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'American Supercar' may not be an oxymoron for much longer.
Until now the only car that could claim such a mantle was the Vector. The story of the
Vector is somewhat of a soap opera with the company changing hands on a number of
occasions and never really settling down to produce many cars (only 22 by 1993).
The cars they did produce, although small in number were a real contrast to normal American road fodder. Ideas hatched in the early seventies came to fruition in the 1980's with variations including the 625bhp twin turbo V8 'W8' model, the 7 litre WX3 concept and finally the Lamborghini V12 powered W12. The company ceased trading again in July 1999, just as it hoped to produce the SVR8, another V8 based car.. July 2000 saw a Miami businessman attempt to revive the company once again and restart production in Miami. Mosler MT900 Things look more hopeful for other US car builders though. This year we've seen the launch of the Saleen S7 (see here) and the Mosler MT900. Both cars have European influences of Jaguar XJ220 and McLaren F1 and retain the mid-engined layout.
Mosler claim the MT900 is the first car built entirely in cyberspace. Designed totally on computers, this car hasn't existed as a clay model, nor a sketch on the back of an envelope. Even the tooling has been made up from computer models rather than the clay as is the norm. The composite chassis houses a V8 sourced from the Corvette. This will be a tad more powerful however once tuning company Lingenfelter have bolted on two turbos and tweaked it a little. The car should come to market at around £200,000. Vision K2
Another car also further back down the design path is the Vision K2. Similar in concept, this cab forward design boasts 50/50 weight distribution and also houses its power plant behind the driver. Vision haven't gone down the well trodden V8 route however. They're prepared to settle for a supercharged 6 litre BMW V12. They hope to glean 800bhp, which will be nice. All that power will be dealt out via a four wheel drive system and six speed transaxle. Sounds like fun...
Bob Lutz, the former vice president of Chrysler has been scraping around for loose change for a new project. Together with partner Briggs Cunningham III and Credit Suisse First Boston, they've pooled $1.5 million to get their supercar project off the ground. Cunningham Motor Company hopes to have the first prototype of a 200+mph V12 GT car ready by the middle of 2001. "There is sufficient wealth in the world to support an American supercar, but so far America has been absent from the extreme high end of the market" comments Lutz. It's a challenging project in a country not familiar with building supercars. Lutz plans to take a novel approach however. He wants Cunningham Motor Co to be a virtual company. By making use of the skills of design houses and automotive technology specialists he hopes to outsource the complete project leaving a skeleton staff to manage it and market it. Cunningham has experience in the car business already, but at the opposite end of the scale. He runs Cunningham Historic Cars which builds replicas of the Cunninghams of the 1950s as raced by his father Biggs Cunningham Jnr. All that remains is for the group to find another £100 million. Perhaps they should talk to some of the British Manufacturers running on somewhat tighter budgets... Links: www.moslerauto.com , www.visionk2.com
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