M12

All I know about the M12, I learned from GT2, but I like it enough to have this picture in my screen saver.

from Polyphony Digital's game Gran Turismo 2:
M12

After a history that would make a good movie plot, by the mid-1990s Vector was based in Florida and owned by an Indonesian company that also owned Lamborghini. How convenient - Vector's latest car, the M12, needed an engine. And so it ended up with a 5.7-liter Lamborghini V12 in its midships engine bay. The V12's 492 hp at 6800 rpm and 428 lb-ft of torque at 5200 rpm certainly qualified the M12 for high-performance exotic status, and its looksmade just about everything else on the road seem tame. With a plethora of vents and scoops, angular, extreme cab-forward styling, and a huge rear wing, it had the appearance of a stealth fighter for the street. But, on the road, with its looks, the M12 was anything but stealthy. It was undeniably fast, with a zero-to-sixty around 4.5 seconds, still in first gear. Its top speed appproached 190 mph.

The M12 was largely handmade. Body work was fiberglass and carbon-fiber, and covered a semi-monocoque chassis with independent double A-arm suspention. The military-spec rivets and adhesives used in the previous W8 were not used in the M12. It was welded together in normal automotive fashion. Because of the Vector's interior layout, the forward-mounted Lamborghini gearbox could not be used. The engine was turned around, back-to-front, and a more conventional transaxle was employed. Because of this, a special exhaust system was fabricated. The Vector M12 was an elemental supercar, furiously fast and only marginally civilized.

Can anyone expand on the history blurb?

It looks like its on stilts or something. It just has a strange look to it. Performance is nice though. How does it handle?

i have actually driven 2 vector m12's

the first time i drove a vector was when i was my freshman year of college and my freind who is a playmate was dating a guy who owned 2 of them and he let me drive it around the streets of tampa if only he let me take it back to campus for an hour...

the secnd time i drove a vector was when i drove the the first one ever made the american edition for about 3 miles when i went down to ft. lauderdale, i spoke to the guy as if i lived in a 9 million dollar house on the new river in lauderdale and that was my parents summer house i also pulled up the first day to look at it in my ffreinds dads porsche 911 turbo, and came back the second day when they took it out of the showroom for me to drive in my freinds (same guy who's dad hass the 911 turbo) 1996 355 spider,

Wow! Now you bullshit in style!!!

Vector had a sordid career in the 90s. From what I recall, sales were miserable, and if my95cobra isn't bullshitting, he's driven about 20% of all the M12's. Maybe I'm getting my models mixed up, but sales went 8....3....1, and they decided to call it quits.

Some older models, I think, used Chevy V8s, but I could very well be wrong. Just do a search on the net if you really want more info. Good luck.

The first production Vector model, the W8, had a Donovan-built, Chevy 350 based, engine. The 6.0L (366cid) OHV V8 had two turbochargers and produced between 625-650hp. It was said to be quite quick and advertised top speeds (up to 237) were never proven and probably couldn't have been achieved due to the car's sad aerodynamics. Seventeen production cars were built between 1990 and 1993.

The Vector Avtech WX3 prototypes were advertised as having engines up to 7.0L (DOHC V8s) and producing up to 1,000hp. None to that spec were ever built. Only two prototypes were ever shown.

The company was reorganized and the WX3 became the Vector SC and then the Vector M12. Fourteen M12s were built for customers (plus one race car and a few test prototypes). It was powered by a stock Lamborghini 5.7L DOHC V12 but mounted to a new transaxle (reverse of the setup from the Diablo). Production ended and the company's doors closed shortly after displaying their SVR8 prototype in the summer of 2000.

dson: What type of transmission did they use (number of gears, if it was good, etc)

I once went to Prestige Imports in Miami, but I'm young and my parents and brother looked stupid and (relatively) poor. Too bad. They had an F40 LM for $800 000.

It used a 5-speed gearbox. I haven't heard if the transmission was good or bad...but the racing version of the car never completed any of the races it was entered in. It actually only completed a few laps in three races.

In the races, what killed it?? What type of races were they, also?

I think each race had a different problem. I believe one race it was a transmission failure, but I'm not sure. Vectors ran in the Professional Race Car series in 1998.

I remember seeing a Vector get auctioned at one of the Barrett-Jackson auctions (on TV). I was about 83% sure it was an M12, but if there were only 17 built, now I don't know. :(

Perhaps it was a W8.

But there were only 22 or so W8's made, so it could have been an M12 just as easily

True. Anyway, they werent very good as far as low-production went. And that Malysian company didnt have funds to help lamborghini, let alone vector.

The company that owned Lamborghini and Vector was Indonesia, not Malaysian. They had plenty of money because the company's founder was the (arguably favorite) son of the Indonesian president. Each of the president's children had a hand in atleast one of the country's monopolies. This particular son's company was granted "national car" status so that the company would have no competition selling basic transportation. How would you like to have such a monopoly that you could sell a $20,000 Kia Sephia in a market that previously purchased similar cars for twice that amount?

