So, what do you think of this latest article that George found?
Road to recovery?
Vector Aeromotive Corp. ready to shift gears again
Vector Web site
By Mark Basch
Times-Union business writer
Vector Aeromotive Corp., the luxury sports car manufacturer that has risen from the dead several times in the last decade, may be revived again.
A group led by Miami businessman Allen E. Weintraub has acquired control of the dormant company, which had been based in Green Cove Springs before closing last July, and hopes to start building Vector automobiles in Miami.
"It has a great concept. I don't think there has ever been the financing in place," said Weintraub, who is now Vector's chief executive officer.
In a luxury sports car market dominated by foreigners, Vector has received a lot of notoriety since it was formed in 1976 for its attempts to produce an American-made supercar. But the company has become more famous for failing to live up to its hype.
Founder Jerry Wiegart built only 22 Vector coupes priced at more than $400,000 before he was ousted from the company in 1993.
An Indonesian investment group, which also controlled Lamborghini USA, acquired control of Vector in 1993 and moved its operations to Lamborghini's facility in Jacksonville in 1994. The company began building a new model called the M12, priced at about $200,000, at the Reynolds Industrial Park in Green Cove Springs. But it built only five before closing down in 1996.
A Bahamian investment group acquired control and reopened the facility with plans to build M12s with Lamborghini engines, but built only 10 cars before the company closed again in July 1999. It has been dormant since.
Weintraub now is hoping to try again, although it's too early to make specific plans.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Workers at the Green Cove Springs Vector facility work to finish the Avtech prototype in May 1995.
-- Times-Union/file
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We may just follow through with the M12 and put a different engine in them," he said.
Karl J. Schumer, Vector's new chief operating officer, said just about all of Vector's equipment is gone except for a box of papers.
"We had a suffering public company that was in a shoebox," he said.
So what do the new investors get by buying Vector?
"The assets of the company are the molds and the rights to the vehicle," Weintraub said. If he can't obtain the molds used to make the M12s, Weintraub said he does have a Vector car on hand so the company can re-create them.
Weintraub said he specializes in acquiring distressed businesses and turning them around, but he has not previously acquired a business with as high a profile. He said he took control of Vector by acquiring a note owed by Vector to American Dream International Ltd. According to Vector's most recent financial statement, that note was for $629,136.
Unfortunately, that statement was for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 1998. Vector has not filed its required statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission since then, and Weintraub said one of the first things he has to do before getting the company up and running is to get its SEC filings up to date.
"There are a few loose ends that have to be tied up," he said, so it may be several months before it can start operations.
Although the company has been dormant for 11 months, its stock has continued to trade in the over-the-counter market. It has traded at an average price of 10 cents a share since last July.
Weintraub said the company still has about 3,800 stockholders.
Schumer said Vector will try to contact current shareholders.
"I want some participation from the shareholders to see what direction this company will take," he said.
jacksonville.com |
