Vector Avtech WX-3 & WX-3R

American sports car manufacturers are Ford, Dodge, Shelby and Saleen, right? Wrong! In the 1980s and early 90s, there was also the brand Vector Motors, which drew attention with radically wedge-shaped designs on itself. The founding date of the company is even in 1978, when the US-entrepreneur Gerald Wiegert, who had anchestors from Germany, and the owner of Precision Auto Inc. in California opened the ‘Vector Car Limited Partnership’. Previously, there was the common predecessor company Vehicle Design Force. Previously Wiegert spent four years attending the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit before training a draftsman at General Motors, earning him a degree in 1970 from the Art College of Design in Los Angeles. Some time later, he left GM in dispute and announced a ‘starfighter for the road’. His plans envisaged a new supercar made totally in America, which should outperform all existing vehicles of the time, including the European products. For this purpose, they targeted to use fighter jet technologies in the car production for the first time. These included, for example, (reversing) cameras and a head-up display.

In 1979 the first driveable prototype of the Vector W2 was finally ready, which was used in the following decade for driving reports in various car magazines worldwide. However, the basic design had been around since 1972, when Wiegert had shown a then still nameless concept study without engine at the Motorshow in Los Angeles. But there were already concrete ideas on the technology package of the car, which provided, among other things, only a two-liter four-cylinder engine with about 250 hp. At this point, the sports car that later became the Vector shouldn’t outdo its competitors. After his employer General Motors wasn’t interested in his sports car plans, Wiegert briefly considered using Porsche technology, but finally chose a 5.7-liter smallblock V8 engine from Chevrolet, also used in the Corvette. In the Vector W2 it was fitted with two turbochargers, delivering about 600 hp and also indicating the name: W for Wiegert and 2 for the two turbochargers. Wiegert tried every now and then to convince people about an even more powerful engine version with up to 1,500 hp. Only two copies of the W2 were produced, but one was destroyed after a crash. In September 1990 the premiere of the first production version of the Vector finally followed with the W8 Twin Turbo (W for Wiegert, 8 for the number of cylinders). Until 1993 only 17 copies and five unfinished chassis were built. These chassis were made of aluminium and already at that time showed a glued and riveted honeycomb structure. The engine had grown to six liters of displacement, but showed constant overheating problems due to the small ventilation holes in the bodywork. While Wiegert was able to solve almost all other technical problems that repeatedly occured in the W8, he couldn’t tackle the troubled financial situation of his company. In 1988 he entered into a cooperation with Blinder, Robinson & Co., received a cash injection of six million US$ and brought Vector on the stock market. Additional capital came from acquired processes, for example against tire manufacturer Goodyear, who used the name Vector temporarily without permission for a tire variant. Nevertheless, the money was only enough for the few built copies of the W8.

At the Geneva Motor Show in 1992 the successor model of the Vector W8 Twin Turbo debuted as a pure concept study, which was also shown at the New York International Auto Show the same year. One year later the Vector Avtech WX-3 was shown in Geneva again, but now with drivetrain. The artificial second word in the name was not for a new cooperation partner, but should be an abbreviation for ‘Aviation Aerospace Technology’. Designwise, Wiegert succeeded in integrating many known features of the W8 in a new, rounder shape and thus creating a clear familiar affiliation. In addition, he showed the WX-3 not only as a, initially silver and later turquoise painted Coupé, but also for the first time as a purple colored Roadster, named WX-3R, without any roof construction. For the planned series production Vector initially asked for 765,000 US$, which was later lowered to 685,000 US$. However, since Wiegert had already sold the production tools and facilities for the W8, he now lacked the manufacturing capabilities for the WX-3. Added to this was a mutiny by the management board of Vector, which dismissed several US employees while Wiegert showed the two cars in Geneva in 1993. In subsequent court hearings, it went back and forth until finally Gerald Wiegert was terminated from his own company and the latter was sold to Indonesian company MegaTech Ltd.

The two WX-3 prototypes remained in the private collection of Gerald Wiegert. In the meantime, he had also worked in other business areas and founded Aquajet, a company that produced jet skis and wet bikes. With the names WX-1 and WX-2 there were two small series of jet skis, whose nomenclature anticipated the new sports car. For advertising purposes, the WX-3 Coupé was repainted from silver to the Aquajet corporate color turquoise in 1993. He offered the car on eBay in 2004 for 199,000 US$, but couldn’t find a buyer. Mounted behind the passengers is a seven-liter V8 biturbo engine, which according to Wiegert is good for 1,200 hp. About half of this seems to be more realistic. An automatic transmission from GM transmits the power to the rear axle. Inside, up to three people can travel on black leather seats.

While in Geneva and New York in 1992 only the Coupé of the Vector Avtech WX-3 was shown, in 1993 also the radically open Roadster WX-3R debuted at the Palexpo halls in Geneva. Its Amethyst Purple paint is the second color of the Aquajet company logo. In contrast to the Coupé, the Roadster received a modified sideline with lower side windows, which fit seamlessly to the panoramic windscreen. At the rear, a lower wing and a modified tail design provide new views. The Roadster is powered by the six-liter V8 engine of the Vector W8. Inside, the driver and front passenger sit on two gray and purple sports seats.

Both Vector Avtech WX-3 prototypes will now hit the auction block during an event by RM Sotheby’s in Arizona on January 17. The experts of the auction house expect a hammer price between 450,000 and 550,000 US$ each. Whether these prices can really be achieved remains to be seen. By the way, Gerald Wiegert later regained control of Vector and manages the company to this day. In 2007 he presented the new supercar WX-8 as a concept car, but wasn’t able to start production until now.

Images: RM Sotheby’s, Erik Fuller, Archive Gerald Wiegert