Aquajet jet-ski
firm. After putting these finishing touches on the mind-blowing
show car, the final cost to develop and build the WX-3 prototype
coupe had reached $1,000,000!
At its introduction, Wiegert and Vector boasted of plans for a trio
of high-performance engines with output ranging from an impressive
600 to a staggering 1,200 hp. The WX-3 prototype features a
variable boost 1,000-hp version of the twin-turbo V-8 paired to a
heavily modified General Motors Turbo-Hydramatic 425 transmission.
It was the only Vector to be equipped with the larger and more
powerful 7.0-liter engine. At the time, Vector claimed that the
WX-3 could complete the 0-60 mph sprint in just 3.3 seconds before
reaching a top speed of 248 mph.
Due to a hostile takeover attempt by the Indonesian company that
owned Lamborghini at the time, the WX-3 never left the prototype
phase. After a court battle, Wiegert was able to retain ownership
of the WX-3's design, which prevented Megatech from ever producing
the vehicle. Megatech used the WX-3's styling as its basis for the
Lamborghini Diablo-based M12 that it debuted in 1995, but it was
panned by automotive magazines and was never successful as a racing
car. In the end, the WX-3 coupe and WX-3R roadster were the last
all-American Vector examples completed.
Wiegert's WX-3 was well received by media at its teaser
introduction in Geneva in both 1992 and as a complete vehicle a
year later. It appeared in an episode of the mid-1990s CBS revival
of the TV show Burke's Law and has been exhibited at numerous car
shows in the last 25 years by Jerry Wiegert, who retained ownership
of both the coupe and roadster prototypes.
Although it never made production, the WX-3 represented the very
best of America's first supercar and offered enormous potential for
the future. The spirit of the WX-3 lives on today with the next
generation WX8 currently in development, which carries on the
tactical fighter aircraft for the road theme with plans to make use
of a big-block V-8 engine capable of over 2,000 hp. To view this
car and others currently consigned to this auction, please visit
the RM website at rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/az19.
