eBay Find of the Day: 1999 Vector M12 is still wedged in our inner twelve year-old minds
1999 Vector M12 - click above image for hi-res gallery
Wow. No, make that whoa. Why? More rumor and myth than car, this here is an honest to goodness Vector M12. And its yours for the taking. Unsure as to what you're about to bid on? Here's the explanation. To those of us that grew on on A-Team and Knight Rider, the Lamborghini Countach was the most positively exotic automobile ever. Forget about reality (and reliability, livability, etc.), our biggest hopes and dreams involved us in a black Countach with Paulina Porizkova and /or Kathy Ireland riding shotgun. Not that we would have known what to do with either the car or the girl, but hey – we were twelve. But there was a dark side.
Vectors. They were like evil spirits. Something cooked up by the government in Area 51 using alien technology. And not just that regular old alien tech – we're talking the crazy stuff. You simply cannot imagine how impossibility AWESOME the Vector W2 was to a twelve-year-old mind. And you should have seen the jet fighter interior. It was like the space shuttle – the evil space shuttle. Then the W8 came out and it was still basically as nasty and mind bending. Then in the mid-Nineties, the M12 showed up, and well, the a little of the luster was lost.
We've heard some abso-fab stories – guns, cocaine, barricading one's self inside a building for 30 days – about what was going on at Vector in 1995. Suffice to say there was a very ugly battle between founder Jerry Wiegert and an Indonesian company called Megatech that hostilely took Vector over and canned Wiegert. As a result, the M12 never got the 1,200 hp twin-turbo 7.0-liter V8 (or the Wiegertian top speed of 250 mph) that was planned for the never released WX-3. The M12 did however get the WX-3's aesthetics, although in reality it was nothing more than a Lamborghini Diablo with a goofy looking fiberglass body, terrible three-spoke wheels, the lowest rent interior possibly imaginable – and it weighed 3,600 pounds.
But never mind all that – you're bidding on an genuine American-Italian hybrid supercar with a 490 hp 5.7-liter V12 that can hit 60 mph in 4.8 seconds on its way to a top speed of 190 mph. And this one has 3.900 miles on it. Not shabby in the slightest. And remember, counting the four pre-production examples, Vector only made eighteen M12s. Unlike the common-as-a-housefly W8 (fifty built). Besides, you know your inner twelve-year-old will never be at peace without a Vector. Happy bidding. A big thank you to Davis for the tip!
Gallery: Vector M12 on eBay
[Source: eBay]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
zamafir 1:36PM (9/04/2009)
Sitting in one of these is like sitting in a museum, so odd and obscure is the interior, such a direct result of the 90s, it's worth buying one for that nostalgia alone.
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Coolio 1:43PM (9/04/2009)
Totally ! If you've got the loot...
geo.stewart 1:50PM (9/04/2009)
most thought this was nothing more than a Hot wheels creation.
but still, for EXOTIC (read rare/ unobtainable unlike Lambo, Lotus, Ferrari that were exotic), nothing beat the Wraith.
true vaporware as it only existed in teh movie but ooh la la
zamafir 1:57PM (9/04/2009)
@geo.stewart
fond memories for sure. i can't recall where I saw it first, Rising Sun of course, but there was also a feature episode of Beyond 2000 (great show). Either way, all the buzz words of ‘aerospace’ this and ‘aerospace’ that sounded awfully cool at the time.
Fast forward to today and it's almost unfathomable how poorly a lot of these crazy looking cars drove by today’s standards. It reinforces just how much we take the driving dynamics of say the F430, Carrera GT, et-al for granted. Even the less intense cars like the R8 V10 and 911 Turbo.
Affalterbach 1:44PM (9/04/2009)
Nice red Slantnose turbo in the background.
And as far as the Vector goes, it was nothing but vaporware. Claims that were never fulfilled, dreams that never materialized.
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Purplewon 1:49PM (9/04/2009)
I remember when i first heard about the 240MPH (claimed) Vector Twin Turbo W8. I was 9 or 10 and wondered how they had 2 turbocharged V8 engines in that little car, one in the front and one in the back? The W12 was a big disappointment, not nearly as cool looking, I think I decided I'd have to settle for the Countach with Cathy Ireland (had the posters of both in my room)
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Benfolio 1:55PM (9/04/2009)
Nah, forget this hunk of junk with its poor fitting passenger airbag cover, I want the Allante in the showroom next to it!!
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tbirdfive0 1:57PM (9/04/2009)
sweet! for $139k I can have the same steering wheel in my hand as my GF's 1997 Taurus and use the same climate control as a mid 90's explorer!
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why not the LS2LS7? 1:58PM (9/04/2009)
I'll take a WX-3R instead.
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GlobalDia 2:00PM (9/04/2009)
i remember when they first came out i used to think they were h-o-t looking.
but now...that is one fugly lookin car!!!!!
my how times (and tastes) change.
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nrb 2:42PM (9/04/2009)
It's still hot.
PJ 3:34PM (9/04/2009)
It's nostalgic hot. Still, I do remember driving this car in... Gran Turismo 2, I think it was?... and being crushed by how not-amazing it was.
Ray 8:57PM (9/04/2009)
I used to love this car when I was a teenager, but you're right I'd laugh my ass off if I saw this thing come out today.
Jim Dubois 2:02PM (9/04/2009)
This 1995 Vector has not aged well. Cheezy looking is all I can say about it. Not my cup of tea.
Even a Lambo Countach 5000 still looks better than this and that car is from the 80s.
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Jim Dubois 2:05PM (9/04/2009)
Buck Rogers wants his Vector spacecraft back! HAHAHA
Amazing to think a 2009 $25K Subaru Impreza WRX can outperform this spacecraft with almost half the power and 2/3 less cylinders and is more comfortable/practical to boot!
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Farmboy 2:10PM (9/04/2009)
Pardon me, I'm trying to engage hyperdrive. It's "H" right?
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Rover827 3:47PM (9/04/2009)
One of these appears Saturdays at Auto Zone in Birmingham. So what if it is fast. Anyone can make a car go fast. The craftsmanship is lousy. The interior is awful It's a poorly made kit car with switches from Radio Shack.
Dexter Baxter
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Lagwolf 2:34PM (9/04/2009)
I didn't have a Countach on the wall, it was a Vector. It sat right beside the Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Van Halen etc posters...
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Jeremy Childress 2:40PM (9/04/2009)
WOW, I drive by this place every day on the way to work. I don't know where they come up with their cars, because right next door you can find the best adult entertainment products STL has to offer.
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Paul C. 2:45PM (9/04/2009)
When I was about 10 and still living in Poland there used to be this chewing gum called TURBO. Each gum came packaged individually and included a picture of a car (kind of like Bazooka Joe comics). The Vector was the most coveted of them all. I had one and everyone at school wanted to trade me their entire collection of pictures for the Vector!
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