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Hi, everyone.
Jeff Dunham and Bubba J here

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at Dunham Family Motors.

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Hi, everybody in TV land.

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This next car is what happens
when someone builds a vehicle

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with no oversight
and a whiteboard that just

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says, "Yes."

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It has the attitude of a black
ops project, the silhouette of

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a stealth fighter,
and the kind of cockpit

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that makes you say,
"Should I even be in here?"

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The car is a legend,
but the story is even better.

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How about this?

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Our unbelievable 1 of 17

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W8 First American supercar--
The Vector.

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Throughout time, humanity has
been obsessed with getting

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places using anything
but their own two feet.

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We've tried all kinds
of things.

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Until finally,
the greatest invention

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of all time, the automobile.

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Moron!

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These are
the cars that drove us.

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Ah, Europe in the '70s,

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a sophisticated hotbed of art,

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cuisine, culture,

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and...

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...speed.

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Lamborghini Countach,
Alfa Romeo, Ferrari,

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Maserati, Jaguar.

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Not to be outdone,
Americans stood toe to toe

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with art, cuisine, and culture.

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But when it came to speed...

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In the United States,
we've had fascinating design,

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but in the 1970s, we had
55 mile an hour speed limits.

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And there were fuel economy
standards,

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there were emission standards,
crash regulations.

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Safety first...

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- Yeah.
- ...made America...

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last.

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We have the highest
technology.

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We put people in space.

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We build the fighter aircraft
the rest of the world wants.

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Why can't America have
their own exotic sports car?

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Well, we actually did.
And it was...

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Built like a jet fighter
as exotic as they come.

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That's right.
The Vector W8.

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A car that the rules
didn't apply to.

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Mostly because...

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It wasn't designed
to be an automobile.

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It was designed to be
aircraft or spacecraft.

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And if that doesn't make any
sense, it's because it doesn't.

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Because Vector visionary
Jerry Wiegert

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and his automotive accomplices
made their own rules.

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We just had
different priorities.

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Leaving some to wonder if
these car men were con men.

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But Jerry didn't
let that stop him.

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If he just set out to do
something, he would just do it.

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So when it came to getting
this jet-fighting, space-faring

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supercar to take off,
how did Jerry just do it?

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Well, as most American
automotive stories do,

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this one begins
in the Motor City.

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Jerry grew up
in the Detroit area.

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He was a really creative guy.
Think outside of the box.

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So he ended up doing
an internship

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with General Motors,
that made him realize

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he didn't really want to work

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for a giant corporation
taking orders.

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He had this dream of building
an American supercar

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that could compete with
Ferrari or Lamborghini.

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Which is easier
said than done.

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One of the hardest things
I think you can do in the world

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is start a car company.

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And he didn't have a lot of
financial resources himself.

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Some people might say that
you need a little narcissism.

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Or in Jerry's case...

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carcissism.

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He had a ton of confidence,
and he believed

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that he could make this car
come into production.

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He was a showman.

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He knew how to
attract attention.

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And Jerry's
best marketing angle

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was a literal angle.

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Jerry came up
with the name, "Vector."

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But at this point,
the Vector was only

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highly performing on paper.

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Need a car.

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And he'd get one
by partnering with Lee Brown,

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who customized the iconic
'68 Mustang GT

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in the Steve McQueen classic,
"Bullitt."

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While Lee worked on the mock-up,
Jerry got the word out.

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Hawking it just like
in Barnum and Bailey.

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And while it may not
have been the circus,

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the '72 LA Auto Expo was
the perfect place to debut

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Jerry and Lee's engineless
Vector mock-up shell.

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But that's all it was.
It was a mock-up.

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The mock-up
definitely turned heads.

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But as the attention
was heating up,

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Jerry and Lee's partnership
was cooling down.

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Both guys had the same big ego
and wanted to claim

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the ownership of the project,
so that mock-up

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got taken by Lee Brown.

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Leaving Jerry...

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- Need a car.
- There's no cars left.

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...right back
where he started.

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Jerry still owned
the Vector name and design,

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but with no mock-up, this motor
was trending downward.

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And after several years of
no car, Jerry kind of dropped

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a little bit off
the radar screen.

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The Vector was starting
to feel more like vapor.

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2
Without a proof-of-concept
mock-up to drum up

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investment capital,
Jerry Wiegert's Vector project

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was nearly dead.