There were 14 (not including prototypes) M12s built and 22 W8s (including prototypes). There were only 17 sold to the public.

I was under the impression that they werent financing lamborghini a whole bunch, and thats why they took so long to get the new lambo developed, and why the baby Lambo and sucessor to the LM SUV's.

It's not that they didn't have the money. It's that the Indonesian government was overthrown about this time.

It's not that they didn't have the money. It's that the Indonesian government was overthrown about this time.

Oh. That always puts a dint in your schedule, huh:D

Thanks for the info:)

Originally posted by vectorclub

2000 Vector Closes it doors (The SRV8 is unknown if it was real. It mauy have just been a M12 with altered body. Nobody can find this vehcile at this time. New owner of vector ahs no records related the SRV8 being real)

Define "real"? I know the project leader for the SRV8, it was based on the M12 chassis, but with a new body, and power plant. The SRV8 has a Corvette LS1 engine, and he says it was probibly the quickest 0-60 M12 era Vector built. Body changes aside from the obvious asthetics include doors that opened "butterfly" fashion, as opposed to the traditional Vector "scissors" style. He has the complete build documented with photos.

The main reason for doing the SRV8 was the Lamborghini engine wasn't available, and a domestic V8 would be easier to homologate than another import.

To see 3 photos of the Vector SRV8, check out my Vector website:

http://home.adelphia.net/~gunman/vector.html

Its probably in a barn or ware house somewhere. Like a 959 in Florida, cuz Bill GAtes couldnt import it. Or the 4.5 million dollar Shelby Cobra Daytona, that sat in a storage shed for 20+years.

I'll pass the word along...my friend claims to know where almost all of the Vectors are.

Vector Files knows his Vectors.

The Agassi car is legendary. Have you ever seen any pix of it after it burnt? I'm curious how messed up it got. I know its on my list of cars I'd like to see, right next to the SRV8 and the Avtech Spyder.

Originally posted by jay@af
All I know about the M12, I learned from GT2, but I like it enough to have this picture in my screen saver.



Can anyone expand on the history blurb? that is one sweet a$$ pic man.

But there were only 22 or so W8's made, so it could have been an M12 just as easily

Minor correction, there was 19 W8s. 17 production W8s, 2 PreProduction W8s. There was 2 Avtech concept cars created, then came the ugly legal break up between Wiegrt and Vector Aeromotive. The Florida Vector Aeromotive group built 17 M12s. Then came the SRV8 and a couple of SRV8 race cars. The race cars bombed in the few IMSA races they attempted.

Originally posted by vectorclub
Minor correction, there was 19 W8s. 17 production W8s, 2 PreProduction W8s. There was 2 Avtech concept cars created, then came the ugly legal break up between Wiegrt and Vector Aeromotive. The Florida Vector Aeromotive group built 17 M12s. Then came the SRV8 and a couple of SRV8 race cars. The race cars bombed in the few IMSA races they attempted.

Sorry to correct you back, but there were 22 W8s built: four prototype/pre-production cars and 18 production cars (VIN 1-18). And then came the two Avtech show cars, three M12 prototypes, and 14 M12 (VIN 1-14) production cars (plus the one SRV8 prototype).

Correction- There were 35 Vectors made total from the time Weigart started to the time MegaTech gave up. Between the W2, WX2, WX3, W8, M12 and Avtech SC Coupe, they sold 35. The SRV8 was never produced, it was merely a concept.

The Chevy V8 powered the W2, WX2, and WX3. It was twin-turbocharged (the 2 in W2 stood for the number of turbos, the W stood for Weigart) and made up 1100 bhp (the WX3 model).

Well, given the general state of the company, it is very hard to say exactly how many cars were produced.
This is the same as two cars with the same vin exist, usually racecars. The factory races it, and parts get changed. Some of those are restored, sometimes by the factory (ie, rip the engine/tranny out of that E-type, replace them with new ones. Fix the old ones, put them in a new car). Before anyone knows what happened, there are 2 cars out there with the same vin/racing history. This can create quite a dispute between present owners.

That thing can master 120 MPH still in 1st Gear!!!!! :eek:

Thats because it only has 3 gears. Its gearbox is easily its worst feature.
And its an automatic; so first can be very tall, because the torque converter does all the slip.

it is also way too high off the ground for it's own good

if you can't drive a house, then what is a motor home?

my my..thanx for all the guys who posted, I just have a question, I live in Saudi Arabia, and I once read in a magazine that there are 2 Vectors located in here, one is M12 (or a W8), and th other is a WX3 with 1400 BHP, can anyone make sure about the correctness of this info? I have been trying to look for them here, perhaps I could tale pics for them, unless they are sitting in the garages of the princes for all of their lives.

Only two WX3s were built...and neither had 1,400hp. Both cars were prototypes and probably had about the same power as the W8 (about 625-650hp). One (maybe both) WX3 is in the US and was recently posted on ebay. I can't vouch for both, definitively.