|
Working with Spyker was one of the highlights of my 20 years spent at car dealerships. They were a real class act. The above print of a Spyker Aileron, signed by chairman Victor Muller, was prize that I won for getting the fastest time in an autocross driving a C8 Spyder, similar to the one we are working on.
In 2009 Spyker flew representatives from its dealer network - by private jet no less - down to one of the big NASCAR facilities in the US. They had a full day of instruction and product demonstration set up for maybe 20 of us from dealers in Canada and the US. Victor Muller was there to personally tell us about the gestation of the car, and they set up drives with both the C8 and the new Aileron, which was only in its prototype stage. We had a timed autocross event and lapped the infield course which included a section of the banking. They brought five or six cars there, and we all had lots of seat time.
Those cars didn't have an easy time. It was hot and the cars pounded around the autocross and infield circuits all day long. The autocross was organized as an individual and team timed competition. I've been to dozens of manufacturer product launches and track events, and never once did a stop watch come out. I think the Aileron was the only running prototype and they still set let us drive it on the banking at racing speed. Brave! The cars all ran perfectly. At most of the other track events that I've been to there was at least one car that got too hot, went into 'limp home' mode or cooked its brakes.
It is not often you get a first hand account of the challenges faced building a new car. Or racing one at Le Mans. Victor did both, plus go on to buy an FI team, and incredibly, buy the automotive division of SAAB. I found it all quite fascinating, and I was thrilled to be a part of it.
Victor was a regular entrant in the Mille Miglia retrospective, and if I remember correctly, entered his Invicta and Lancia Lambda. I knew maybe two things about each of those cars, but that was two more than most people, so he was happy to talk to me. For sure Victor Muller is hard-core car guy, who could more than hold his own in any vintage car conversation. I think you can see the influence of his love for pre-war cars in the Spyker designs.
Spyker has not made many cars - I've read anywhere between 150 and 250 - but I think they have made a noticeable impact on the specialty car market. Other companies have made versions of a 'race car for the road', but I think Spyker was the first to make sports cars with bespoke interiors. The engine turned dash, machined from billet stalks and knobs, aircraft-style toggle switches, exposed fasteners, alloy pedal box etc. were innovative and new at the time.
I think they probably influenced companies like Singer and Pagani. Now we hear many automotive designers talking about lights as 'jewellery' and styling instruments after high-end watches, but in the early 2000's Spyker was probably the first - at least in the modern era.
If you go back to the 1930's, beautiful ornamentation in the interiors of coach built cars was common. Bugatti, Mercedes-Benz, Delahaye, Delage, Talbot Logo, Alfa Romeo, etc. all could have spectacular coachwork and bespoke interiors on top of racing chassis and engines. In a sense Victor Muller brought this back for a modern sports car.
It was interesting to talk to the other sales guys who were mostly from the high-end specialty dealers in the big US cities. One guy also sold Saleens. He said he had never gone on a test drive and had the car come back under its own power - they always broke down! There was a Saleen in Calgary, and I do remember seeing it parked on the side of the TransCanada highway... We didn't see many Spykers in Calgary, but I don't recall ever having a problem with one.
Dinner conversations were mostly all about which actors or atheletes the sales guys sold cars to. It got a little tiring. I asked the guys from New York what they did with the cars and they said that they drove them in tunnels late at night. OK. Apparently one customer would have his Spyker driven around the corner to the restaurant he wanted to go to, then would get in, drive half a block, and get out of the car in front of the restaurant so everybody could see him. He never drove it after dinner because he got too drunk. I think the car deserved better than that!
The sales guys all thought they were hot shot drivers and were going to school everybody else on the autocross. The way the draw went, we had four guys with lots of track experience in our group, against the other guys who drove the cars in tunnels and the guys from Miami who parked the cars in front of night clubs. The four autocross laps were about 1 min each, and the team prize was given for the fastest cumulative time. We were quickest by 30 seconds on a 4 minute aggregate... After listening to how great the big-city guys were the night before, this was gratifying!
| 