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But then he met this man.

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I changed my name since
the original days of Vector.

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But now he goes by Rob Portil.

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I was making a lot of money
in real estate at the time,

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so I put essentially
the first money in the company,

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and we formed
Vector Aeromotive Corporation.

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Jerry now had
the funds to do one better

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than Lee Brown's mock-up shell
and instead built

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a fully-functional
Vector prototype.

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The most innovative thing
about the car was that whole

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use of aerospace technology.

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Right down to
the Vector's chassis.

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The semi-monocoque aluminum
honeycomb chassis.

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Uh, spell check, please.

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Semi-monocoque aluminum
honeycomb chassis.

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So, what exactly is

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a sell-my-lama-cocka-million
honeycrumb-jazzy?

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Think of two skins
of aluminum,

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maybe three-quarters
of an inch apart,

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and then there's a honeycomb
of aluminum in between the two.

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It's really,
really innovative.

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And Dave Kostka knows
innovation when he sees it.

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After all, he's an engineer.

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I was living
not that far from Venice,

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where the Vector Project
was taking place.

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I went by there,
and they had pushed the car

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out of the garage.

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And then he saw it.
- Oh.

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You know, the, uh,
that thing.

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Aluminum honeycomb
monocoque chassis.

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Which made his heart
skip a beat.

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Wow, what a cool place
to work.

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So then Jerry Wiegert comes
out, and next thing I knew...

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Jerry hired
this random guy

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off the street to sweep
the floors or something?

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- No, no.
- Uh.

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- Jerry's assistant?
- No, VP of engineering.

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I was volunteering
60 hours a week

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on top of my 40-hour-a-week job,
and I was glad to do it.

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And good thing, too,
because the Vector prototype's

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development had already burned
through all the seed money

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put up by Rob Portil.

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Luckily, he had an elite
secret weapon up his sleeve.

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Wealthy individuals.

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The main source of funds
was deposits for cars.

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Are these cars
in the room with us now, Dave?

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And so Jerry had to put that

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patented Wiegert
marketing magic to work.

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The primary reason
the Vector was designed

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was to be a challenge
to European dominance

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of the exotic car,
luxury car market segment.

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The fastest European cars
were 175, 180-mile-an-hour cars.

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Could we build the first
real 200-mile-an-hour vehicle?

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Well, could they?

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For us to get the kind
of horsepower we needed

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to get out of this engine,
we were using aircraft turbos.

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That, coupled with
the lightweight of the semi...

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...could potentially get
them up to those speeds.

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Nobody's ever done it
before on, like,

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a production street-driven car.

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But Jerry was
a very special salesman

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with a very special pitch.

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It's a very special machine
for a very special person.

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And very special people began

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placing very special deposits

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of over $100,000.

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The number one car
was an ex-Saudi prince.

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And the second order came
from another Saudi prince.

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That oil money does run deep.

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Third order came from
a wealthy American businessman.

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Which allowed this less-wealthy
American businessman

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to finally finish his prototype.

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Jerry christened
his supercar the Vector W2.

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The W was for Wiegert.

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And went into
marketing overdrive.

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He maximized
his press coverage,

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and there was this sensation
created that the Vector

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was a real car
and in production.

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There was only one.

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We just painted it
a lot of different colors.

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In fact, there were journalists
that made fun of us.

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They go,
"Oh, they're trying to pretend

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there's a lot
of different cars."

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They said that
because you were Rob,

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and you could forgive them
for wondering if there was

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some other pretending going on.

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Vector was on the cover
of "Car and Driver,"

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but the guy who wrote the story
didn't get a chance

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to drive the car because, while
the styling was almost complete,

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the mechanicals were
not all that complete.

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And the claims, well,
we'd seen them already before.

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600-plus horsepower
and potential top speeds

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in excess of 200-miles-per-hour.

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And you just wondered,

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"Hey, man, you going
to build some cars?"

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Things came to a head
with a 1987 write-up

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in "Autoweek," 15 years
after Jerry had first conceived

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of his fighter jet
for the streets.

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The guy blasted us,

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saying that "This is
never going to happen.

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It's all a big
scam, it's a con."

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It was not flattering,
and it characterized Jerry

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as somebody
who was raising money

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but never gonna produce cars.

