The Vector M12 is the racecar from the 1990s that you didn’t know existed. You can bid on it on Bring a Trailer until April 22. It looks wild and has the V-12 heart of a Diablo. It was made from the wild Vector W8’s parts, of which only about 12 real M12s are left. Top Gear tried this when it was brand new. The warning lights in question did, in fact, come from a real Mazda Miata. There is something almost a hundred times less common than a Lamborghini Countach that is made in Florida and has a 60-degree V-12 engine. Also, the same person who worked on the McLaren F1 created it. The Vector M12 is the mid-engine racecar that replaces Jerry Wiegert’s terrible W8 that was based on the F117. It’s one of the rarest exotic cars ever made; less than 14 were made, and two are said to have been destroyed in crashes. Now is your chance to show off the Lamborghini Diablos at your upcoming car show with a 1990s theme. The best things at sale today Bring a Trailer is the fourth Vector M12 production chassis, owned by Hearst Autos with Invoice Pricing. It has only 4,400 miles on it. This is the same type that was driven on the last season of BBC’s Top Gear. If you want to see Jeremy Clarkson with poodle hair driving this car, you should watch that season. Clarkson had some good and some bad feelings about the beautiful American-Italian racecar. The M12, like the Cizeta-Moroder V16T, came about after Vector went out of business. It’s another example of an American supercar dream that never came true. Jerry Wiegert had big goals, and he worked for years to make his dream of a performance machine that looked like an airplane come true. The wedge-shaped Vector W8 was the closest thing he could find. It was made to look like the F117 Nighthawk stealth fighter plane on the inside and the outside. It was made starting in 1989 and had a 6.0-liter V-8 engine with two turbochargers. The body was made of carbon fiber and Kevlar. Like Icarus, Vector crashed into Earth because it was moving too close to the sun. The story is complicated, but in the end, Wiegert lost control of his business because of a string of well-known problems and a hostile takeover attempt by Megatech, a major partner. He later went to court to get his designs and patents back. Megatech, meanwhile, was looking for an engine that could be put into production and had British designer Peter Stevens change the way the W8 looked. The company could look further because it had just bought Lamborghini. The M12 had a 5.7-liter V-12 engine placed longitudinally and a five-speed manual transmission from the Diablo. The W8 had a transversely mounted, twin-turbocharged V-8 engine and a three-speed automatic transmission. After a few years, Audi bought Sant’Agata’s dancing bull from Megatech. The rest is history. For that short time, though, the M12 shone as a picture of pure mid-1990s luxury. Modern supercars can scream like banshees while still being fast and looking good. They are likely to give you a good experience, though, and using one is about as risky as wearing a hat. Clarkson made it clear during his in-period check that the M12 was working. With its 500-horsepower V-12 engine, it’s as fast as you could want. Everything else about it, from how grand it looks to the odd bad build quality, is either loved or hated. The cherry on top are wheels with three spokes. This example recently had its power steering pump and rack changed, and the front brakes serviced and improved. It has only been driven 500 miles in the past five years. That being said, good job to the previous owner for taking it for a real drive. I hope the buyer feels the same way. The Vector M12 was something that almost no other car has ever been. It was only made for a short time. The journey is now ready for the rest of the world to see. On April 22, the sale ends.
