Thought Experiment- Cheapest Supercar?

Just from the title, I was going to say Esprit

Other than that, would an LS-powered 2nd or 3rd gen RX-7 count?  2nd gens are so rare around here they turn heads nowadays.  3rd gens have always been rare.

Neither a Cizeta nor a Vector is going to be cheap. Those are both $500k+ cars. Sotheby's sold a purple Vector for $720,000 last month. If there was any Vector in the $20k - $30k range I would own it. That was my "poster on the wall" (in my case a magazine review thumbed through constantly) dream car in the early 90s. A Cizeta is even more rare, and in the same price range.

Eye catching and unique, but not sure if it's "dangerous" enough to qualify.

Old Quattroportes are getting stupid cheap. Surely an enterprising GRMer can rebuild the trans right?

For under $10k, this seems like a lot of flashy exotic

Aston V8 Vantage seems very cool and, assuming it's reliable, probably pretty easy to live with day to day.  But I don't think it's going to outperform the 911 Turbo I mentioned previously. 

Viper has my vote. I saw one doing doughnuts in the Ross parking lot around age 17 and never forgot how cool I thought it was.

36k for an Alfa 4C with 9k miles doesn't seem bad either. Full carbon tub, exotic looks, but they're probably not done depreciating and no stick shift.

morello159 said:

This one is easy - Fiero kit car. $4800 and you too can be the proud owner of something that will make everyone else question your sanity.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a30454760/porsche-fiero-kit-car-for-sale/

I'm so confused...I think I like it...

Fiskers are certainly unique, and reasonably priced. Maybe not dangerous in  a performance sense, but in a self immolating sense they probably score pretty high.

In reply to STM317 :

$22k! I did not need to know that!

V8 vantage gets my vote for pure beauty under $40-50k.  

For tear your face off performance and “WTF is that?” comments from bystanders, I vote Ultima Evolution:

In reply to eastsideTim :

I just sold a LS FD RX7 and I was always amazed at the attention that car got. It didn't help that it was a h/c/i car with really loud exhaust so it sounded like an old hot rod, but I digress. Honestly after experiencing that car, I think I'd rather have an older viper though...

Esprit S4s.  Esprit SE with S4s code is cheaper.

dculberson said:

In reply to STM317 :

$22k! I did not need to know that!

I pretty much forgot they existed, and never really thought about them in the first place since they were super rare, $100k cars when new. But they're kind of interesting: PHEV, turbo EcoTec, 400hp, classified as a sub-compact by the EPA even though they're 17 ft long and 5300lbs, etc. Replacement parts sound scary, but I bet a bunch of the mechanicals are GM, and battery issues might be DIYable the same way the Prius or Insight crowd does it.

STM317 said:

36k for an Alfa 4C with 9k miles doesn't seem bad either. Full carbon tub, exotic looks, but they're probably not done depreciating and no stick shift.

I don;' need another car, I don;t need another car. I keep thinking these things are in teh high 40's with low mileage and that is my favoirte color. 

 At 29-30K I would jump in as a track/autocross tool no question. 

How much would it cost to build a GT40 kit car?  Surely Factory Five has something that would be a candidate in this discussion...

stroker said:

How much would it cost to build a GT40 kit car?  Surely Factory Five has something that would be a candidate in this discussion...

That's what initially thought 

eastsideTim said:

Just from the title, I was going to say Esprit

Miles' toy does check all the boxes, doesn't it?

STM317 said:

I pretty much forgot they existed, and never really thought about them in the first place since they were super rare, $100k cars when new. But they're kind of interesting: PHEV, turbo EcoTec, 400hp, classified as a sub-compact by the EPA even though they're 17 ft long and 5300lbs, etc. Replacement parts sound scary, but I bet a bunch of the mechanicals are GM, and battery issues might be DIYable the same way the Prius or Insight crowd does it.

I was shocked to see they claim 960 lb-ft of torque but go 0-60 in 6.3 seconds. That seems way too slow for that kind of power. Maybe they just peter out really badly? Or can't supply enough current to feed all 960lb-ft? My Volt goes 0-60 in something like 9 seconds and claims 300 lb-ft of torque. I'd hope by tripling it you'd get better acceleration than that.

Anyway, still an awesome looking car.

A friend of mine, a brother in-law and I designed and built the Dragon.  We sold some kits for it.  The one in the row of pictures of C4 re-bodies is one of ours.  But, our car uses a dedicated frame to which C4 suspension bolts to.  The engine is set pretty far back.  I have a Dragon in my garage.  Lots of fun.

Here is a picture of my new build. In the picture it needs body work and paint.  It uses C4 suspension as well.  It's fun too!

In reply to Olemiss540 :

We have a Aston Martin dealership here, a Bentley dealership, a Maserati dealership.  
In the fall there are astonishing deals on all three used needing maintinence.  
Another bus driver bought a Aston Martin by taking over payments, then refinancing.  It was a combination of divorce, damage,  and required maintenance.  That  brought ownership into his reach. But the real deal maker was his local bank manager who obviously was too lazy to go look at it. 
 

::Shrug::: Build a GTM...can be done for under 40k...doesnt get much more "supercar" than that for the price.

How about an LS swapped Miata?

It isn't a Supercar if it is cheap$   You want to marry the Ugliest Supermodel?

Now you can have Supercar performance or looks, but it won't be Supercar.

Any of the various kitcars will do.

There are sever DB7 verts on my local Marketplace for about $30k. Even around here Astons are pretty unusual to see (Ferraris are not unusual.....Porsches I see a dozen a day).  Astons, almost never.

DB9 for $35k