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2
It was clear that Jerry needed
help getting this fighter jet

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for the streets off the ground.

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So he found
a fighter jet manufacturer

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from Northrop Grumman.

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I was working on the F/A-18
and F-5 fighter program.

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And he was used to
managing production.

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Something Jerry...

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You gonna build some cars?

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...could use some advice on.

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I said, "Not only are you not
ready for production,

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I don't think you really
understand what it is."

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But doing things Mark's way?

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Rent facilities, hire people,
set up benefits packages,

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accounting system,
tooling, equipment.

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Would be more expensive.

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Through the '80s,
the total amount we'd raised

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was less than a million.

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So Vector Aeromotive
went to the capital

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of investment capital.

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The stock market.

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Jerry found an underwriter
to take us public.

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Blinder, Robinson and Co.
had 2,000 brokers.

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They were the biggest
penny stock firm in the country.

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He was very good
at manipulating stock.

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- Say what?
- You know, we knew this.

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That's OK.

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Ah, stop
while you're ahead, Rob.

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Jeez, man, does your lawyer
know you're here?

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They basically launched
an IPO, and that was

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the startup money.

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At the time we got funded,
we had promised

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00:10:39,167 --> 00:10:40,601
the shareholders that we'd have

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the first production car
done in a year.

248
00:10:43,334 --> 00:10:46,467
So all the team had to do
was dust off the original plans

249
00:10:46,634 --> 00:10:48,167
and see which components
needed to be--

250
00:10:48,334 --> 00:10:50,667
- There were no plans.
- Ugh, come on, guys.

251
00:10:50,834 --> 00:10:53,801
- We're on a deadline here.
- That's-- that's pitiful.

252
00:10:53,968 --> 00:10:55,701
They had to disassemble
the prototype

253
00:10:55,868 --> 00:10:58,467
and lay the pieces
down on paper and trace them

254
00:10:58,634 --> 00:11:00,067
and then make
a drawing out of it.

255
00:11:00,234 --> 00:11:02,167
And by the time we were done
with that process,

256
00:11:02,334 --> 00:11:04,868
it's like everything's
different from the W2.

257
00:11:05,033 --> 00:11:06,767
We should just change
the model name.

258
00:11:06,934 --> 00:11:09,167
So that's when we
came up with that...

259
00:11:09,334 --> 00:11:10,667
W8.

260
00:11:10,834 --> 00:11:13,000
Eight was the cylinder count
of the car.

261
00:11:13,167 --> 00:11:15,400
Which still sounds like
the name of a tax form,

262
00:11:15,567 --> 00:11:16,701
but whatever.

263
00:11:16,868 --> 00:11:19,267
The important thing is,
Mark Bailey could finally

264
00:11:19,434 --> 00:11:21,501
get started on what he
had been hired to do.

265
00:11:21,667 --> 00:11:24,601
That is, if Jerry Wiegert
would let him.

266
00:11:24,767 --> 00:11:26,601
Jerry and I got it at odds
from time to time

267
00:11:26,767 --> 00:11:28,367
because we just had
differing priorities.

268
00:11:28,534 --> 00:11:29,999
He had all kinds of
marketing campaigns.

269
00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,767
Heads turn and eyes are
drawn to this distinctive car.

270
00:11:33,934 --> 00:11:36,467
A restoration of a GMC motorhome
they wanted to use

271
00:11:36,634 --> 00:11:37,766
to take to shows.

272
00:11:37,767 --> 00:11:40,901
So he would borrow
my production personnel and work

273
00:11:41,067 --> 00:11:43,467
on his motorhome for the day
without talking to me about it.

274
00:11:43,634 --> 00:11:46,100
Which sounds like a pretty
dysfunctional way to work.

275
00:11:46,267 --> 00:11:49,200
Especially now that there were
shareholders asking...

276
00:11:49,367 --> 00:11:51,667
- You gonna build some cars?
- Mark was trying.

277
00:11:51,834 --> 00:11:54,267
- Hm.
- That's a very complicated,

278
00:11:54,434 --> 00:11:56,000
complex vehicle to manufacture.

279
00:11:56,167 --> 00:11:58,400
Expensive, too,
which is why sometimes

280
00:11:58,567 --> 00:12:00,067
a few corners had to be cut.

