United States · Production series began 1989; customer cars completed into 1993

Vector W8 TwinTurbo

An American, aerospace-themed supercar with a twin-turbo V8, riveted structure and an unexpectedly tough three-speed automatic.

Supercars

Verified production W8 museum car, explicitly dated 1990; one year later than the 1989 target and not one of the W2 prototypes.

Exterior view · Photo shows Verified production W8 museum car, explicitly dated 1990; one year later than the 1989 target and not one of the W2 prototypes.. Verified production W8 museum car, explicitly dated 1990; one year later than the 1989 target and not one of the W2 prototypes.
1989 USA Vector W8 · Ank Kumar · CC BY-SA 4.0

Auction-based estimated value

Research pending

A matching completed auction sale has not been verified for this exact year, body, trim, engine, transmission and market.

Joyride shows this gap instead of substituting an asking price, unsold bid or mismatched special vehicle.

A place in vehicle history

More than a set of wheels.

Jerry Wiegert spent years promoting Vector prototypes before the W8 turned the idea into a customer car around 1989. The design mixed a semi-aluminium monocoque, carbon and Kevlar body material, digital aircraft-like displays and a 625 hp V8. It also remained exceptionally rare: Audrain Automobile Museum records 17 customer cars before Vector entered receivership in 1993.

Look a little closer.

Its dashboard used digital readouts for speed, engine revolutions, fluids and pressures, making the cabin look more like a late-Cold-War cockpit than a conventional sports car.

Photos show an example of the model or generation. The pictured vehicle’s year, equipment, or modifications can differ from the specification described here.

A three-speed gearbox was an engineering choice

Three ratios sound ordinary beside the W8's exotic body, but the twin-turbo V8 produced an enormous spread of torque. Vector adapted a robust General Motors automatic and added manual ratio selection. The result traded a long list of gears for a transmission able to work with the very powerful mid-engine installation.

Source: Car and Driver · The Story of When We (Mostly) Tested a Vector W8 ↗

Claims and tests must stay separate

Vector advertised extraordinary speed, and Audrain reports a 242 mph company claim/internal Bonneville account. The museum also lists 4.2 seconds to 60 mph, matching a reported Road & Track result. This profile labels the maximum speed as claimed and keeps the acceleration figure tied to the museum account instead of blending both into one verified factory performance package.

Source: Audrain Automobile Museum · 1992 Vector W8 ↗

Where these facts come from

Selected facts checked for this edition. Some source pages link to broader model families. Last reviewed 2026-10-02.

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