CLASSIC CARS

Spyker C8: The Glorious Answer To A Question Nobody Asked

Spyker C8: CoCo Chanel's version of a 60's Sports Racing Car?

We are getting the 2006 Spyker C8 Spyder ready to list on Bring A Trailer. It is one of about 150 Audi powered C8’s, and one of about 90 Spyders. The 60 Coupes were called Laviolettes. Spyker made perhaps another 100 chassis, most of which were show or demonstration cars of various concepts. The C8s were the only model that approached series production. I sold these cars in 2009/2010 when they were first certified to be sold in Canada, along with Aston Martins and Bentleys at Distinctive Collection. Those were fun days when the Dilawri flagship store just opened and they were throwing money around like wild rice. It was a good party while it lasted.

I sold a Laviolette to a guy in Montreal. It was our demo and had maybe 1,000km on it. After he received it, I phoned him up to ask him if he was satisfied with his purchase. He said he liked the car, but the detail on it was terrible. That was a bit of a surprise; the car looked pretty good to me. Non! He would detail the car and then send me some photos to show how me it should be done...

Well, I’d never heard of anybody polishing the bottom of a car before, at least one that wasn’t expected on the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach. I think he said he spent 100 hours on what was basically a new car. Every square inch of the top, bottom and inside of the car sparkled. So, when I got this C8 I decided to do the same thing, and then send photos back to Montreal for approval. We are starting with the undercarriage, and moving upward...

Aluminum belly pans help the aero of the C8. Construction is very 'race car' circa 1965.

People who have vintage Airstreams can relate to Spyker owners. The aluminium in both is uncoated, meaning that the minute you polish it to mirror finish it starts to oxidize and stain. Polishing an Airstream can take you a solid week, use every rag and towel you have, and make an incredible mess. It is a $5,000 bill to have it professionally done. The Spyker is not far behind - the surface area is much smaller but the work is much more intricate.

Depending on how you look at it, the Spyker is either a truly impractical road car, or a homage to a 1960’s racing car with a really fancy interior. It’s kind of like a Coco Chanel edition of a Ford GT40. It is the answer to question that few people asked, but that is what is so interesting about it. Great cars don’t come from committees or focus groups. They come from the imagination, creativity and the tenacity of individuals.

To treat the Spyker as an ‘object d’art’ or a fashion accessory is to sell it short as it has some serious mechanical chops, and is a blast to drive. Along with cars like a Lotus/Caterham 7, Ariel Atom or anything from Gordon Murray, it is a pure drivers car. Like a McLaren F1 it has no brake booster and no ABS or traction control. Also, like the Posrche Carrera GT, the suspension is inboard. The Spyker C8 road car is one of the very few late model exotics to weigh in at less than 3,000lbs. It weighs not much more than the weight-obsessive McLaren F1 which is entirely made of carbon fibre.

Interior is a modern take on a vintage Bugatti, with a 'engine turned' or 'scraped' dash

The short wheel base and extreme stagger of the front and rear wheels makes the car very sharp on the nose, and it changes direction instantly. I’ve driven the car on an autocross circuit and it was super fun and would oversteer easily. On short tracks it will do lap times similar to a 996 Porsche 911 GT3. A GT4 version of the C8 competed in the Le Mans 24 hour race, and placed respectably in its class. Just finishing that race, where 80% of the lap is full throttle, is a tremendous accomplishment.

It doesn’t like rain, but not because of a lack of grip or traction control. The soft top canvas isn’t waterproof! But you probably aren’t going to drive it in the rain as there is no demister for the windscreen anyway. Anything you put in the quilted luggage compartment will be toasted as it is directly above the exhaust. There is no radio. You get the idea.

For the simple pleasure of driving the car does a little bit better. The exhaust is about 24” long, and the car will reportedly shoot flames as Spyker played with the Audi ECU. It sounds glorious. The windscreen is frameless, making it feel that there is no windscreen at all. The exposed shift linkage gives short, crisp shifts and the racing-style pedal box is perfect for practicing the lost art of heal-to-toe downshifts. Driving it is like drinking a quadruple espresso while listening to the Ramones.

0-100km/hr in 4 seconds and 290km/hr is fast, but not particularly noteworthy today. What I think the modern Spyker will be remembered for is the detailing and the interior. Before Pagani and Singer, Spyker was one of the first post war manufacturers to spend a lot of effort on ornamentation and ‘automotive jewellery’ to move the design beyond function or luxury to ‘object d’Art’. You would see some of this on custom hot rods, but not on performance or luxury cars. The ‘form follows function’ aesthetic of the 80’s and 90’s has given way to an ‘experience’ of coloured LED’s, seat massagers and aroma therapy. The Spyker C8 was possibly the first post war car to treat each individual component as a thing of functional beauty.

Spyker’s CEO, Victor Muller, is a knowledgeable classic car collector. What I think he did was try to bring back the spirit of a Bugatti Type 35 - a racing car constructed with components that bridged the gap between function and sculpture. To that end he succeeded admirably.