281
00:12:00,234 --> 00:12:03,601
The gearbox for the Vector was
mated up to what was basically

282
00:12:03,767 --> 00:12:04,767
the front-wheel-drive
transmission out of

283
00:12:04,934 --> 00:12:06,166
the GMC motorhomes.

284
00:12:06,167 --> 00:12:08,667
And since Jerry's motorhome
was off limits...

285
00:12:08,834 --> 00:12:10,400
We went rummaging
through junkyards looking for

286
00:12:10,567 --> 00:12:13,667
transmission castings to use
in the first couple cars.

287
00:12:13,834 --> 00:12:16,400
It's not like we were ever
gonna let anybody know

288
00:12:16,567 --> 00:12:18,567
where they came from.
- Sure, why not?

289
00:12:18,734 --> 00:12:21,167
And it's highly doubtful that
this decision will come back

290
00:12:21,334 --> 00:12:23,267
to haunt them at
the worst possible time.

291
00:12:23,434 --> 00:12:24,466
Speaking of time...

292
00:12:24,467 --> 00:12:26,100
We were scrambling
to finish the first cars.

293
00:12:26,267 --> 00:12:28,167
The LA Auto Show
was the big unveiling.

294
00:12:28,334 --> 00:12:31,400
And after almost 20 years,
the Vector was finally

295
00:12:31,567 --> 00:12:34,367
on the market.
Price tag in today's money?

296
00:12:34,534 --> 00:12:36,400
Over $1 million.

297
00:12:36,567 --> 00:12:38,467
It was literally
what Jerry envisioned.

298
00:12:40,701 --> 00:12:42,801
Aerospace technology
for the street.

299
00:12:42,968 --> 00:12:46,167
It had a screen on the left
side of the steering wheel,

300
00:12:46,334 --> 00:12:49,667
and it had a little set
of buttons to change the view.

301
00:12:49,834 --> 00:12:52,601
You could look at the chassis
and see if anything was open.

302
00:12:52,767 --> 00:12:54,901
You'd see your speedometer
on another screen.

303
00:12:55,067 --> 00:12:56,801
And as you speed up
and accelerate,

304
00:12:56,968 --> 00:12:58,701
that whole bar graph moves.

305
00:12:58,868 --> 00:13:00,667
All aircraft circuit breakers.

306
00:13:02,300 --> 00:13:05,067
Every one of these push buttons
in the dash are right out of

307
00:13:05,234 --> 00:13:07,200
the cockpit of a military
fighter aircraft.

308
00:13:12,667 --> 00:13:13,667
Loud.

309
00:13:13,834 --> 00:13:15,367
And don't forget the, um, the...

310
00:13:15,534 --> 00:13:18,267
Semi-monocoque aluminum
honeycomb chassis.

311
00:13:18,434 --> 00:13:20,300
So a bunch of these things
that, to us at Vector,

312
00:13:20,467 --> 00:13:23,667
seemed like logical things
to do, Jerry was pioneering.

313
00:13:23,834 --> 00:13:26,400
But he was still
far behind on one thing.

314
00:13:28,868 --> 00:13:31,100
And so the first Vector
production car,

315
00:13:31,267 --> 00:13:36,200
serial number 001, was finally
delivered to its Saudi prince.

316
00:13:36,367 --> 00:13:38,601
I believe it was about
a 10-year cycle from the time

317
00:13:38,767 --> 00:13:40,099
he made his investment.

318
00:13:40,100 --> 00:13:42,901
And soon enough, even more
of those aforementioned...

319
00:13:43,067 --> 00:13:45,167
- Wealthy individuals
- ...started lining up

320
00:13:45,334 --> 00:13:48,200
to kick the tires.
But billionaires weren't

321
00:13:48,367 --> 00:13:50,467
the only ones lining up
for joyrides.

322
00:13:50,634 --> 00:13:52,968
Of course, then all the car
magazines wanted to come

323
00:13:53,133 --> 00:13:54,100
and do a story.

324
00:13:54,267 --> 00:13:56,100
Automotive journalist
Csaba Csere

325
00:13:56,267 --> 00:13:58,067
would be getting behind
the wheel to test

326
00:13:58,234 --> 00:14:01,667
the Vector's performance claims.
At least, that was the plan.

327
00:14:01,834 --> 00:14:03,501
Suddenly, the transmission
is packed up.

