A very rare supercar that starred in Top Gear is up for auction (28 photos)

At the online auction Bring a Trailer, bidding is underway for the exotic Vector M12 coupe. The 1996 car is notable not only for its rarity and low mileage, but also for its participation in the filming of an episode of Top Gear. Now they are offering 231 thousand dollars ($210 thousand) for the American supercar, but there are still 4 days before the end of the auction.





The founders of the American company Vector Aeromotive conceived it as a national competitor to brands like Ferrari or Lamborghini. However, the fate of the company was so bizarre that at one point in Vector’s biography it was part of the same concern as Lamborghini. In the early 1990s, the company was bought by the Indonesian concern MegaTech, which a couple of years later became the owner of the Italian company.

A direct consequence of this proximity was the opportunity to use the Diablo chassis for the next Vector model. The supercar differs from the donor in slightly larger dimensions and a completely original design with rounded contours characteristic of the mid-1990s. The Vector M12 was equipped with giant air intakes and an impressive integrated wing, but at the same time retained the lift-up doors.

The power unit was also directly borrowed from Diablo. This is a 5.7-liter V12 developing 492 hp. With. and 576 Nm. The engine, mated to a ZF 5-speed manual, propels the Vector M12 to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds, while the Italian donor takes about half a second less for the same sprint.

The market greeted the new product coolly. In just two years of production, only 14 copies of the M12 were produced (the fourth was put up for sale), after which the assembly had to be curtailed, not least because of the mass of negative reviews in the media. Clarkson also criticized the supercar in one of the episodes of his program. However, now the M12 is of some interest to lovers of little-known pages of automotive history. Moreover, this particular specimen managed to travel only about 7 thousand kilometers and, thanks to regular maintenance, is in acceptable condition.