Vector Logo: The American Supercar With Fighter Jet Parts

Jerry Wiegert started sketching his supercar in 1971. Nearly two decades later the Vector W8 reached production, packed with aircraft-grade parts.

Country: United States
Active: 1987
Founded by: Gerald "Jerry" Wiegert

One man, one wedge, one very big idea

Jerry Wiegert wanted to build the best, fastest and most technologically advanced car on the planet. He started sketching in 1971, and by 1972 a first Vector concept was already on show, a static shell with no running gear inside.

It took years to make it move. In the late 1970s Wiegert and body specialist Lee Brown built a running prototype on a Porsche chassis, the W2. The W stood for Wiegert. According to Hagerty, the name meant “Wiegert twin turbo”, and the car made the cover of Car and Driver in December 1980.

The business went through several names. The company’s own filings describe Vector Aeromotive Corporation as a Nevada corporation formed in 1987, which bought the assets of its predecessor that year and listed Gerald A. Wiegert as its founder. The company was based in Wilmington, California, and the first production W8 was ready at the end of 1990.

Fighter jet parts and a boardroom coup

The W8 borrowed openly from aviation: aircraft-grade switches, wiring and suspension parts, and a body of carbon fibre and Kevlar. Jalopnik notes that this interest in aerospace was written into the company name itself. Tennis star Andre Agassi reportedly bought one, then handed it back after exhaust heat melted the carpet.

Money was always tight. Megatech, an Indonesian group that also owned Lamborghini, bought in, and in March 1993 the board fired Wiegert. The company moved to Florida and built the M12 around a Lamborghini V12. Wiegert later won back the Vector name and assets, and he died in January 2021, aged 76.

What the Vector name tells you

Here the record runs thin. We found no explanation of the badge from Vector itself, and none of the reliable histories of the company describe who drew it or what it was meant to say. The old official website is gone. So rather than guess, we’ll stick to what is documented.

The model names carry the clearest message. The W in W2 and W8 was Wiegert’s own initial. The word Aeromotive in the company name pointed straight at the aircraft industry that inspired the cars. Later projects carried the Avtech name, which the M12 used before it was renamed, according to the company’s 1995 annual report.

Video: The Vector W8 Is the Craziest Supercar Ever Made (Doug DeMuro)

Few cars, big claims

Vector built cars in tiny numbers. Even the count is disputed: the company’s own SEC filing put total W8 production at 22, while most press accounts count 17 customer cars plus two prototypes.

Landmark Vectors, decade by decade

1980: W2. The running prototype on a Porsche chassis, on the cover of Car and Driver in December 1980.
1990: W8. Vector’s first production model, with a twin-turbo 6.0-litre V8 and aircraft-grade components.
1993: Avtech WX-3. A coupe and roadster shown at the Geneva show, according to Hagerty.
1996: M12. Premiered at the Detroit auto show in January 1996, with an engine co-designed and built by Lamborghini. Hagerty puts the number built at 14.
2007: WX-8. Wiegert’s hypercar prototype, shown at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

Vector belongs to a small club of American makers that took on Europe’s supercars, alongside names like SSC, Mosler and Panoz. For more on how car badges are made, see how car logos are designed.