328
00:14:05,167 --> 00:14:07,767
The engine was still
running fine, but no matter

329
00:14:07,934 --> 00:14:11,000
what gear you selected,
the car is coasting.

330
00:14:11,167 --> 00:14:13,267
At that point,
pulled over on the shoulder,

331
00:14:13,434 --> 00:14:16,767
and there was a Vector guy
with me, a guy named Kostka.

332
00:14:16,934 --> 00:14:18,901
- Oh, this guy?
- Really?

333
00:14:19,067 --> 00:14:21,067
I haven't had
that problem before.

334
00:14:21,234 --> 00:14:22,200
The front-wheel drive
transmission out of

335
00:14:22,367 --> 00:14:23,667
the GMC motorhomes.

336
00:14:23,834 --> 00:14:25,267
Motorhomes.
Motorhomes.

337
00:14:26,767 --> 00:14:29,267
Luckily, there were
two cars available that day.

338
00:14:29,434 --> 00:14:31,968
We called them
Pre-Production 1 and 2.

339
00:14:32,133 --> 00:14:34,801
They kind of got nicknamed
PP1 and PP2.

340
00:14:34,968 --> 00:14:38,000
Good thing, because David
was in deep poo poo.

341
00:14:38,167 --> 00:14:40,767
And so we proceeded
with the second car.

342
00:14:40,934 --> 00:14:43,767
But as soon as we started
some of the acceleration runs,

343
00:14:43,934 --> 00:14:47,067
the car started overheating.
- What?

344
00:14:47,234 --> 00:14:50,667
There was steam wafting out of
the various grilles behind me.

345
00:14:50,834 --> 00:14:53,467
I'm thinking this car is
just, you know, half-baked.

346
00:14:53,634 --> 00:14:55,934
Nope.
It's fully toasted.

347
00:14:58,400 --> 00:14:59,901
2
With two broken cars,
Csaba Csere's road test

348
00:15:00,133 --> 00:15:02,501
of the Vector W8
for "Car and Driver" magazine

349
00:15:02,667 --> 00:15:04,100
had hit the skids.

350
00:15:04,267 --> 00:15:05,501
We couldn't get a test done.

351
00:15:05,667 --> 00:15:07,367
And Jerry says,
"You know, stay another day.

352
00:15:07,534 --> 00:15:08,701
We'll get the car fixed."

353
00:15:08,868 --> 00:15:10,667
But I was on a flight
the next morning.

354
00:15:10,834 --> 00:15:11,801
Sorry, Jer.

355
00:15:11,968 --> 00:15:13,467
So I go back to my hotel.

356
00:15:13,634 --> 00:15:16,400
And Dave went back to
the shop to check on PP1,

357
00:15:16,567 --> 00:15:18,000
or was it 2?

358
00:15:18,167 --> 00:15:20,167
I get a call at 2:30 AM,

359
00:15:20,334 --> 00:15:23,300
No such thing as
a good phone call at 2:30 AM.

360
00:15:23,467 --> 00:15:25,300
It's Jerry, and he says,
"We got a car together."

361
00:15:25,467 --> 00:15:26,667
Yay.

362
00:15:26,834 --> 00:15:29,801
And this time, the car
is running reasonably well.

363
00:15:30,767 --> 00:15:33,901
I got a 0 to 60 of 3.8 seconds.

364
00:15:34,067 --> 00:15:37,567
I got a quarter mile of 12 flat
at 118 miles an hour.

365
00:15:37,734 --> 00:15:40,968
Which was nowhere near
the W8's reported top speed.

366
00:15:41,133 --> 00:15:42,000
However...

367
00:15:42,167 --> 00:15:44,000
The transmission
was acting up.

368
00:15:44,167 --> 00:15:45,100
Again.

369
00:15:46,868 --> 00:15:49,100
And it wouldn't shift
into third gear.

370
00:15:49,267 --> 00:15:51,767
We potentially have a really
bad write-up coming here.

371
00:15:51,934 --> 00:15:53,267
This is not good.

372
00:15:53,434 --> 00:15:54,968
But it wasn't all bad either.

373
00:15:55,133 --> 00:15:57,968
Based on that test,
the Vector, performance wise,

374
00:15:58,133 --> 00:16:00,567
was in league with the two
fastest cars in the world,

375
00:16:00,734 --> 00:16:03,868
the Porsche 959
and the Ferrari F40.

