My Old Blog

I hadn’t thought about the Vector in years until Josh mentioned it the other day. The freaking Vector!!! I was just sure that car was going to rule the world.

Simply put, the Vector was the fastest and most beautiful car ever to be almost made. 0-60 in 4 seconds, street legal top speed of 215+ miles per hour, a 3 speed automatic transmission with enough horsepower to go to the moon, built to airplane specifications, and looked like Knight Rider on steriods. (Later versions of the Vector were even faster: 220+ top speed, 0-60 in 3.3 seconds)

In 1972 Jerry Wiegert stunned the automotive world with the Vector concept car at the Los Angeles Auto Show. 30 years later, we’re still waiting for the damn thing to to built.

To give you an idea of the cult status of this car, after decades of non-production there are still Vector enthusiast groups, speculating on the next great twist in the Vector saga. (I’ve got a pretty good idea of what’ll happen next…..the same thing that’s been happening: nothing.)

The history of Vector reads like a soap opera. It started in Venice, California then to Wilmington, CA for some money…then was bought by an Indonesian group (MegaTech) with ties to Lamborghini. During these moves a few cars, under varying names and designs, were actually produced. Because the design was constantly changing and the cars were individually assembled, no two Vectors are exactly alike.

Then they disappeared for while, then moved to Florida for some more money, Wiegart was kicked out of the company, there was an SEC investigation…and they went out of business….or did they??

Then they were bought by Tradelink International in the late 90s. Bear in mind that since no cars are being made, investors are really buying the name…but how good can a name be when the owner is mired in court battles, won’t talk about the car in public, and no one actually owns a Vector to say if its any good??

So where is Vector now?? I have no idea. Some people say its re-organized as American Aeromotive, Vector Holdings, Avtech Motors, and/or Vector Supercars. Take your pick. One of them might be a real company….but one thing is for sure: None of these companys will be producing any Vectors.

So how many Vectors exist?? As far as I can make out:

1 W2 (this is the original concept car shown at the 1972 LA auto show without an engine. They hadn’t finished it and rolled it in as a shell looking for money…talk about hype!!)
19 W8s
2 Avtechs (one coupe and one roadster).
14 M12s

These cars reportedly sold for between 150,000 and 450,000 dollars. As recently as June 2004, someone tried to sell the only WX-3 (Avtech) coupe in existence on EBay. The top bid of $199,000 failed to meet the reserve price.

So there are few of them out there, but real Vector enthusiasts do not count the M12s. They say they are more reminiscent of Lamborghinis and do not hold true to the Vector style tradition. (I say what tradition?? 20 cars over 20 years is not exactly a strong tradition.)

Regardless, I still love the fictitious Vector and am sure the saga will continue.

Here are some pics. As you look, keep in mind that this design is 30 years old. Even the Avtech in the Ebay photo was made in 1993. These cars were way ahead of their time.

Vector’s jet fighter inspired console:

The Avtech:

The W8 (which looks very similar to the original W2). These are the “real” Vectors:

Here is a link to a photo gallery (one more)

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 9th, 2004 at 11:11 pm and is filed under Interesting Facts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.