The Turbocollection Sale – Your Chance to Own a Pin-Up ‘90s Hypercar
RM Sotheby’s will be auctioning the Turbocollection – eight of the coolest super sports cars in history, at the Monterey Car Week in August.
Which hypercar did you have pinned on your ‘90s schoolboy bedroom wall? No, not common cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis, but really exotic machinery? Like Isdera, Cizeta, and Vector? Well, if you’ve saved over four decades for the dream, and maybe you now can afford one, two or all of the above, we have some good news…
RM Sotheby’s will be auctioning the Turbocollection – eight of the coolest super sports cars in history, at the California Monterey Car Week in August. So what will it be – the transverse V16 Cizeta, a quad turbo carbon chassis Bugatti EB 110 or the 7-litre biturbo Vector WX-3? Maybe the lot! Let’s take a closer look at these incredible machines…
1993 Cizeta V16 – Quite the Pedigree at Turbocollection
Starting with the 540 HP 6 liter transverse V16 Cizeta. It was conceived by music producer Giorgio Moroder, designed by the man who penned the Lamborghini Miura, Marcello Gandini and created by engineer Claudio Zampolli. Quite the pedigree, eh? And now it’s on the block.
This double pop-up headlight car was first shown at the 1993 Geneva Motor Show and sold to the Brunei royal family. It however stood at Hong Seh Motors in Singapore for a quarter century, for unknown reasons. RM Sotheby’s reckons that all of its 983 miles came from Cizeta test drives.
1984 Isdera Imperator 108i – I for Intelligent
Moving on to the lightweight tubular space frame 1984 Isdera Imperator 108i. This Eberhard Schulz creation’s 320 HP 5-litre Mercedes V8 powers the rear axle via five-speed manual ‘box. While not all that powerful, it still delivers extreme performance at a time when even 10 second to 60 mph was quite the achievement.
This 1991 version of the car made as a salute to the great 300 SL features a mix of Mercedes and Porsche bits. Despite being left-hand drive, it was delivered new to Japan. With just 1,200 miles on the clock, the Izedra is expected to fetch a cool million dollars at Monterrey.
1991 Vector W8 Twin Turbo – a Fighter for the Road
Always wanted a Vector on your driveway? Well you have a choice of four of them at Monterrey! Starting with the oldest, this ‘91 W8 packs a 600 HP six-liter biturbo V8. And if you think 4-second 0-60 mph is a 2020s thing, think again. This 33 year-old W8 does it in 4.2 seconds and reaches over 200 mph!
Now for the nerds among you, the Vector has another feature you may only have thought arrived in the past decade or two. The W8 has a digital ‘computer’ screen on its airplane-inspired dash. Only seventeen W8s. were ever built, so expect this one to fetch a pretty penny too.
Turbocollection 1993 Vector WX-3 – When 600 Horses Were Never Enough
Considering it started at six-litres and 600 horses a couple of years prior, surely that would soon never be enough for Vector? Indeed it wasn’t! Enter the 1993 Vector Avtech WX-3. This prototype has seven-liter biturbo V8 making around 1,000 HP. Which means you should expect the W3 to top of 242 mph.
Like all Jerry Wiegert’s Vector creations, the WX-3 Prototype fits the build with its sky-fi computer dash. Because why? Well, Wiegert’s vision was simple: to build fighter planes for the road. And that’s also why RM Sotheby’s estimates you should bring around $1.5 million to Monterrey if you plan to drive away in his 2,625 mile one-off.
1993 Vector WX-3R Roadster – Wind in the Hair Wild
Like its prototype sibling above, the Vector WX-3R packs a thousand-horse seven-liter biturbo V8. Only this one’s a drop top. So you can experience the full sensation of it accelerating to sixty in 3.3 seconds, and on to 248 mph in bareback wind in the hair style.
A General Motors Hydramatic 425 transfers that massive grunt to the road, by the way. Originally on sale for $765,000 in ‘93, the WX-3R Roadster failed to find a home before Vector was sold lock, stock and barrel to Lamborghini owners at the time, Megatech. So it will be interesting to note what it sells for this time around.
1996 Vector M12 – the Diablo in Drag
Speaking of Lamborghini, after Vector changed hands, Megatech cut a few corners with the brand. Rather than continue in Wiegert’s ways, the next Vector, this M12 is based on the Lamborghini Diablo. Modified of course, the W12 may not have that Wiegert fighter style biturbo V8, bit its V12 is pretty exotic in its own right.
Jerry Wiegert had worked for all of the US auto industry Big Three before setting up Vector. His input is considered a significant element of the brand. So considering the last of the type skips the company founder’s wild allure, it will also be interesting to learn how well this one stops that RM Sotheby’s gavel.
1993 Bugatti EB 110 SS Prototype – the Turbocollection Comeback Kid
While the final two Turbocollection cars on the block’s makers may more recently been married into the same family, it was not the case then. And no longer is the case with Bugatti. Now Bugatti had floundered in the 1950s, so it was big news when entrepreneur Romano Artioli revived the brand so spectacularly in the early ‘90s.
All the hype was centred around this beast, the comeback kid. Powered by a 600 HP a 3.5-liter V12 in this 250 mph, only seven newfangled carbon chassis Bugatti EB 110s were ever built in this Super Sport spec. So this Bug prototype may just be the belle of the Turbocollection ball in California in a week it two.
Turbocollection 1985 Porsche 959 – Piech’s Personal Prototype
Last but very much not least, this pre-production prototype Porsche 959 served as a suspension test mule. Then it was handed over to Porsche scion and then boss Ferdinand Piech for his personal use. Before moving on to a quite spectacular roster of duties and new owners.
One of the first 450 HP 195 mph all-wheel drive biturbo water-cooled four-valve flat-six 959 is considered a key piece of Porsche history. Its likely to fetch among the better prices of the Turbocollection lot at 1.8 to 2.3 million US dollars at the RM Sotheby’s Monterrey sale.
RM Sotheby’s Car Week Sale happens at the Monterey Conference Center from 14-17 August.
Images: RM Sotheby’s, etc.