376
00:16:04,033 --> 00:16:05,801
And when the write up
hit newsstands...

377
00:16:05,968 --> 00:16:08,367
"A world wonder
or a great pretender?"

378
00:16:08,534 --> 00:16:11,000
But at this point,
the Vector W8 needed

379
00:16:11,167 --> 00:16:13,300
some definitively
positive optics.

380
00:16:13,467 --> 00:16:16,067
And soon enough,
Jerry Wiegert found them.

381
00:16:16,234 --> 00:16:19,367
Tennis pro
Andre Agassi bought a Vector.

382
00:16:19,534 --> 00:16:22,567
It was not quite finished.
He wanted it right now.

383
00:16:22,734 --> 00:16:25,267
Apparently, Jerry asked
the tennis pro not to drive it.

384
00:16:25,434 --> 00:16:28,701
He took it for a spin,
and apparently the carpet

385
00:16:28,868 --> 00:16:30,300
in the backend set a fire.

386
00:16:32,567 --> 00:16:34,467
We didn't sell
another car after that,

387
00:16:34,634 --> 00:16:36,467
so we were running out
of money at the same time,

388
00:16:36,634 --> 00:16:37,968
and I left the company.

389
00:16:38,133 --> 00:16:40,267
And with the tenure
of his captain's cut shorts,

390
00:16:40,434 --> 00:16:44,801
eh, short, Jerry was left all
alone atop a crumbling empire.

391
00:16:44,968 --> 00:16:47,667
But Jerry's joyride
wasn't over yet.

392
00:16:47,834 --> 00:16:50,601
An Indonesian firm called
Megatech came along.

393
00:16:51,767 --> 00:16:53,801
Megatech, Megatech.

394
00:16:53,968 --> 00:16:56,167
An investment group
so mega loaded...

395
00:16:56,334 --> 00:16:58,367
They bought Lamborghini.

396
00:16:58,534 --> 00:17:00,467
And they basically
told Jerry, "If you make

397
00:17:00,634 --> 00:17:04,067
"your production numbers,
we will continue to invest.

398
00:17:04,234 --> 00:17:06,200
If not, we're going to
take the company."

399
00:17:06,367 --> 00:17:08,767
But this was the moment
he had been training for

400
00:17:08,934 --> 00:17:09,901
his whole life.

401
00:17:10,067 --> 00:17:11,167
And with the fresh infusion

402
00:17:11,334 --> 00:17:13,767
of Megatech's
investment capital...

403
00:17:13,934 --> 00:17:15,367
Jerry did not make
the production numbers,

404
00:17:15,534 --> 00:17:16,901
and they tried
to take over the company.

405
00:17:17,067 --> 00:17:20,067
Megascrewed.
Megascrewed. Megascrewed.

406
00:17:20,234 --> 00:17:22,300
And as the Vector board
prepared to vote

407
00:17:22,467 --> 00:17:25,267
on Jerry's ouster,
he hatched a plan.

408
00:17:25,434 --> 00:17:27,100
Jerry essentially
barricaded himself into

409
00:17:27,267 --> 00:17:28,367
the Wilmington facility.

410
00:17:28,534 --> 00:17:30,667
Then he just hired
a security service.

411
00:17:30,834 --> 00:17:32,868
They called it
the Waco of the West.

412
00:17:33,033 --> 00:17:35,267
Not the best look when
the press compares you to

413
00:17:35,434 --> 00:17:36,901
the wacko from Waco.

414
00:17:37,067 --> 00:17:40,300
The standoff dragged
on for six months

415
00:17:40,467 --> 00:17:43,167
until a judge ruled
in Megatech's favor.

416
00:17:43,334 --> 00:17:46,367
Corporate law says
the board has control.

417
00:17:46,534 --> 00:17:48,000
Jerry was finally
removed by sheriffs.

418
00:17:48,167 --> 00:17:52,300
And just like that,
the joyride was over.

419
00:17:52,467 --> 00:17:53,801
Megatech took over
the company.

420
00:17:53,968 --> 00:17:55,667
We could sell
this car for less

421
00:17:55,834 --> 00:17:58,367
if we run the Lamborghini engine
and drivetrain.

422
00:17:58,534 --> 00:18:01,000
Now it was not the all-American
supercar anymore,

423
00:18:01,167 --> 00:18:03,267
and so they had trouble
selling cars.

424
00:18:03,434 --> 00:18:04,868
And then a bunch of money
turned up missing,

425
00:18:05,033 --> 00:18:06,267
and the whole thing collapsed.

426
00:18:06,434 --> 00:18:08,667
And guess who was there
to pick up the pieces?

427
00:18:10,067 --> 00:18:12,701
Jerry was excited to get
Vector back in court.

428
00:18:12,868 --> 00:18:15,200
And then Jerry
launched another attempt.

429
00:18:15,367 --> 00:18:19,767
But his WX8 would never
make it past prototype.

430
00:18:19,934 --> 00:18:24,067
Unfortunately, he was diagnosed
with stage four cancer.

431
00:18:24,234 --> 00:18:28,067
In January 2021,
at the age of 76,

432
00:18:28,234 --> 00:18:29,601
Jerry took his final flight

433
00:18:29,767 --> 00:18:32,701
into the vast
blue highway in the sky.

434
00:18:32,868 --> 00:18:36,167
Three days before he died,
he was talking about going to

435
00:18:36,334 --> 00:18:38,901
the Middle East to finish WX8.

436
00:18:39,067 --> 00:18:41,467
A consummate salesman
to the very end.

437
00:18:42,901 --> 00:18:47,267
People might look at Jerry
and think, 20 years developing

438
00:18:47,434 --> 00:18:50,767
the Vector was ridiculous,
but it's also spectacular.

439
00:18:54,467 --> 00:18:57,467
We should applaud his audacity.

440
00:19:03,501 --> 00:19:06,100
I think a lot of people
would have given up.

441
00:19:08,267 --> 00:19:10,601
We're trying to do
what any car company has

442
00:19:10,767 --> 00:19:15,100
like 500 people doing,
and we're like two people

443
00:19:15,267 --> 00:19:16,501
doing that amount of work.

444
00:19:20,167 --> 00:19:22,300
Jerry and his small
band of upstarts

445
00:19:22,467 --> 00:19:24,300
took on the European giants

446
00:19:24,467 --> 00:19:26,767
in the most
American way possible.

447
00:19:26,934 --> 00:19:29,667
Doing it cooler, doing it
better, doing it faster.

448
00:19:29,834 --> 00:19:32,267
But wait, did they go faster?

449
00:19:32,434 --> 00:19:34,100
We actually never
broke 200 in them.

450
00:19:34,267 --> 00:19:36,167
We got 198, 199.

451
00:19:36,334 --> 00:19:38,767
Well, at least it
topped 200 in one way.

452
00:19:38,934 --> 00:19:41,367
I watched the temperature
gauge went up to 250.

453
00:19:43,367 --> 00:19:44,901
And if the ride was bumpy,

454
00:19:45,067 --> 00:19:48,000
it was only because the Vector
was blazing a new trail.

455
00:19:50,467 --> 00:19:53,067
It's a fighter jet plane
on wheels.

456
00:19:53,234 --> 00:19:55,634
It's just flat-out badass.

457
00:19:58,100 --> 00:20:00,267
But you know,
I can't help but wonder,

458
00:20:00,434 --> 00:20:03,100
maybe it was just
a little bit ahead of its time.

459
00:20:03,267 --> 00:20:05,467
This does not feel
like a '90s car at all.

460
00:20:05,634 --> 00:20:07,767
This thing could
have been built today.

461
00:20:07,934 --> 00:20:09,467
It really does feel like that.

462
00:20:09,634 --> 00:20:11,501
In other words,
it might have been just

463
00:20:11,667 --> 00:20:14,701
a little bit too much too soon.

464
00:20:14,868 --> 00:20:18,167
And there could be anything
more American than that.

465
00:20:18,334 --> 00:20:19,501
It did make a mark on history.

466
00:20:19,667 --> 00:20:21,501
It's a little smaller
than we would have liked,

467
00:20:21,667 --> 00:20:23,567
but it's there.

468
00:20:23,734 --> 00:20:25,567
This is the Vector.

469
00:20:25,734 --> 00:20:28,367
The very first true
American supercar.

470
00:20:37,868 --> 00:20:40,067
I'll kill you!